Lying prone in a quagmire of thick, gooey mud, Paul spent an hour quietly nudging closer to this flock of flamingos. Eventually, he focused on the birds’ red legs, framing the shot to include their reflection. In post-production he rotated the image 180 degrees to create, as he describes, ‘a more abstract reflective image’.
Lesser flamingos find safety in numbers and tend to gather in large groups to protect themselves against predators. They feed almost entirely on blue-green algae, but will also feed on crustaceans. Gathering food by holding their beaks upside down in the water, they often synchronise, raising and lowering their heads to feed in orchestrated mass movements.
Ireland/Hong Kong
Paul is a semi-professional wildlife photographer based in Hong Kong. He has been photographing both terrestrial and marine wildlife for the last 25 years. Paul has travelled widely but has a special affinity for Africa, especially the soda lakes and their inhabitants in East Africa. He is widely published and a co-lead on photography tours.
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