This image resulted from a 6-year love affair with a local barn owl. 

I set myself the challenge of photographing a barn owl at night, doing what it does naturally, hunting for prey. I found a suitable location where I knew an owl hunted frequently, and then it was about trying to get up close and personal with it to capture its real beauty and personality. 

I started by attracting it to the same location, by offering a small amount of food each night. I was careful not to take away its ability to hunt for itself, but I just wanted to get it to visit the same area every night. Next, it was a question of slowly introducing a hide, some perches, and eventually a camera and flash. There was no way of rushing this process; the bird had to accept each new thing and get used to it before I could progress. The flashes were the last pieces of equipment to be introduced, using the lowest settings and small soft boxes so as not to blind the owl. I gave myself other limits too in order to protect the owl. I only photographed her alternate nights, and during a photography session, I would take images a minute apart (yes I used to sit and count the seconds). Initially, I didn't have a great knowledge of the use of flash for wildlife, and so it started very simple, with just an image of an owl on a post (see first image attached). Gradually, over time, I became more proficient with the use of flash and I was able to use slower shutter speeds and balance the natural ambient light with the use of flash (second image). 

Over the years I developed as a photographer, but I also learnt a lot about my subject. She used to be waiting for me some evenings if I was slightly late. And one evening when I had forgotten a memory card in my camera and had to return home, when I came back to the field, I swear she was on the ground looking into my bag for her dinner. As my portfolio grew, I began to get creative, and started to come up with new ideas and ways to photograph her. 

The selected image was an attempt to gain a view as if the camera was the owl's prey (the prey's view) as it was, and possibly the last thing the rodent saw. I set my camera on the ground, and used a remote trigger to fire the camera, so I could sit in my hide out of the way. As I only fed the owl one piece of food a night, I only had a single chance each evening and it was all in the timing to capture the owl hovering just above the lens. 

This image took almost 6 months to perfect, with many 'almost' shots. However, the chosen image was even better than I had ever anticipated it would be in my mind. The eye is pin sharp, showing through the slightly out of focus talons. The owl was the best subject I have ever had the pleasure of working with. After 6 years, she unfortunately passed away. However, 6 years for a barn owl in the wild is a good age, (the average is 3 - 4 years) and I'd like to think my small amounts of food provided during the harshest of weather helped her to achieve this age and raise a number of young in the nest box I built.

I'm interested in all kinds of wildlife and travel regularly to photograph in other parts of the world. However, being based in Norfolk, there are plenty of subjects, especially birds, with kingfishers on the rivers, barn owls over the fields, and waders and coastal birds on the Norfolk shores. It is always good to work with a subject you can visit regularly as you learn about your subject, and then it provides better opportunities.

As stated above, the image you selected took around 6 months to perfect. I also have Kingfisher images where I worked with slow shutter speeds during diving, which also took several weeks to get images I am happy with.

I like people that are passionate about wildlife and want to do everything they can to protect it for future generations, so the likes of Chris Packham and Sir David Attenborough.

I have always wanted to give something back to wildlife, to repay all the hours of enjoyment I have experienced whilst photographing different subjects. Over the past two years I have rented a small meadow and paid the farmer to dig a pond. I have been planting vegetation and encouraging wildlife into the area, to create a new home/environment for kingfishers. It's a kind of build it and they will come scenario.