Swamp & City

Cranberries and a few quick photos

2011-10-29T22:37:00.002+03:00

It's been about three months since my last trip to swamp. Much too long a time to be away from there in my opinion, but sometimes one just has to make choices because time is so limited. In this case, many other things were much more important than photography. This time around I went with a good friend of mine to pick some cranberries. I was surprised how little berries there were, but we managed to get just about what we needed. I took a few quick pictures while picking berries, mainly as proof for myself that I did manage to get to swamp before winter.

The summer went by

2011-08-17T23:12:00.008+03:00

I could not find the time for photography or updating this blog during the summer. From the beginning of June until the end of July my days were spent either at work or trying to complete the "project" in our backyard. I fixed our basement wall and then built a new terrace behind the house. Most of my time was spent shoveling sand, first digging a deep, large hole next to the wall and then filling it:
I will not calculate how much sand I had to move back and forth, but there sure was a lot of it. Now the basement wall is done as it should be, the drainige etc are up to modern standards.

The terrace turned out nice, it is good to sit down and enjoy the evening, or to have a barbeque. And if you're wondering, no, the terrace was not built sloping down. The camera was not straight when the picture was taken. I decided not to start straightening the image with photoshop, it's good enough as it is.
When the terrace was done, I made good on my promise to my eldest daughter and took her on a photography outing to the boonies. Here are a few pictures from that day:
Nea took this picture of a small spider that decided to hitch a ride on my sleeve:
I've promised to take Nea to see and photograph migrating cranes, so the next update will be coming much faster than this one did.

A spring morning at the swamp

2011-04-19T22:56:00.001+03:00

I headed out at five in the morning. Just as the sun was rising I was at the end of the dirt road and started to walk towards my hide. At first the going was nice and light, there was either clear ground or snow with a nice icy crust to make walking easy in the forest. Once I got to the swamp, things changed completely. With the exception of a few small shady spots, all the snow and ice on the swamp had melted and there was plenty of water everywhere. Step by step I continued forward, eventhough I kept sinking about knee deep with every step. Along the way I stopped to look and listen at the sights and sounds of spring. A lonely crane was calling out near my route to the hide:
As usual, the crane was rather far away and as I kept moving, eventhough away from the bird, it took to its wings and flew away:
Eventually I arrived at the and as I had suspected, the tiedowns had let go. As the snow and the surface of the swamp had melted, the attachments had come loose. Luckily I had made a backup tiedown to a tiny pine and this had stopped the hide from being flown completely away. Eventhough the tent was lying on its side in the water, looking all battered and beaten, nothing was broken:
I took a few landscape -type pictures, mainly as a memento for myself of how wet everything was this time around:
The pair of swans that were close to the hide had received some company since my last visit:
I loaded the hide up and started to head back. The weight of the hide forced me to take short stops to rest along the way. I used the breaks to take some pictures. On one of my stops some calls from afar caught my attention. It took me some time to locate the source of the sounds, but I finally spotted four cranes making quite some noise between the trees close to the edge of the swamp:
The sun was out and heated the air fast and pulling the hide along in the soft and uneven surface of the swamp got me sweating quickly. Even with the heat of the sun, there were still some spots of terrain that were rather cold:
On my way back to the car the sun had heated the edge of the forrest so much, that I managed to take my first butterfly pictures of the year:
This one was a rather rough trip, but now the hide is at home drying and waiting for coming photography trips to the boonies.

A few drops of spring

2011-04-14T18:23:00.003+03:00

The snow is melting, spring must be here:

More black grouse pictures

2011-04-13T13:13:00.000+03:00

I went thru the pictures of my "grouse morning". Quite a load of pictures, considering it was only one morning, but in my opinion, it is better to keep shooting when there is some action. The following pictures should give some idea as to how violent the confrontations between the birds were:
I could hear the thumps and slaps even in my hide as the birds attacked each other. It is a shame I can't add sound to the pictures. Maybe I should shoot a video of this sometime?

