In reality it isn’t that difficult to photograph birds or wildlife. Yes subject framing, composition, measured light all come into play. But that’s the simple stuff. What is hard work but makes a great image is ‘trust’. All creatures great and small (always wanted to borrow that phrase) live under threat. Not just from a changing climate, but daily where they live. Predators; native, feral and domestic hunt them, chase them and kill them. Humans deliberately or otherwise create fear just by their presence. So to live they have to be careful with what they trust. This image captures a moment of mutual trust, and mutual benefit. To photograph a creature well I believe means you also have to earn their trust. They feel safe and you get your photo. I will talk to them, calmly and quietly visiting them in their space and be something regular to them. Yes some people will put out food etc but that must not become a dependency as that breeds unnecessary vulnerability. Too often we are ruled by fear which cages us when trust can be liberating. Why else would we want to swim with dolphins or pat a koala! Now I don’t plan to go water skiing with crocodiles any time soon. But to put our trust in something wild, does require us to recognise our vulnerability but not be frightened by it. In the end I think what we all are really looking for is what I will term as the Eden experience. That deeply satisfying experience when something wild (or even a person) feels safe enough to walk with us, then at that moment we can see our real value comes from being someone worthy of their trust.