The photograph of the month for November 2022 comes from one of my recent Greenland East Coast Scoresby Sund expeditions (Read the Trip Report) and is of a gigantic iceberg in soft fog at sunset. Photographed from zodiac, we were extremely fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to be able to take advantage of not only the beautiful iceberg but the soft fog that was being burned off by the setting sun. These kinds of situations are highly dynamic and change from moment to moment. In this instance, I had our zodiac driver position us off the prow of the iceberg to give us the most depth in the iceberg (looking down both flanks) and to help hide the sun behind the iceberg. This helps backlight the soft fog and gives the impression the iceberg is burning from within. It was shot with the Canon 14-35mm RF F4L IS zoom lens on the Canon EOS R3. Wide-angle zoom lenses are ideal for this type of photography that is highly dynamic.
I have just published episode #51 of my Wild Nature Photography Podcast. In this episode, I review the all-new Remembering Bears book; the latest project by Remembering Wildlife. Full disclosure: I am featured in this book in the section on Polar Bears. Overall I found this to be an outstanding book well worth owning and it should be part of any Nature Photographers’ photographic library. Four out of Five Stars.
Remembering Bears will be the seventh book in the highly acclaimed Remembering Wildlife series of charity books and features a foreword by Gordon Buchanan MBE and an afterword by Jill Robinson. The book is full of beautiful images once again donated by more than 80 of the world’s top wildlife photographers including Joshua Holko, Greg du Toit, Marsel van Oosten, Frans Lanting, Art Wolfe, Tim Laman, and Daisy Gilardini. It will feature images of all eight species of bears from around the world: American black bears, Andean bears, Asiatic black bears, brown bears, giant pandas, polar bears, sloth bears, and sun bears with the aim to raise awareness of their plight and also to raise funds to protect them.
In early October 2022, I ran my wildlife workshop in northern Finland for Wolves, Bears, and Wolverines – Wild Wolves of the Taiga Forest. This is a workshop I have been running for some years now and is something I always eagerly look forward to. Put simply, Finland has rapidly become one of my all-time favorite destinations for Wildlife photography. It offers a fantastic variety of wildlife in a stunning setting in late Autumn and Winter. I believe it is currently the best and most reliable place in the world to photograph wild wolves.
As per previous years, we based ourselves about two and a half hours drive north of the small town of Kajaani and roughly an hour sideways of the small municipality of Kuhmo. Thanks to the post-pandemic flight schedules and FinnAir canceling all flights to Kajaani, we were forced to fly into Kuopio this year; which meant a drive of about three and a half hours (instead of the usual two and a half). The particular area of no man’s land where our hides are located is ordinarily inaccessible to the general public, but with permission from the military police, we were able to enter and use this area for our photography. No hunting is allowed in no-mans land, and as such, this area has become somewhat of a haven for wildlife. Wolves, bears, and Wolverine can all be found regularly in this area.
Day one of this workshop saw us straight into the action with both Wolves and Bears turning up at the hide within just a few minutes of us entering. In recent years the Wolves seem to have become more accepting of the hides and are now approaching quite quickly and often very close – within just a few meters. As above, I believe this area of Finland is now ‘the’ premiere place in the world to reliably photograph wild wolves.
There are roughly a dozen permanent hides set up in the area we based ourselves, and we utilized a good deal of them for our time in Finland. One of the key advantages of multiple hides is the ability to change the background and create a more varied portfolio of work. There have been several improvements to the hides in recent times and many of them now sport ground-level ports for shooting at eye level with the wildlife – a big improvement.
Telephoto lenses are ideal for this workshop, and most photographs are made between 400 and 600mm. Wolves are generally shy and move very quickly, so there is some benefit to telephoto zoom lenses. I shot almost exclusively with a 600mm F4 prime lens with a 1.4 TC, and most of the participants were using either 600mm or 400mm lenses. Lenses such as the 200-400 and 100-400, or 100-500 can also be used effectively for this workshop. Smaller form crop sensors that provide extended reach can also be very effective.
