I went to the Liberty Bird of prey centre in Ringwood, Dorset in June/July 2019 to inspire me for my upcoming MA Illustration exhibition ‘LUCID.’ I took two trips within two weeks each focusing on a different aspect of the varied birds of prey.
For the first trip I focus on capturing the birds in standing positions through observational drawing and photography. I used this trip to become familiar with the shape and anatomy of the birds in stationary positions. I used photography to capture accurate and life-like colour palettes for the species of bird I was focusing on.
On my second trip to the bird of prey centre I focused on the birds mainly through photography trying to capture the movement of flight, the Caracara above being a outcome of this. I relied again on observational drawing, but let it take a back seat to photographing as I was looking to create a large archive of imagery to come back to if I ever needed it.
On the whole both trips were incredibly important to my research, the outcomes of which I still use today, and I highly recommend visiting your local Bird of Prey Centre to study live animals.