Morning grouses, again

2011-04-10T21:40:00.009+03:00

Yes. I must be crazy. The alarmclock went off at 2 am. I had slept for about three hours. I turned the coffeepercolator on, to get the caffeine dose my body needed and took the younger dog out for a few minutes. When I got back inside, the coffee was ready and as I sipped my morning cup, I made some tea for my thermos that I was taking with me for the mornings outing. I put the thermos and some sandwiches in my backpack along with the rest of my gear and loaded the whole thing in the car.

A little after three I was at the end of the dirtroad and started skiing towards my hide. After the first hundred meters I got a harsh reminder of how important it is to check EVERYTHING, even for a short outing. This time it was the bind on my ski that broke. I managed a quick fix to it in the middle of the forest. (Detailed description of what happend will be posted later)

As I got closer to the hide, things got rather wet. There was a thin layer of snow on top a thick layer of wet slush and water on top some ice at the swamp. At some places I was lucky that my boots were long enough. The hide had stayed dry, but was surrounded on three sides by very deep water. All I could do was hope that the whole thing would not slide off the small mound it was sitting on.

I got into the hide and put on warm clothing and set up my gear. Then I had nothing to do but wait and have some tea and sandwiches. It was 4:35 am. that I had everything set up. Since I had nothing better to do, I put a few short updates for the folks at home on how things are going thru FaceBook on my mobile.

As the sun began to rise, there was enough light that I could see out of the hide. The sunrise was not as clear as I had hoped for, the thin layer of clouds gave the sunrise a gray/bluish tone instead of the yellow or orange that I wanted:
I was feeling a bit cold and maybe that is why I was also somewhat frustrated. I was starting to wonder if this would be one more entry in the long line of "I went but got no pictures" trips. Just as there was enough light to start seriously thinking of taking pictures a few grouses and some lapwings landed close to the hide:
The grouses made a lot of noise and strutted around quite a bit, but no real confrontations took place. The pecking order seemed to be clear to everyone:
All of a sudden, all the birds flew away. I spotted them landing several hundreds of meters from the hide. I was thinking of packing my gear and heading for home, when more and more grouses started landing, until there were about twenty birds around my hide. Soon lapwings arrived in great numbers also:
This second set of grouses was really active and skirmishes erupted all the time as the birds fought for the best spots:
After the grouses had had enough, the "clean up crew" arrived and seemed to be very interested in the spots where the toughest battles had been fought:
I'll post more pictures of the morning when I have had a chance to look thru all of the pictures I took.

Opening tracks and springtime

2011-04-07T15:19:00.001+03:00

It looks as if spring has arrived. I went for a quick "ski about" in the boonies and noticed how the warm rainy days that we have had lately had caused the snow to become soft. There was simply no icy crust left and I kept sinking knee deep all along the way. This slowed me down quite a bit, but I just kept on going, my aim was open a track to my hide, since I am planning on going out on saturday morning to take some pictures.

I eventually got to the hide and noticed that it had become loose. The melting snow had revealed the tiedowns I buried earlier. The snow had also melted from underneath the hide, tilting the whole thing over to one side and submerging it partly in water. I moved the whole system a few meters to a drier spot and re-did the tiedowns.

Arriving at the hide I noticed plenty of grouse tracks in the snow around the hide and a flock of ten birds took off nearby as I approached. The hide seems to be situated well.

My old friend from previous years had come back also, a sure sign that spring is here:
I also heard a crane calling out from somewhere amidst the fog, but did not see where it was. The sound seemed to come from quite far away. On my way back I saw bunch of tits amongst the trees along the dirtroad. I stopped for a moment and took a couple of quick snapshots:
It would have been nice to get a better picture of the longtailed tit in the second picture, but I decided not to stay and wait for a better shot this time around. I felt that I needed get back to the car and head for home and a hot shower.

