Feature Photo Q4

This was a disappointing day; I'd planned to photograph these whooper swans months before. Patiently I waited for winter to approach, knowing that cold arctic air would encourage them to leave their summer breeding grounds for milder climes. Incredibly, they will sometimes make the journey from Iceland to the UK in a single bound.

I had pre-visualised bright, crisp conditions with freeze-frame shutter speeds - ideal for capturing a flurry of feeding activity. Despite the best of weather forecasts, after almost three hours on the road, I drove into fog only a few miles from this location - and it stayed foggy all day. Freeze-framing was obviously out of the question, so I decided to explore the opposite end of the spectrum. A slow-shutter, movement-enhancing, abstract kind of effect. In nature photography you have to learn to roll with the blows.