PENNY BOYD: NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER

By Tony Myers FRPS

During her very short three-year career in photography, SLPS member Penny Boyd has progressed very rapidly to the position of official photographer for Knowsley Safari Park in Merseyside. Her previous job had also involved working with animals at a busy animal sanctuary.

Since becoming a member of the South Liverpool Photographic Society she has won a number of distinguished trophies including the best print of the year award and recently had images accepted in the International Austrian Circuit. Penny has also been a member of the RPS since 2003 and really joined to broaden her photographic knowledge and widen her circle of photographic friends.

Using the heavy end of Canon lenses doesn’t come easy to Penny after suffering a serious monkey bite to her wrist ten years ago, which has left her with a 85% loss of use. She has however, developed her own special camera techniques to overcome this disability and the injury obviously doesn’t impair her photo-taking skills in any way.

Part of Penny’s job as official photographer is to produce images within the safari park for inclusion in the Knowsley Safari guidebook. This is a ongoing challenge to always try and improve the images for the next guidebook.

She has a superb collection of Canon camera and lenses but she has to make do with her battered Ford Fiesta motor car for day to day trips.

When she finds the time, she enjoys trips to Africa and has visited the Masai Mara and Uganda on a number of occasions. She is presently preparing a trip to Finland to photograph wild bears which should be a real one-off experience.

Penny Boyd will be giving a lecture on her nature photography as part of the SLPS Summer Syllabus at CADWA on Thursday 20th July.

Please send any comments to Tony