Alan McFadyen has been taking wildlife pictures since 2009 but there was one particular image that always seem to elude him. Although he tried for 6 years to get the picture and he estimates it took 720,000 photos, he never gave up on his dream. That dream was to capture a Kingfisher sinking flawlessly into the water with no splash.
It was not only difficult because he needed to get his timing right, the Kingfisher also needed to be dead on in his dive. It finally paid off and the resulting picture is flawless in its beauty and we would say was well worth the wait.
McFadyen got his love of wildlife from his grandfather. He remembers his grandfather taking him to see Kingfisher’s nests when he was just a young lad. It certainly did have an impression on him and inspired him to return the same spot to begin photographing those amazing birds.
All in all, it is estimated that it took 6 years, 4200 hours and 720,000 photos to get this 1 shot.
“The photo I was going for of the perfect dive, flawlessly straight, with no splash required not only me to be in the right place and get a very lucky shot but also for the bird itself to get it perfect”
“I would often go and take 600 pictures in a session and not a single one of them be any good”
“I never really stopped to think about how long it was taking along the way as I enjoyed doing it but now I look back on it I’m really proud of the picture and the work I put in”
“I remember my grandfather taking me to see the kingfisher nest and I just remember being completely blown away by how magnificent the birds are”
“I’m sure my grandfather would have loved it, I just wish he could have seen it. All of my family contacted me when they saw it and said he would have been so proud of it”
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