Aspen Turner Photography, Chester (2026)

17/06/2026

Happy World Crocodile Day from the next generation 🐊

Couldn't have thought of a better image to share on this appreciation day than this adorable baby Cuban croc going for a swim, especially from the scaly, enthusiastic Gatorland! Quite the privileged view of this rare species, up close in their underwater world as they scurried and splashed around in their tank. At this stage, they look utterly adorable, but I can tell you for a fact their grown counterparts across the way were far more intimidating 😂

🦌 Species: Cuban Crocodile
📍 Location: Gatorland
📅 Date: 28/04/26
🏷️ Follow:
📷 Settings: 1/800, f/8.0, ISO-12800

Access:
A portrait photo of a juvenile Cuban crocodile, shot from an underwater perspective as it propels through dark, murky green water. The background was blurred for a smooth appearance and darkened to contrast against the brightly lit subject.

───────────────────────────────────

16/06/2026

Dhole, dhole and more dhole 😂

On a chilly winter morning, Howletts was awfully quiet (minus the gushing wind). Most of the residents were sensibly tucked away indoors, keeping warm and dry, and after completing the whole loop, I thought I'd be heading home with very few results. Then this fluffy friend appeared!

The dhole enclosure was far busier than the rest of the park, with most of the girls up and about, although keeping their distance. Except for this girlie, who decided to plop herself on a platform right in front of me! That was my cue to start firing the shutter a million times 😂

After many funny faces, yawns and stares, I ended up with quite the collection of dhole photos, so I thought I'd share some of my favourites in a short series 🧡

🦌 Species: Dhole
📍 Location: Howletts Wild Animal Park
📅 Date: 08/12/24
🏷️ Follow:
📷 Settings: 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO-3200

Access:
A carousel featuring six images of a dhole sitting on a wooden platform with a blurred forest background. The pose remains largely the same throughout, while the expression and lighting subtly change as the sun moves behind the clouds.

Slide 1: The dhole looks towards the photographer while licking its lips.

Slide 2: The dhole looks upwards with its tongue visible and some teeth showing.

Slide 3: Similar to the previous image, but with its mouth fully open, revealing all of its teeth.

Slide 4: The dhole looks away while yawning, showing its sharp teeth and ridged tongue.

Slide 5: The dhole finishes its yawn, mouth nearly closed but still retaining a snarling expression.

Slide 6: Similar to slide 1, with the dhole looking towards the photographer but with its mouth closed.

───────────────────────────────────

15/06/2026

Absolute stunner of a portrait brought to you by the beautiful Luna 🖤

My trip to Wingham in 2024 was a photographer's dream, each photo hitting out of the ballpark thanks to their cast of characters that did not disappoint, especially the big cats! Earlier in the year, I thought I hit the jackpot photographing Chester's Inka as she wandered around the infamous waterfall, but I have to say, I think Luna stole the cake with this perfect headshot, one of my best to this day!

🦌 Species: Black Jaguar
📍 Location: Wingham Wildlife Park
📅 Date: 16/12/24
🏷️ Follow: Wingham Wildlife Park
📷 Settings: 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO-5000

Access:
A front-facing portrait of a black jaguar staring directly at the camera as it sits against a plain white backdrop. Its bright yellow eyes are the most vibrant aspect of the scene, contrasting greatly against the monochrome subject and background.

───────────────────────────────────

14/06/2026

Munch time with Davidoff 🐆

Catching a glimpse of Twycross's leopard Davidoff is always a treat, especially as this lovable boy spends his time sneaking around. So when he was sitting right in the open, enjoying quite the sizeable meal from his keepers, it was time to click away 😂 Only managed to get a handful of decent shots; the hungry lad was sat at a tricky angle, showing mostly the back of his head as he munched away. Eventually he turned his head just enough, before the heavens then opened with a downpour of rain 😂 Just my luck! Still, probably the closest headshot I've managed to capture of this sneaky fella 🩵

🦌 Species: Amur Leopard
📍 Location: Twycross Zoo
📅 Date: 15/09/24
🏷️ Follow:
📷 Settings: 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO-12800

Access:
A close-up photo focusing on a leopard's head as it feasts on a chunk of meat resting on a wooden platform below its chin against a blurred foliage backdrop. The leopard's mouth is slightly open, revealing its teeth as it tenderly chews the exposed flesh.

