On retiring at 56, Michelle Jackson needed a big new challenge. So she picked up her first proper camera and was soon spending 20 hours a week in the field, and winning awards
A few weeks ago, Michelle Jackson was in the Peak District, hiding beneath a camouflage net with her camera, waiting for badgers to emerge at sunset. For more than two hours she watched the skylarks and curlews, her hopes intensifying during the 45-minute window in which the light was perfect.
At last the heather moved. A badger’s head appeared. “Their eyesight is poor, but they can smell you,” Jackson says. At 66, she has won national and international awards as a wildlife photographer. Although the desire to get the shot “drives” her, for a while she simply watched. “You want to embrace what’s there. It’s so special to see wildlife up close.”
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