www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com

The pandemic (and now Putin’s war) are still having an ongoing effect on travel for many and as a result, there are a number of places that have become available on upcoming workshops and expeditions. Please drop me an email if you would like any additional information or would like to register for one of the remaining open places.

Bookings are closed until further notice for the planned expedition this July to Wrangle Island (Russian Territory). Further details on the viability of this expedition will be provided as soon as possible.

ZULULAND AFRICA WORKSHOP – May 23rd, June 1st, 2022

In May of 2022, I am offering an all-new private workshop with unparalleled luxury photographic hides in the heart of Zululand, Africa. Offering luxury accommodation alongside an astonishing array of wildlife photographic opportunities from some of the world’s most advanced and superbly equipped hides. There are currently nine photographic hides, including two Bird Bath Hides or Reflection Hides. These are ideal for small bird photography. The larger Lagoon hide focuses on waterbirds and crocodiles in the summer season. There are two places available – Full details at www.jholko.com/workshops

SVALBARD KINGDOM OF THE ICE BEAR – July 6th, July 15th, 2022

In July 2022 I am leading an expedition to the pack ice north of Svalbard to photograph Polar Bears and other wildlife and landscape of this incredible archipelago. This expedition has been designed to provide the very best possible opportunities to Photograph Polar Bears in their natural environment. With the reduction in Arctic sea ice, the Polar Bears in Svalbard are dwindling in number and the number of years left to photograph them is unfortunately limited. July and August are the ideal times to photograph the landscape and Polar Bears north of Svalbard due to the dwindling ice around the archipelago. The expedition is for a strictly limited number of just 12 participants plus leader and is dedicated to the photography of Polar Bears living and hunting on the sea ice. There are three places available – Full details at www.jholko.com/workshops

WILD WOLVES OF THE TAIGA FOREST – October 10th, October 17th, 2022

This unique workshop is dedicated to photographing the magnificent Wolves and Brown Bears of Northern Finland, in a fiery Autumn / early Winter setting. After much research and highly successful on-site location testing, I am very excited to offer you the opportunity to get up close and personal with these magnificent predators. On this workshop you will have EXCLUSIVE LAND ACCESS, which means it’s only us and the wildlife, no other photographers or visitors permitted.

We will be photographing in late Autumn / early Winter conditions: We can expect everything from sunny days to clouds, fog, and even the first snows of winter. This variety of weather, landscape, and lighting conditions will provide you with the opportunity to create a diverse, creative and professional portfolio of these predators.

There are two places available – Full details at www.jholko.com/workshops

Traveling either locally or internationally with camera equipment is always stressful. The mere thought of our expensive photographic equipment being stolen or lost sends shivers down the spine of even the most affluent photographer. Having the equipment insured can help ease the pain, but does little to soften the blow of your ongoing trip where you are now sans cameras. Not a situation any of us want to find ourselves in.

When you are traveling alone there is always the thorny problem of what to do with all your camera gear and bags when nature calls and you have to visit the lounge or public restroom. Do you take your camera bag with you? Where do you put it? (restrooms are not the most sanitary of places to take luggage in my experience) Do you leave it in the lounge where you were seated? Ask someone to watch it for you? And what about when you are seated at a restaurant and need to visit a nearby store? What about at airport security? I have seen someone walk off with the wrong bag at security while its owner was stranded on the other side of the x-ray machine. And, what if you need to leave your camera bag and equipment in the car somewhere? Or even worse, put it down somewhere in the field and forget about it? (I have seen this happen – a colleague left a very expensive Phase One with a P45+ back in the field in Iceland – almost a very expensive mistake Kevin!) There are countless situations in airports and when traveling that could easily see you separated from your expensive camera gear. So how do you protect it and always know where it is located?