Too tired

2011-04-01T18:25:00.001+03:00

Yesterday afternoon I was thinking about heading out to the hide this morning to try and get some grouse shots, but decided against it. Getting up in the middle of the night two nights in a row felt like a bit too much. I'll be able to get the grouse pics some other time. The morning turned out to be real good for photography, the night had been just cold enough that skiing would have been nice and easy with a good crust on the snow and the sunrise was giving good light with plenty of color and tone. Looking at the morning sunlight, I felt a bit of regret for being too lazy to rough it out. The good thing about not going is that I managed to help out with household stuff, we seemed to have plenty to do around the house once again.

I have a certain grouse picture that I want to take. Once again I have a vision in my mind but I don't know when I'll be able to get it, if ever. I know that if I don't get it this time around, I'll be trying for it again in a years time when it's black grouse mating season all over again. The weatherforecast said tuesday morning would be good, which suits me just fine, since the weekend is fully booked with other activities.

Too cold

2011-03-31T17:25:00.000+03:00

The weather forecast was correct, it was well below freezing at night and a sunny morning followed. Nea and I headed off in the middle of the night and skied to the hide. Along the way we stopped a couple of times to look at the stars. Being away from city lights, we could see just how many stars there are in the sky.

We got to the hide nice and early, there was only the slightest hint of light on the horizon. We unpacked our gear and crawled into the hide. Once inside, we put on plenty of warm clothing and started setting up our cameras in anticipation of the morning and hopefully arriving grouses. That is when things took bad turn on us. Eventhough Nea had enough clothing on to cause the average eskimo to die of heat exhaustion, the cold of the night got thru. We tried to tough it out for awhile and tried to come up with some way of keeping Nea warm, but it was hopeless. In the end we had no choice, but to pack our gear and head back to the car and the warmth of home.

Skiing back to the car warmed Nea up enough that she felt good enough to stop and take a few pictures along the way:
These few quick snapshots saved the whole trip, the sadness of not being able to take pictures of grouses was forgotten. As we skied along, we did hear grouse calls in the distance, but did not ponder on them for long, we decided to talk about the tracks on the snow, the beautiful colors of the sunrise and what we would be photographing when the weather becomes warmer. Nea did ask me if the birds would flee if we skied to where the sounds were coming from.

At the end of our outing, Nea and I agreed that we could go skiing and taking pictures, but sitting in the hide with freezing temperatures is a bit too rough for Nea at the moment. Now we are just waiting for spring to really arrive and the snow to melt so that we could go for a walk-about to see what we can find for us to see and photograph.

Tracks on the snow

2011-03-29T18:54:00.003+03:00

It was such a lovely day outside, that I decided to go skiing and have a look if there were any tracks in the snow that had fallen over the last couple of days. I found several:
The weather really was perfect for being outside, temperature just below freezing, sun shining, hardly any wind at all and an inch or so of new powdery snow on top of a icy snow crust that carried my skis well:
My hide had taken a real beating from the wind and snow:
The snow had packed against one wall and pressed the whole thing lobsided. I hadn't thought of bringing a shovel with me, so digging the hide up took quite some time but I managed to get the whole thing back on top of the snow. Then I decided to move the hide to a slightly better position in preparation for upcoming photo-outings:
I tightened the tent up and used "dead men" to anchor the whole thing in place. (In case you are wondering, "dead men" are large objects, in this case branches, buried under the surface of the snow or ground. They work better than simple pegs that tend to slip from ice.) There were plenty of grouse tracks on the snow right next to the spot were I set the hide up:
The weather is supposed to be good on thursday, with a cold night and sunny morning, so I think I'll have to take my daughter Nea for another round of black grouse photography..

Morning grouses

2011-03-27T16:26:00.012+03:00

We headed out later than I had planned. Somehow I just could not get out of bed. Luckily I woke up early enough that we got to head out in darkness. On the way to the swamp, I was sure that I had managed to ruin the whole trip, and silently swore the whole drive over. My foul mood eased over a bit when we parked the car at the end of the dirtroad. It was still pitch dark. Nea was a little scared as we started skiing in the darkness using our headlamps to get a little help to keep us on the right track. As our journey progressed, she relaxed more and more and quite enjoyed herself after awhile. The eastern horizon was getting lighter by the minute when we arrived at the edge of the swamp but lucky for us, the skiing got easier on the swamp, and we managed to exceed our planned speed of advance. We gained a few minutes on our last leg to the hide, arriving approximately half an hour later than I had planned. We put on warmer clothing and set up our photography equipment. While we were waiting for something to happen, we had some sandwiches and tea.

