Tag: travel

Pallas Cat of Eastern Mongolia Workshop Report 2025

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In early January 2025, I ran my annual Winter workshop to the far Eastern Steppe region of Mongolia in search of the world’s grumpiest cat – the Pallas cat. A significant point of difference from others on this workshop is that we (my company – Wild Nature Photo Travel) will only take a maximum of six people to ensure we have a small intimate group to make minimal impact on each others photography in the field. With just a small group we can work together as a team and not be in each other’s way out in the field. I have watched other groups of up to ten or even more attempt this sort of trip as a group and it just doesn’t work effectively.

We began our workshop with a drive from the capital of Mongolia, Ulanbataar to our private camp in the Eastern Steppe region. Most of the drive is on regular paved roads with only the last couple of hours off-road through the Steppe. This year, conditions made for easy driving with little to no snow that saw us arrive at our camp in the early evening. We had time to settle in before dinner with high expectations for finding and photographing Pallas cat the following morning. It was a very interesting counterpoint this year as 2024 had been an extremely high snow year which made for really difficult driving conditions, but also exceptional photographic opportunities.

Our accomodation for this workshop was in both private and shared Gyrs (depending on preference). Each Gyr is equipped with a coal stove for heating, bed, wash basin and has plenty of space for equipment and luggage. The video below is a quick tour of one of the shared Gyrs.

We rose early on our first full day in the field and took breakfast before sunrise. This time of the year the sun doesn’t actually crest the Steppe before approximately 8am. With the sun just creeping over the horizon we set off from camp in our 4-wheel drives into the Steppe in search of the Pallas Cat. Despite the low snow conditions it didn’t take too long before we found our first cat and we captured the first images of this amazing animal.

The main photographic challenge this year was the lack of snow, which meant dealing with tall grass as an obstacle between the lens and the cat. This made the photography a little more difficult, but also more rewarding. With longer grass the best approach in my experience is to try and frame the cat amongst the grasses.

Over the course of the next week we photographed half a dozen different cats in various lighting conditions. Being a low snow year in the eastern region there was minimal opportunity for shooting the cat against an all white background. Instead the grasses of the Steppe served as the perfect addition to add environmental context.

Over the course of the week long workshop we also saw (but did not photograph) several Corsak Fox as well as a great many Upland Buzzards. We also sighted both Steppe and Golden Eagle as well as Saker Falcon and Mongolian Gazelle. The wildlife in this region of Mongolia never fails to disappoint and it remains one of the best untapped gems for wildlife photographers the world over.

I will return to the Steppe region of Mongolia again early next year in January 2026 in search of this wonderful wild cat. If you would like to join myself and Wild Nature Photo Travel on this unique experience in Mongolia please get in touch to register your interest. Places are filled on a first come first served basis. The 2026 workshop will run from the 2nd of January until the 9th of January which is the perfect time for winter conditions to photograph this beautiful (but grumpy) cat.

Photograph of the Month January 2025 – Mongolian Ibex

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Kicking off the 2025 year, the photograph of the month for January comes from my just completed expedition to Western Mongolia for Snow Leopard (Trip Report coming soon). Although this is not an image of Snow Leopard, it is my favourite wildlife photograph from this trip. The silhouette is of a Mongolian Ibex that appeared at the very top of this mountain range for a few moments while we were milling around the vehicles at the base of the mountains. At the time the Ibex appeared, my camera was packed up in the car as we had just returned from hiking in the mountains. Hastily I grabbed my camera bag and pulled out the R1 with the 600mm and 1.4 TC. I immediately recognised that this photograph was going work best as silhouette and set my exposure accordingly. Mercifully, the Ibex remained and posed for the perfect silhouette before disappearing again over the ridge. This sort of photograph is pure serendipity and can never be planned. The key takeaway for me is not just to remain prepared in the field, but also to recognise opportunity when it presents for this sort of silhouette.

Puffins and Razorbills Workshop Two Place Availability June 2025

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Due to a recent medical cancellation there are two places that have just become available on my Puffins and Razorbills workshop on Grimsey Island, Iceland this June. The workshop will run from June 3rd until June 8th, 2025 and includes all accomodation and food on Grimsey Island as well as Ferry tickets, private vehicle transfers in Iceland and of course all in field tuition and instruction – plus of course amazing photographic experiences with Atlantic Puffins! Please get in touch if you would like to secure a place or would like additional information.


This bespoke, custom-tailored workshop to Grimsey Island, north of Iceland, is for keen and passionate wildlife photographers who want to capture dramatic and powerful photographs of Puffins, Razor Bills, and other Arctic birds. Grimsey Island is the best place in the world to photograph the Atlantic Puffin and Razor Bill under the midnight sun. We have a small group size and personal, one-on-one tuition for the duration of the workshop. There will also be landscape opportunities during this workshop, although our primary focus is Puffins and other birds such as Razorbills.

WNPP Episode 111 Wrapping up 2024 and 2025 Whats in Store?

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I have just published episode 111 of my Wild Nature Photography Podcast.  In this episode, I look back at the incredible year 2024, the travel, the countries, experiences, and photographs, and I look forward to travelling and participating in workshops in 2025. 2025 kicks off in just a few days with travel from Australia to Mongolia for back-to-back workshops for Pallas Cat and Snow Leopard in both the far east and west of this amazing country. This will be quickly backed up by two back-to-back Arctic Fox workshops in the far north of Iceland. It’s promising to be a huge year, and I am super keen to get underway.