───────────────────────────────────

13/06/2026

Swipe to edit with me!

Photographing Florida's native wildlife was such a highlight of my trip, especially when it appeared right outside my hotel room! One afternoon, this red-shouldered hawk perched a few feet from the back door, so with my camera already prepared, I leapt into action and got the shot! But when I reviewed the photos? YIKES!

I originally shot through the glass door, then carefully moved closer and photographed through the mesh screen, hoping for better-quality shots. What I didn't realise was that the mesh would create a horrible halo effect. By the time I noticed, the hawk had already flown off 😭 Thankfully, Photoshop came to the rescue!

I skipped my usual Lightroom workflow so I could tackle the halo first.

First, I removed the background, spending extra time refining the outline.

Next, I used Content-Aware Fill to remove the bird, wall, and distracting bokeh, creating a new background, then added blur and noise to tidy it up.

After that, I blended everything together with the brush tool, making sure every trace of the halo disappeared.

Finally, I used the Camera Raw Filter for overall adjustments, added dodge and burn to bring out detail, and colour-balanced the image to restore the natural tones.

And ta-da! The image was saved. Another editing win, and another loss for mean fences and mesh 😂

🦌 Species: Red Shouldered Hawk
📍 Location: Kissimmee, Florida
📅 Date: 27/04/26
📷 Settings: 1/125, f/8, ISO-640

Access:
Seven-image carousel showing the editing process of a red-shouldered hawk perched on a pale wall.

Slide 1: Final edited image with a smooth green background.
Slide 2: Original image showing blue bokeh and a halo caused by the mesh screen.
Slide 3: Background removed, leaving only the hawk and wall.
Slide 4: Softly blurred green background used in the edit.
Slide 5: Composite image combining the hawk and new background.
Slide 6: Refined edit with exposure adjustments, dodge and burn, and enhanced detail.
Slide 7:Side-by-side crop comparing the edited and original images, highlighting the halo effect and final improvements.

───────────────────────────────────

12/06/2026

Caught in a gaze 🦋

Started my Lakeland trip with a special treat: the arctic fox girlies went for a jog around the enclosure first thing. Photographing them, though, was certainly a handful 😂 My autofocus gave me a run for my money; it was always just a second too slow as the foxes raced toward me. Almost all of my shots? Blurry 😭 Then came this quaint moment. A butterfly passed by on the grassy embankment and immediately caught the attention of this lovely lady. That pause gave me the perfect moment to capture a sharp shot. I only wish that dang butterfly was in frame 😂

🦌 Species: Arctic Fox
📍 Location: Lakeland Wildlife Oasis
📅 Date: 07/01/24
🏷️ Follow:
📷 Settings: 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO-1250

Access:
A photo of an Arctic fox walking on a rocky enclosure floor, looking upwards as it notices something off in the distance. The scene was captured at peak Sun, so the highlights are well-exposed, while the shadows across the background and the fox's body are quite dark and subdued. A light green gradient covers parts of the foreground, from shooting at a low angle through blades of grass.

───────────────────────────────────

11/06/2026

Happy International Lynx Day from Odin!

Quite a different post with this extreeeeeme (ish) close-up! Odin decided to perch quite close to the observation window, mostly to have a nosey when a couple of kids came up to the glass. Boy, did he not like them 😂 A few swipes and growls later, the kids eventually moved on, giving me the chance to get this quick shot from a safe distance 😂

🦌 Species: Northern Lynx
📍 Location: Drayton Manor Zoo
📅 Date: 01/03/26
🏷️ Follow: Drayton Manor
📷 Settings: 1/1000, f/8, ISO-8000

Access:
A frame-filling close-up shot of a lynx focusing solely on its face, with its left eye positioned in the centre of the image, with its bright, pale fur filling the remainder of the scene. Its nose and second eye are also partially visible but appear slightly darker due to the vignette used to highlight the focal point.