My companion was just about ready to call the trip a washout and head for home, when I noticed that a flock of about twenty grouses had appeared close to our hide:
Nea was having a great time taking pictures, as the grouses were putting on their show:
After the grouses left, I started packing our gear and Nea skiid to take a look at the tracks left on the snow by the birds. When I had managed to get everything packed, Nea came back and told me to go and take pictures of the tracks:
On the way back to the car, I took a some quick snapshots, mainly as a memento of my girls first grouseouting:
Nea took these pictures:
All in all, the trip was a success. On the way home, Nea asked me if we could go and see and photograph grouses again sometime. I promised her we surely would.

Waiting and worries

2011-03-25T21:09:00.002+02:00

I was looking at my blogposts from last year and noticed that my first observations of black grouses was from the april 2nd posting. That one was only tracks on the surface of the snow. April 7th I got to see the birds, eventhough they were too far from the hide for good pictures. The reason why I was going thru the dates is that I am planning to head out on sunday to take pictures of black grouses. I am heading out a week earlier than last year. I'm quite worried if the grouses have started mating season or not and will there be anything to photograph on sunday.

Normally I wouldn't be worried at all. It would not be the first or the last time that I head out and come back without any pictures worth mentioning. This time however, the pressure is on in force. A seven-year-old naturephotography enthusiast is coming along with me, and she can hardly wait to see grouses and take pictures of them. I am also trying to figure out how much clothing to bring along for her. Sitting still in the hide with temperatures well below freezing requires quite a bit of clothing to keep things comfy. Skiing to the hide in the middle of the night has me worried also. I hope the trip will not be too tough. It is also hard to estimate what our speed of advance will be for the skiing. If things go as planned, we should arrive at the hide in darkness, but at such a time that we don't have to wait for hours on end for the sun to rise and enough light for photography.

Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes as planned, this is an important trip.

New version of the hide, continued

2011-03-25T09:04:00.002+02:00

This is what the coloring of the hide turned out to look like once it was done:
I took the picture after I had set the hide up in preparation for the black grouse mating season that will be starting any day now. Obviously a greenish camo coloring does not blend in well with the white of the snow, but things look much better with some white camonetting:
From a distance, the hide blends in with the landscape rather well.

In my previous post, I forgot to mention that obviously the rainflaps need something to hold them up in the open position when the hide is in use. I sewed thin strips on both sides of the top of the rainflaps. The strips can be tied to hold the rolled rainflap up:

New version of the hide

2011-03-19T21:47:00.013+02:00

My previous hide has been in use for two years and it is slowly starting to come apart. The few design flaws in it have also been nagging at my mind, especially with the spring season getting closer and closer every day. I decided to make a new top for my tested and well functioning base.

I started the project again by putting up the tent. This time in our livingroom, since my workshop is so full of stuff that there is simply no room to do anything there.
Next I checked the placements for the viewing- and photographyslits. To make sure I had the placements right, I placed a tripod and a lens in the tent:
I used a marker to draw vertical and horizontal lines around the lens so that I'd know where to cut the slits. I also placed the mesh that would come on the viewingslits in place. I attached the mesh loosely by its corners with pins:
By using a small spotlight affixed to the tripod, I could see the outline of the mesh from the outside of the tent:
I used a ruler as a guide and using a sharp knife, cut the crossedslits for the lens and a rectangle shaped hole for viewing:
I then took the tent down and turned it inside out to fasten the mesh in smoothly and tightly in place with pins:
Next it was time to abuse my wifes sewingmachine. The biggest challenge was keeping all the extra material from getting tangled and sewn by accident:
After all the viewingholes had their mesh sewn into place, I measured the size of the rainflaps that I would need for each. I cut the pieces from tarp that was left over from making my previous hide. I sewed the rainflaps in place from their top, well above the openings in the tent:
I also sewed elasticbands to the bottom corners of the rainflaps. These will be used to tighten the flaps to the bottom of the tent:
The better naturephotographer of our family took a quick check of the viewholes and gave her approval to my design:
I used spraypaint to give the hide a camoflagecoloring. At the moment the hide is still waiting for the paint to dry, so I'll post a picture of the final product at a later time.

