SHETLAND JUNE - JULY 2018

Diving gannet / havsule

Nikon D5, 14-24 2,8 / 14 mm, f/14,0, 1/1000, ISO 3200

I had been planning the underwater shooting for a full year ... and as the months went by my fantasies of the possible shots were getting a bit out of hand. Previous to this I had also seen a picture awarded in an int. photo competition that had inspired me a lot. My good and incredibly generous friend Arnfinn Johansen lent me his Aquatic underwater housing for Nikon D5, and in late June 2018 I dragged all the gear all the way to Shetland. I had never done underwater shooting before and accordingly I was unexperienced and had to gamble with the settings. I also knew I would only have one chance out there, once the camera is in the water there is no adjustment of settings in my solution. Through the "feeding frenzy" the gannets were diving "wild and close" ... and I shot 900 pictures down there.

The settings on my camera were obviously disturbed as I had pushed he camera into the housing, and the shock and horror over having shot 900 unsharp pictures was a "fist in the face". I could not believe I had committed such a massive f.... up !! A complete disaster !

However, some people at Shetland didn't`t like to listen to adult men crying .... and in spite of previous bookings, scedules, transportation logistics, accommodations etc .... I was given a second chance on my last day at Shetland. I changed the settings completely, went from 35 mm to 14 mm lens, from f/6,3 to f/16,0, from 1/800 to 1/1000 sec and from manuel fixed focus to autofocus with 72 focus points ..... and shot 1000 sharp pictures. Out of the 1000 pics 7 were OK.

A warm thank you to Brydon Thomasson of Shetland Nature, Phil Harris of Shetland Seabirds Tours, photographer Conrad Dickinson and of course Arnfinn Johansen.
Also thanks to Minna Lindroth, Markus Varesvuo and Ingebjørg Une Hagen.

Diving gannets / havsule

Nikon D5, 14-24 2,8 / 14 mm, f/14,0, 1/1000, ISO 3200

Diving gannets / havsule
Nikon D5, 14-24 2,8 / 14 mm, f/14,0, 1/1000, ISO 2000

Diving gannets / havsule
Nikon D5, 14-24 2,8 / 14 mm, f/14,0, 1/1000, ISO 2000

Like a torpedo ! Diving gannet / havsule
Nikon D5, 14-24 2,8 / 14 mm, f/14,0, 1/1000, ISO 3200

Diving gannet / havsule
Nikon D5, 14-24 2,8 / 14 mm, f/14,0, 1/1000, ISO 2000

Diving gannet / havsule
Nikon D5, 14-24 2,8 / 14 mm, f/14,0, 1/1000, ISO 2000

Gannet in flight ... overlooking the breaking waves on the marine rocks ...  deep down below

Nikon D5, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/2500, ISO 2200

Gannet in flight / havsule
Nikon D5, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/2500, ISO 1400

The idea was to shoot the white gannet towards a totally black background

Nikon D5, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1600, ISO 9000

Some of the limestone formations in the bird colonies north of Lerwick appear almost totally black. 

A great chance to shoot white bird towards a black background

Nikon D5, 400 2,8, F76,3, 1/2500, ISO 6400

If I`d been a fish looking up in those determined eyes .. I would have been terrified !

Gannet just before a dive

Nikon D5, 400 2,8, f/6,3, 1/2500, ISO 280

Gannet portrait / havsule

Nikon D5, 400 2,8, f/6,3, 1/3200, ISO 720

 Fulma / havhest

Merlin male / dvergfalk

Nikon D5, 600 4,0 + 1,4 conv. = 850 mm, f/6,3, 1/1600, ISO 560

Female merlin in flight / dvergfalk. 
Remember : the merlin is shy, fast and very small. Flight shots are difficult !

Nikon D5, 600 4,0 + 1,4 conv. = 850 mm, f/6,3, 1/1600, ISO 560

Puffin / lundefugl. Once again the idea was to shoot the flight towards dark background

Nikon D5, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/3200, ISO 7200

Great skua / storjo. 

The idea was to shoot the bird`s head sticking up from the cotton grass meadow with blurry foreground & background

Nikon D5, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/800, ISO 250 

Great skua / storjo 

Nikon D5, 600 4,0, f/5,6, 1/1250, ISO 720 

Great skua interaction / storjo 

Nikon D5, 600 4,0, f/4,0, 1/1250, ISO 2800 

The great skua is a big bird and the main predator in the Shetland birdcolonies 

Nikon D5, 600 4,0, f/4,5, 1/2000, ISO 3600 

Black guillemots / teist. 

