In just a few minutes, I am leaving for Stockholm airport here in Sweden for the short 4-hour flight to Spain, where I will be based for the next five days. The purpose of this visit is a scouting trip for the Iberian Lynx (and potentially a future workshop). Spain is a location that has become extremely popular in recent times with photographers looking to photograph this rare and elusive cat. It has been incredibly hot in Spain this summer, and I admit the thought of sitting in a hide in 40º Celsius is not particularly appealing as a polar photographer! Nevertheless, the opportunity to photograph Lynx in the wild is an opportunity not to be missed. See you in Spain!

For those of you patiently waiting for the new A.I Noise Reduction Pre-sets for the Canon EOS R1 camera. The good news is I have finished all the RAW analysis and ‘slider tweaking’ some time ago. The not-so-good news is that I discovered a serious bug in the latest Lightroom version 14.4 that prevents the creation of a workable preset. I have reported the bug to my contact at Adobe, and they have verified my findings:

“Yes, you are right, this aspect is currently broken (as well as the ability to make a preset that turns Denoise off ).  I’m looking into this and hopefully will have a fix ready for the next release, time permitting.”

This means the release of the new A.I presets are currently on hold, pending a fix from Adobe. I have no idea how long this fix will take, but I hope the next Lightroom update will address the issue.

The optimal setting for the A.I Noise Reduction slider was a significant amount of work, and as such, this will be a paid upgrade for existing users of our analogue Noise Reduction pre-sets. However, all existing users will be entitled to a 50% discount when the new presets are released.

I have just published episode 129 of my Wild Nature Photography Podcast. In this episode, I round up the latest batch of news, including the exciting news that I have again made the semi-finals in Nature’s Best Photography (more details to come when the finalists/winners are announced). The Svalbard Winter expedition 2026 is now sold out, and we have only a few places left on our Winter Pallas Cat workshop to Mongolia in January. I also have my thoughts on the Canon EOS R1, having shot with it in the field for more than 8 months (also recently published to Canon Rumours). Some additional information on my upcoming exhibition in Sharjah in the UAE next January 2026, and lastly, my preparations and thoughts for the forthcoming Spain and Finland workshops.

In October this year, I will be presenting on Polar Photography at the Penrith Camera club in New South Wales, Australia. Please contact Peter Thorpe if you are interested in attending (details included below) the evening presentation, or visit the Penrith Club Website.

Yesterday, I received the exciting news that three of the four photographs I entered into the 2025 Nature’s Best Photography competition have been selected to go through to the semi-final round of judging. I cannot yet share which photographs have made it through to the next round, but I will do so as soon as possible.

In the meantime, we are now down to the last few places on our Winter Pallas Cat workshop to Mongolia in January of next year. Please contact me if you would like to secure a place or have any questions about this exciting workshop in Mongolia. This is a workshop we pioneered and have continued to offer over recent years. As well as the Pallas cat, we are also likely to see and photograph the Corsac Fox and many Raptors. Full details on the website at www.jholko.com/workshops