At this point, I want to share a tip on how I deal with this problem and how I ensure I always know exactly where my camera bag is located – even when I leave it in the lounge to visit the restroom for a call of nature. The solution comes courtesy of Apple and is known as an Apple Air Tag (you must be an IOS user) Once set up, you simply hide the Air tag inside your camera bag where it cannot easily be found (I like to put it inside the lining of the bag). Then using your IOS device you can track the camera bag anywhere in the world. Granted you need to be within 33 feet for detailed location information. But outside of Bluetooth-range you can use wide-area ‘Find My’ to get inside Bluetooth range and then just let the technology take over. Boom! Your camera bags are now traceable anywhere in the world! The screenshot below shows both my camera case and laptop case as they sit next to me here in the lounge in Doha airport.

Originally designed for locating lost car keys, Apple Air Tags are a wonderful way to keep track of your very expensive camera gear when traveling. With an Air Tag installed in each of my camera bags I can visit the restroom with nothing more than my iPhone and receive an instant notification if the bag moves. I can track the bag if I find it gone (at least until the thief finds the Air Tag – which isn’t very likely) and always know exactly where my camera gear is located. You can even put an Air Tag in your checked luggage and tell the airline where your lost bag is located if it fails to turn up at your destination. There are undoubtedly many other applications for this clever little device, but ensuring you always know where your camera gear is located is certainly top of the list for photographers. Happy and safe traveling.

I have just published Episode #39 of my Wild Nature Photography Podcast. This podcast episode includes a wrap-up from my 2022 Winter wildlife workshop to Finland and further thoughts on the performance of the Canon EOS R3 in the Finnish Winter.

Sometimes it isn’t about the final photograph and such an occasion for me was yesterday. I received word of a Great Grey Owl sighting some 200 kilometers south of my current location near Kussamo in Finland and decided to take a chance and drive with my local ground operator in the hopes we might sight it. Finding and photographing a Great Grey Owl in the wild has been a long-time dream of mine. I have previously spent more than two weeks in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone in the USA looking for the Great Grey Owl in Winter. I have completed countless Finland trips in both Winter and Autumn also in search of this species, but have always come up zero. The opportunity to see one in the wild was too much of a drawcard for me and so yesterday we piled into the 4WD at 6:45am (yet another early start!) and drove the 200km south to the area the Owl was last seen.

The tip proved reliable, and once in the area we fanned out armed with our binoculars and began a hard-target search for the elusive owl. Great Grey Owls can be tough to spot. They have a habit of sitting in the middle of tall pine, birch, and fur trees and are typically much harder to find than the much smaller Hawk Owl (that sits on the very top of the tree). Mercifully, it didn’t take long and the owl was found sitting low in a fur tree looking out over a farmer’s snow-covered field enjoying the morning sunshine. A wonderful moment and a ‘lifer’ for me.

Unfortunately, weather conditions were absolutely horrible for photography with blue skies and harsh direct sun-light that meant anything more than a record shot was going to be nigh on impossible. On top of that, the owl was perched in a position that meant it was impossible to get a clean background – Ce La Vis. Although we waited, sitting all day in the deep snow in temps as low as -10C until well after sunset the weather and light (and owl) failed to co-operate. Was I disappointed? Not at all. Although it would have been fabulous to have a clean background, blowing snow, and dramatic light I am nonetheless thrilled to have finally seen this beautiful bird in the wild. A future high-quality, emotive and dramatic photograph of this amazing owl will have to remain a dream for now, but I will keep trying. Until that time, a record shot from the back of the camera just has to suffice.

LIFER (noun) The term lifer refers to a bird species when it is first seen and positively identified by an individual birder. Lifer is a designation for a species that individual birder has never seen previously, not a returning migrant, new sighting for the year, or other repeat sighting.

I have just published Episode #38 of my Wild Nature Photography Podcast. This podcast episode includes a wrap-up from my 2022 Arctic Fox Expedition to the far north of Iceland and my thoughts on the performance of the Canon EOS R3 in the Iceland Winter as well as a brief introduction to my current Winter Wolves workshop in Finland.

In equipment news: BenQ has recently achieved the world’s first Pantone SkinTone Validated certification for their selected current SW (SW321C/SW240) and upcoming new PD models (PD3205U/PD2705U). You can read about the official AU Press Release here: https://www.benq.com/en-au/news/products/benqpantoneskintonevalidatedpressrelease.html