The idea was to make a simple, but strong composition with the black birds in a whiteout situation

Nikon d5, 600 4,0, f/6,3, 1/2500, ISO 2000

Black guillemot / teist 

Nikon D5, 600 4,0, f/6,3, 1/1000, ISO 360

Black guillemot / teist 

Nikon D5, 600 4,0, f/6,3, 1/2500, ISO 1800

Black guillemot / teist 

Nikon D5, 600 4,0, f/6,3, 1/1000, ISO 500

Goodbye from Shetland. Grey seal / havert

Nikon D5, 24-70 2,8, / 70 mm, f/8,0, 1/1000, ISO 2800

PIT VIPERS FROM THAILAND JUNGLE JULY/ AUG 2018

The wet Thailand jungle mirrored upside down in raindrops on a male Gumprechs Pit Viper

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/9,0, 1/400, ISO 2800

Once again I have been back in the Thailand jungle looking for snakes. To find other species & habitats than last time (2 years ago in Southern Thailand) we did central & central/northern Thailand spending 11 days & 11 nights continuously looking for snakes. Pretty demanding schedule, but no critical incidents this time ... except when I stepped on a wasp peppery in the dark in the thick, impervious jungle, and had a frantic escape loosing my glasses (very expensive !!), did damage to one of my cameras (very expensive !!) and had my unavoidable wasp stings (painful, ... but for free). 

The 20 pictures I present here are only pit vipers. All pictures are shot with Sigma lenses.

If I get inspired (??) I will present other snakes from the project in another post later.

A warm thank you to Ton Smits, Tan of Tontan Tours, Parinya "Aood" Pawangkhanant, Thor Håkonsen & Pål Sørensen. Incredible knowledge of reptiles and Thai nature, great organised and very, very, very nice company !!    

Female Gumprechs Pit Viper (Viridovipera gumprechi), one of the largest pit vipers of the Thailand jungle. 

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/4,0, 1/500, ISO 2000

Female Gumprechts Pit Viper from habitat with altitude 1500 m

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/4,0, 1/500, ISO 1250

Male Gumprechts Pit Viper

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/4,5, 1/500, ISO 450

Female Gumprechts Pit Viper shot through the a "window" in the thick bush

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/4,0, 1/500, ISO 900

Thailand jungle is a wet place through the monsoon rains. Female Gumprechts Pit Viper

Nikon D5, Sigma 180, 2,8, f/7,1, 1/640, ISO 3200

The Kanburi Pit Viper (Cryptelytrops kanburiensis) is endemic to Thailand and is only found in a restricted limestone district in central western Thailand, in other words : extremely rare ! 6 persons spent 2 days & 2 nights looking for it .... with no success. It was the needle in the haystack ! As we had resignedly given up the Kanburi project, one of us had to go to the bush of natural reasons. As he was sitting there in his hunched position with his trousers down around his ankles ready to give something back to the nature, he turned his head to the side... and there, only a meter away from his most vulnerable parts, was a male Kanburi Pit Viper in ambush position ! 

Santa Claus is still around !!!

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/14,0, 1/320, ISO 2800   

Male Kanburi Pit Viper

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/10,0, 1/1600, ISO 6400 

Male Large-eyed Pit Viper (Cryptelytrops macrops)

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/6,3, 1/500, ISO 2500 

Female Large-eyed Pit Viper (Cryptelytrops macrops)

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/6,3, 1/400, ISO 4500 

Female Popes Pit Viper (Popeia popeiorum), Kaeng Krachan NP

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/14,0, 1/500, ISO 7200 

Female Popes Pit Viper (Popeia popeiorum), Kaeng Krachan NP

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/6,3, 1/500, ISO 2000

Female Popes Pit Viper (Popeia popeiorum), Kaeng Krachan NP

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/5,6, 1/1000, ISO 4000

Male Popes Pit Viper (Popeia popeiorum), Kaeng Krachan NP

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/4,0, 1/500, ISO 900

Female Whitelipped Pit Viper (Cryptelytrops albolabris), Kaeng Krachan NP

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/6,3, 1/400, ISO 500

Female Vogels Pit Viper (Viridovipera vogeli), Khao Yai NP. 

The biggest pit viper in Thailand jungles, up to 1,3 m. 

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/16,0, 1/500, ISO 5000

Meet Mrs Vogel !! A big, grumpy & venomous old lady from Khao Yai NP. 

Vogels Pit Viper (Viridovipera vogeli) 

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/11,0, 1/640, ISO 2800

Of course a daily drama in the jungle, still but rarely seen by people : Female Whitelipped Pit Viper (Cryptelytrops albolabris) har just grabbed a frog from her ambush position in a low bush and stabbed it with her long fangs injecting venom. 

Kaeng Krachan NP. The situation was difficult to shoot with very little light.

Nikon D5, Sigma 105 2,8, f/3,5, 1/250, ISO 4000

Female Whitelipped Pit Viper. One of the long fangs into the frog is visible

Nikon D5, Sigma 105 2,8, f/5,0, 1/400, ISO 22800 (!)

Female Whitelipped Pit Viper with frog prey shot in the light from a headlamp

Nikon D5, Sigma 180 2,8, f/4,0, 1/320, ISO 2200

Female Whitelipped Pit Viper with frog prey shot in the light from a headlamp. It took a long time for the frog to die in jaws of the viper. Since frogs develop a certain degree of immunity to the snake venom, the snakes accordingly have to increase the toxicity in the venom. 

Not good for people who get bitten !!

Nikon D5, Sigma 105 2,8, f/5,6, 1/320, ISO 5600

Pål Sørensen, Thor Håkonsen, Tom Dyring, Tan of Tontan Tours, Ton Smits & Parinya Pawangkhanant. 
What a team !!!