Last week I spent some days with the Dalmatian pelicans in Greece, joined by a group of photographers that I was guiding. It was my third time with these great birds and I was looking forward to get wing-beaten again, every time they get up too close. Last year my glasses flew off my head and I’d had quite a headache. Yes, I wanted more of that!
Spectacular things happen in nature all the time. It’s hard to make a choice what you should go and discover first. But believe me, watching whales must be on top of your list!
I am very happy to announce that two of my pictures won prizes at the Global Arctic Awards! My picture of the polar bear mother and cub got the first prize in the category Polar Bears. And my picture of the musk oxen fighting in a snow blizzard got a Gold Medal prize from jurymember Aleksandr Miaskov.
“This was the best holiday of my life”, I heard one of the participants say. For two years I had planned this expedition to the northern parts of Svalbard. I was so grateful to have brought such a motivated group of photographers on board of our vessel, the MS Origo.
When my buddy Ben Cranke invited me to join him on his Japan trip, I did not doubt for a second! He knew where we needed to be since he’d already spent a month in Hokkaïdo. The plan was to start with the snow macaques in Jigokudani and then fly to the island north of Honshu, Hokkaïdo. That’s the place to be to photograph red-crowned cranes, whooper swans and white-tailed and Steller’s eagles.
I can’t seem to get enough of eagles. They keep fascinating me, even after I’ve already spent so many successful days in hides, observing and photographing them from a close distance. When I heard about a place in Poland were about 30 birds came to feed on carrion that was provided for them, I needed to check it out.
As is my tradition, I escaped the festivities again last Christmas (sorry, family!). This time, I went to Spain with my friend Bas to photograph some eagles. The perfect country for nature photographers in search of peace and quiet during these overly celebrated days.
Very happy to announce that my picture of the red-breasted geese was selected as a Commended Picture in the prestigious Veolia BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition! The image was taken with a Nikon D3x and a 600mm F 4 VR lens at the Black Sea Coast in February of 2012. Here’s the story behind the picture.
Presenting today: a colourfull collection of images I took in Hungary in June, mainly taken from fixed hides. June isn’t really the best time to shoot birds. The temperatures can rise very quickly in the morning, causing hard light and making the birds inactive during the biggest part of the day. It got really hot, and sleeping wasn’t on the menu!
Working on the great snipes in Poland kept me very busy in the evenings and most mornings. But during the day I had a lot of ‘free’ time. I’d go for a long walk in the big forests nearby, mainly looking for beautiful landscapes. On these kinds of walks, I usually leave the long lens behind, because ‘snapshots’ of wildlife aren’t really my thing. But this time I decided to carry the heavy 600 mm anyway.