Although I am covering most of the review content for the 2024 year and the upcoming 2025 workshops in the podcast I do want to single out a few items below.

In competition terms, 2024 was consistently positive for me. I was a finalist in Bird Photographer of the Year (for the second year in a row), took first place in the people’s choice award in the Asia/Pacific Photography awards in the Nature category. I was also very pleased to take out both Gold and Silver awards in the Australian Photographic Prize and was a grand finalist in the same award. I was also a finalist in both the portfolio and single shot categories in the Travel photographer of the Year competition (winners yet to be announced). Lastly I was delighted to represent Australia again at the World Photographic Cup (the Olympics of Photography). I still lament the loss of the APPA’s (Australian Professional Photography Awards) as the then only photographic print awards. Hopefully, new print awards will emerge in the Nature / Wildlife category in another competition in the near future. On top of the above, I was also announced as a multiple semi-finalist in Nature’s Best Photography. 2024 has been a solid year; despite my lack of entries in the various competitions, I managed to either win, place or be a semi-finalist in almost everything I entered.

In equipment terms, 2024 was the year of the EOS R3 for me (I did not take delivery of the EOS R1 until December this year). The Canon EOS R3 has been nothing short of a game-changing tool in my photography and has served me faithfully in everything from the extreme -55º Celsius of Ellesmere Island in Winter to the heat of the African desert. It was my first serious commitment to the RF mirrorless line, and I have never looked back. I only recently updated to the all new EOS R1 just in time for my last workshop of the year (the Emperor Penguins – Read the Trip Report). Summing up the EOS R1 is easy – It is an EOS R3 dialled up to 11. With the addition of pre-capture, 40 frames per second RAW shooting, world leading auto focus and an EVF to die for it unsurprisingly gets my vote for camera equipment of the year. I am very much looking forward to shooting with the EOS R1 next year.

My book pick for the year goes to my recently reviewed ‘Munier’ (Listen to the Podcast) by Vincent Munier. This is not the first time Vincent has graced my book of the year list (I believe this is the third time!), and this 2024 addition should be no surprise, as I am a big fan of his work. ‘Munier’ is a masterpiece and deserves a home in every Nature photographer’s library. If you do not yet own this book, you should run to order it. If you only buy one book this year – this should be it.

If I had to sum up 2024 in one word, it would be ‘gratitude.’ I am grateful to have shared my passion for photography with many like-minded individuals. I am likewise grateful for a safe and prosperous year and for the incredible experiences throughout the year. My sincere thanks to all who travelled and participated in one of my trips this year; it was beautiful to have such fantastic shared experiences. It was an incredible year of travel and photography that sometimes left me breathless at the pace and intensity. Don’t forget to check out my twelve favourite photographs for the year HERE.

For those of you who have managed to make it this far and want a glimpse into 2026 and beyond, I have now uploaded most of 2026 and a hint of 2027 to the workshops page of my website at www.jholko.com/workshops. With Russia and the Siberian Tigers still currently shut down indefinitely, I am working on several other large cat projects. I also have a very exciting all new fly-in fly-out Antarctic peninsula expedition for just ten people in early 2027. More to come next year.

Last and certainly not least, I wish all of you a very safe and happy New Year, and may 2025 be one of health, happiness and one of travel, amazing light, and experiences for all of you. See you in the New Year!

Emperor Penguins of Antarctica Expedition Report December 2024

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In late November / early December 2024, I ran my semi-annual wildlife expedition to the world’s most southerly Emperor Penguin colony at Gould Bay, deep in the Weddell Sea region of Antarctica. For this expedition, we flew from Punta Arenas at the bottom of Chile on a privately chartered Iceland Air 757 to the naturally occurring blue ice runway at Union Glacier in Antarctica. From this point, we overnighted at Union Glacier Basecamp before we took a 2nd smaller Basler aircraft another three hours out to the remote sea ice at Gould Bay, where we landed on the sea ice and established camp with the Emperor Penguins.

This year, for the trip report, I decided to utilise the video I recorded during each stage of the expedition to better illustrate the travel process to the Emperor Penguins and what it is like to camp, live with and photograph the emperor penguins. This year, we were fortunate to spend a full seven days (six nights) camped out at the colony. This provided us phenomenal opportunities and the chance to photograph in various weather conditions. Personally, my favourite day was heavily overcast with light snow. I have yet to encounter a full-on blizzard out at the colony, but I am hopeful for future years!

I am still working through the more than five thousand images I made during the course of the week spent out on the sea ice with the penguins, but I have included a few favourites already processed below from what I felt was our best few days – heavily overcast conditions and light snowfall.

The above montage footage was all shot with the new Canon EOS R1 at 4K 120 fps with the Canon RF 600mm F4L IS handheld. This was the first outing with the new Canon EOS R1, and I am blown away by both the ergonomics and performance of this camera. There is a purity and depth of colour to the 14-bit RAW files I have only seen before in much more expensive medium format cameras. The eye tracking focus (yes it can track the black eye of an Emperor Penguin against black feathers), the pre-capture, the build quality and overall performance all stack up to make this the best camera I have yet used. I will have more to say about this in a future podcast.

I will return to the world’s most southerly Emperor penguin colony in early November next year (2025) to lead another small group of photographers on this incredible expedition. If you have ever wanted to photograph the world’s largest and most elegant, photogenic penguin, this is the expedition for you. Limited places are still available on this extraordinary expedition. Please contact me for more details.