2010 has been a good year for me....photgraphically. Blogging is a perishable medium, yesterdays pictures are easily forgotten, so : I hope you don`t take for beeing pompous (!) ...but I have been tempted to make a "2010 retro highlights blog" !! I will also do this blog in English since I am lucky to have an english speaking audience out there. I have challenged myself to find the two best shots of every month during the year of 2010. I thought this would be an easy process, however it appeared to be frustratingly difficult, ....and of course, my artist wife Ingebjørg completely disagrees with my choices (as usual). I am just s much a biologist as photographer, so here we go !!
JANUARY 2010 :
Most people remember their "the first time"(?). This goes for me as well !! This is my first tiger experience. Chital deer, sambar deer and bushhogs came blasting out of the bamboo thickets, my heart went beating like a punk drummer, I was was ready and focused to shoot...and nothing happened, until my friend tapped me on my shoulder and wispered : "Look behind you". There she was, just 15 meters away from our open car, appox 250 kg heavy and completely relaxed. I will never forget her !!!
Due to an approaching male tiger and the terrain we knew that the leopard of Bandhavgarh National Park in India had to cross the road in front of us. He was hiding in the bush beside the road for 20 minutes before he suddenly burstes out. It took him 2 seconds to cross the road and I shot 17 pictures !
FEBUARY 2010 :
We spent 3 days & 3 nights in a hide in eastern Finland with temperatures below 30 degrees C, hoping to get "wolves in heavy winter landscape", .... and saw basically : nothing. However, on our way back from the hides we stumbled to see a freshwater otter on the ice of a frozen river. With 20 degrees below it was impressing to see the otters playful attitude to water and temperature.
MARCH 2010 :
In march I spent a week in Ole Martin Dahles eagle hides in Flatanger in Mid Norway. With stormy winter-weater both eagles and my Nikon-lenses had a rough time !!
APRIL 2010 :
To me whooper swans and cranes are symbols of the shy and fragile nothern wilderness. Approaching these birds fills me with a lot of respect. This was shot some late afternoon during the "blue hour".
MAY 2010 :
Great snipes (dobbeltbekkasiner) in mating season on an alpine marsh in mid Norway, the upper a male in display and the lower one in deep (?) reflection. What I remember the most from this experience is an extremely cold night !!
JUNE 2010 :
I sat uncomfortably in a hide up in a tree for 30 hours to get this picture of the great grey owl (lappugle) finally coming blasting out of the spruce branches straight towards me. My favourite shot !!
I was lucky to get a lot of pictures of pygmee owl (spurveugle) on this location, even closeups sitting on mouseprey on a brach, but still : this owl in this soft green environment is my "no one" !!
JULY 2010 :
There has been taken thousands of similar pictures of whitetailed eagle picking up fish from the water. Still : I like the action, eye contact of the bird, sharpness and bluish light of this image espescially good.
Common tern playing violin ?? Picture taken with the camera on a floating hide and myself swimming inside the hide in a wetsuit.
AUGUST 2010 :
Picture of male eider duck taken from the same floating hide with the lens just 5 cm above the surface of the seawater.
Herring gull-dance
SEPTEMBER 2010 :
Altogether I have now spent approx 400 hours in hides in eastern Finland to capture the magic of wild wolves. I have seen and photographed these fantastic animals several times before, but NEVER had the luck that I had in september this year. I will never forget the eyes of the alpha male looking me "right in the lens".
Female wolf in a foggy morning on the marsh
OCTOBER 2010 :
Red kites (glenter) from Rhayder in Wales UK.
NOVEMBER 2010 :
DECEMBER 2010 :
Fighting male grey seals (havert) of Donna Nook UK in mating season.
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Happy new year