Without my camera, again.

2011-03-06T21:17:00.003+02:00

Today was one of those days that I really wish I'd had my camera with me at work. It would have been nice to have been able to take a couple of pics, but could not be helped. I really have enough gear to carry around as it is, without adding hobby related stuff to the pile. I think it's better to keep work and hobbies separate anyways.

The reason I missed having the camera with me, was that we saved an Eagle Owl (bubo bubo) today. The tough winter must have caused the bird to be so exhausted and hungry that it had ended up at the backyard of a house and was took weak to fly off. After a short run, I caught the bird in a net and then we transferred the owl into a cardboard box. Then we put the box in the back of the car and drove it to a birdhouse that takes care of injured wild birds and releases them into the wild when they are well again.

Chefs special

2011-02-26T06:33:00.002+02:00

As some might know, I enjoy working in the kitchen. Cooking is just simply fun. I seldom make anything really fancy, mostly it's just basic home cooking for the family. The chef in the videoclip could be called my inspiration or maybe even an idol:

Freezing sunshine

2011-02-21T20:30:00.000+02:00

It has been rather cold lately, especially the nights and mornings have been cold enough to make even a finn think twice about going outside. However, the day temperatures have been at a tolerable level and the sun has been shining brightly. Unfortunately I have not been able to enjoy the lovely wintery days, since I have been battling with a high fever for the last week and I still don't feel completely well. It would have been nice to have been able to go out and ski a bit and maybe even take some pictures.

I'm planning on starting to make the next version of my hide in the near future. I'll post some text and a few pictures on what I'm doing as soon as I get things started.

Two months

2010-12-05T21:26:00.003+02:00

have gone by almost unnoticed. There is now snow on the ground and my photography has come almost to a complete stop. I have taken some quick snapshots, mainly stuff to go in the family album, but that's about all. This one will go in the family album also, I think:

Autumn

2010-10-07T11:39:00.002+03:00

Since I can't go out shooting what I'd want, I'll have to make do with taking quick snapshots around home. A small glimpse of the colors of autumn:

Quick birdies

2010-10-06T15:30:00.001+03:00

I haven't been shooting much lately, at least not naturepictures. A few days ago I did manage to take these quick snapshots in our garden:

Not my usual preparations

2010-09-28T22:07:00.002+03:00

I'm going to take some pictures after work tomorrow. However, this time around it will not be naturepics, but people. The pictures will be published in a calender. I'll be packing my backpack with the shorter end of my optics, some lighting and bits and pieces to go with it. I wonder how badly this will turn out?

Sunset cranes

2010-09-05T22:34:00.002+03:00

We packed our gear in two backpacks and headed out to the edge of the swamp, with the intention of seeing and photographing the cranes that would be arriving at the swamp in the evening. For myself, this was nothing new, I've photographed migrating cranes quite a few times before. My companion however, was going after craneshots for the first time. She was also using gear borrowed from me, and which she was not familiar with. I didn't have very high hopes for the outcome of our trip. Even the weather was against us, steady gray skies with occasional light drizzle to make photography a real challenge and dampen our feelings.

At the end of the dirt road we hoisted the packs on our backs and headed for the swamp. At the edge of the wetlands, we found a small group of trees that we used to attach our camonetting onto. The netting hid us when viewed from the direction where the cranes usually land.

After getting the netting in place, we set our cameras up and had a bite to eat and some tea while we waited for the birds to show up. My companion managed to keep her voice nice and quiet and stay rather still, eventhough waiting for something to happen was obviously not much fun.

