I’ve been doing a lot of wildlife cameraman work lately at the ICBP in Newent.
When you do any wildlife cameraman job it is helpful to understand as much as you can about the subject beforehand. It is always important to understand your subject – if you don’t how will you know what to film?
Falconry and hawking is a pastime that goes back centuries. It is probably an insult to call it purely a pastime, for at times in history it was a way of acquiring something to eat for some people. Not knowing a lot about falconry I was advised to get the book, ‘Falconry and Hawking’ by Phillip Glasier, and it was a very good recommendation. What a fascinating read beautifully written in a good old common sense style, with some great tongue in cheek humour scattered throughout.
You could argue that filming falconry and hawking is not a real wildlife cameraman job. I wouldn’t argue against that too hard. However, I would argue that the knowledge about wild birds of prey embedded in this book rivals that of any ‘pure’ naturalist.