Although the Wolverine remained elusive during our time in Finland, we did see and photograph several different brown bears throughout the trip. The bears are preparing to hibernate this time of year, and late October is the last chance to photograph them before their long nap and the Spring thaw. They are fat, and lethargic, and move much more slowly than the Wolves.
We also saw and photographed both White-tail and Golden Eagles and many smaller bird species, including Eurasian and Siberian Jays and many of the Tits. Ravens, pied crows, and Eurasian magpies were also seen in abundance.
I am already looking forward to returning in September next year for my next Finland Autumn workshop for Wolves, and Bears, and with a little luck, the Wolverine will also make an appearance. Full details of the trip are available on my website HERE (some places already spoken for – please contact me for details). For 2023 there will also be an optional extension for both Golden Eagle and Eagle Owl at a separate nearby location. More to come on this in a future post.
Back in 2015, I guided a private client to Iceland on their first experience with the land of fire and ice. By their own admission, they were a beginner photographer, but keen to experience the country firsthand. Yesterday I received the following eloquently crafted correspondence on their impressions of Iceland that they have generously allowed me to publish.
An all-pervading stink of sulfur filled the air. Standing in the Hverir thermal region I saw white steam billowing from fissures in the stony ground.
It was mid-week of my expedition to explore the wilds of Iceland with my private guide Joshua Holko in our truck with its 36-inch wheels, the two of us had left Reykjavik and traveled through the Highlands taking the Sprengisandur route, the Highlands’ longest and loneliest track. We had crossed bleak desert moors, forded many rivers fed by glacial melt water from the icecaps seen in the distance, and endured the windswept black tephra sand as it coated everything in grit. We were now based in Reykjahlid, with our accommodation a cabin, set on a black lava field.
Starkly beautiful, the Hverir thermal area is an astonishing landscape of sputtering mud pots, weird lava formations, steaming fumaroles, volcanic craters, and the ever-pervasive smell of sulfur. Mother Earth has many faces and surely this must be one of her harshest. I could detect no faunal life in the immediate area. No insects buzzed, hummed, crawled, or flew nearby. No flowers or foliage added color or perfume to the landscape but in some places, a touch of texture was added by an algae bloom. My main impression of this remote landscape was underpinned by the smell of gas and the heat emanating from the ground beneath my feet. I could sense the raw power of nature and how insignificant we humans can feel when in a situation such as this.
Wandering this landscape requires care and respect for the force of nature. Geysers of boiling water spray into the air and grey mud holes bubble and hiss a warning of DANGER. As I watched and listened to this hubble and bubble I wondered at the geothermal power locked under the surface. The steaming water is piped into homes for heating and washing. It is also used for warming greenhouses to produce food in a country where six months of the year is cold and dark.
I had felt so excited when the chance came for me to explore this remote part of the world and now it felt somewhat unreal to acknowledge I was here! Always attracted to visiting somewhere different, Iceland offered so many unique opportunities for adventure with its extremes of heat and cold, its magnificent unspoiled landscape, Icelandic ponies, poppies, and puffins, and the magnificent spectacle of the Aurora Borealis. Visiting in August meant seeing the Aurora was not on the agenda, however, there was plenty of time to view the sights as the nights were very short indeed, with barely any darkness at all. (That can be a trap for novices as one has to ensure one goes to bed!) I also felt very grateful that I could share this special time with my guide as so much of his time is spent on photographic expeditions in polar regions. This was his world of expertise, and he was sharing it with me. What better guide could I have for a visit to The Land of Fire and Ice?
I have just published Episode #50 of my Wild Nature Photography Podcast. This podcast episode includes my thoughts and experience on dealing with Jetlag as well as my impression of Vincent Munier’s masterpiece La Panthére Des Neiges.
www.WILDNATUREPHOTOTRAVEL.com 