───────────────────────────────────

10/06/2026

Aaaaaand ROLL!

Love this sequence from Suzan having a good ol' roll around her grassy field. It was such a bizarre sight seeing a zebra doing a roly poly (as well as that expression at the end 😂).

🦌 Species: Grant's Zebra
📍 Location: Noah's Ark Zoo Farm
📅 Date: 31/03/24
🏷️ Follow: Noah's Ark Zoo Farm
📷 Settings: 1/1600, f/8, ISO-1600

Access:
A carousel of three images showing a young zebra rolling in a grassy field, with each image showing a different position.

Slide 1: The zebra is lying on its back with all four legs curled and pointing in the air as it's about to turn onto its side.

Slide 2: The zebra is almost completely lying on its side, as it faces towards the camera. Its front legs and face are resting on the ground, while its back two legs are slightly floating a few inches above the grass.

Slide 3: The zebra is completely lying on the ground, with its hind legs cropped from frame due to it stretching its neck outwards. Its face is propped up on the grass with its ears perked backwards and mouth partly open, creating a goofy face.

───────────────────────────────────

09/06/2026

Cygnet cuteness

Loved watching the local cygnet grow at my local pond, every two weeks documenting how big the little fella was getting! The 'baby' stage was obviously the cutest, while it still had most of its fluffy white feathers before turning into quite the scruffy-looking teenager 😂

🦌 Species: Mute Swan
📍 Location: Midway, Derbyshire
📅 Date: 21/06/24
📷 Settings: 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO-1250

Access:
A low-down photo of a mute swan cygnet sitting on a grassy embankment, with blurred grass filling the foreground and a blurred bright green backdrop set behind the bird. The cygnet has its neck curled as it looks beyond the frame.

───────────────────────────────────

08/06/2026

Happy World Oceans Day!

Recently, I've done quite a few aquarium trips with the camera and grown to love photographing marine life of all kinds 🫶 My most recent outing was to the SeaBase Aquarium at Disney's EPCOT, and I was astounded by the array of wildlife they care for and their beautiful enclosures! Plus, seeing species that I never thought I'd see, like the seadragon! I'd love to explore more of the aquariums across the UK, especially The Deep and Blue Planet, and with a partner obsessed with turtles, I'm sure it'll be on the cards in the future 😂

Leafy Seadragons, SeaBase Aquarium Nursery at EPCOT
Blackbar Soldierfish, ZooTampa at Lowry Park
Map Pufferfish, Hastings Aquarium
Tomtate, ZooTampa at Lowry Park
Blue Hamlet, ZooTampa at Lowry Park
Yellow Tang, SeaBase Aquarium Nursery at EPCOT
Orange Clownfish, SeaBase Aquarium Nursery at EPCOT
Longhorn Cowfish, Hastings Aquarium
Golden Damselfish, Hastings Aquarium
Sailfin Tang, Hastings Aquarium

Access:
Slide 1: A leafy seadragon floating in a tank with purple rocks and coral..

Slide 2: A blackbar soldierfish swimming in a deep blue enclosure with blurred rocks and coral in the background.

Slide 3: A map pufferfish swimming against a sunken wreck visible partially on the left of the frame.

Slide 4: A tomtate swimming against a blue and green blurred backdrop.

Slide 5: A blue hamlet swimming against a textured blue and green background.

Slide 6: A yellow tang swimming in front of a coral and rock-filled backdrop.

Slide 7: An orange clownfish swimming against blue blurred coral and rocks.

Slide 8: A longhorn cowfish swimming against a rocky backdrop.

Slide 9: A golden damselfish swimming against brown and red blurred rocks.

Slide 10: A sailfin tang swimming in front of brown and red textured rocks.

───────────────────────────────────

Aspen Turner Photography

17/06/2026

16/06/2026

15/06/2026

14/06/2026

13/06/2026

12/06/2026

11/06/2026

10/06/2026

09/06/2026

08/06/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share

Category