Eventually we could hear cranes as they approached from behind the treeline. We both lay low behind the netting, but unfortunately the cranes flew right above us, spotting us and continuing their flight just above the treetops and landing at the far side of the swamp.

My companion managed to take a few pictures on our little outing.

While waiting for the cranes to arrive, she took a picture of the ospreys' nest that was nearby:
There was also a autumn colored cloudberry leaf right next to us:
As the cranes fly by, a quick snapshot was taken:
On the way back to the car, we stopped to look at a treestump and a mushroom. They just had to be photographed:
I decided not to take any nature pictures myself this time around, concentrating instead on documenting my companions doings and feelings during the evening:
All in all, it was a good evening, eventhough we did not manage to take a picture that could be called a "sunset crane". I think this is pretty much what "spending quality time with your kid" means.

Walk about

2010-08-12T18:42:00.006+03:00

I headed out to the swamp in the morning. My gear considerations last night turned out well. I took along my 50mm lens, the extension set, tripod, a couple of memorycards and a water bottle in my backpack. I attached the 400mm lens to the camera and carried it in my hands or hanging from "speedclips" on the straps of my backpack. I used all the gear I had with me and did not once feel that I would have needed something from the stuff I left at home.

My long break from photography backfired on me as soon as I had gotten thru the woods and onto the swamp. A sparrowhawk took off from a nearby tree and I spun my camera around for the picture. As I tried to get the bird into my sights thru the viewfinder, I wondered why the camera refused to focus. Then I realized that I had not turned the power switch with my thumb as I swung the camera in the right direction. I managed to flick the switch and followed the hawks flight, only to realize that my camerasettings were way off. I managed to keep the focus on the bird as I rolled my shutterspeed. Just as the shutterspeed was coming close to being right, the hawk disappeared amongst the trees. So much for taking that picture. I usually put the right settings in my camera as soon as I head out and keep adjusting them as I move along and the conditions change, in preparation for situations exactly like this one. Before, when I spent more time with my camera in the boonies, I did this without really giving it much thought. I also had no problems flicking the powerswitch with my thumb while lifting my camera to take a shot. Today I managed to mess up on both counts. I really must be out of practice.

I walked about at the swamp, taking pictures of plants and insects. The days pictures:

Did you know that the plant in the third picture is carnivorous?

Lastly, a more personal bit of information. There are not many things in nature that I don't like. Some of the animals or phenomenon that I have come across have been such that I have felt the need to be respectful or cautious, which ever way one wants to see it. There is however one animal that I really cannot stand,THE DEER FLY! I can't think of any other critter as annoying as that. I picked well over ten of them from my neck again today.

Equipment

2010-08-11T19:52:00.002+03:00

After a really long break I'm planning a trip to the swamp in the morning. The problem is that I don't really know what to pack with me, since I don't have a clear idea what I'll be shooting. The migrating birds of autumn haven't arrived yet and most of the summer action is long gone. This means that most likely I will not be needing long lenses, which also happen to be rather heavy. On the other hand, if I happen to come by an interesting bird and don't have the right gear, I'll be kicking my own rear end for at least a week. Being out there one never knows what one bumps into. Most likely I will be shooting plants and insects, which means that I will definately pack my 50mm + extension rings. All the rest is now undergoing a "weight vs. propability of needing it" consideration. Tomorrow we'll see how well things worked out.

A couple of pictures after a long break

2010-07-31T13:47:00.000+03:00

I haven't been taking any photographs for some time. Somehow I just haven't had the time or even the motivation for it. A few days ago I dusted off my camera and went out to the garden.

Close-ups continued

2010-05-19T21:20:00.002+03:00

I decided to practice close-ups, since I will surely be including some macros in my project. Todays selection was an ant that seemed to like flowers:

Spring Pasque flowers again

2010-05-15T21:57:00.002+03:00

While working in the garden, I took a couple quick snapshots. The first one shows that there were quite a few blossoms this year and the second one... well, it does show something, right?

A nice little song

2010-05-08T21:56:00.003+03:00

I was searching YouTube for Muppet Show clips for the girls when I found this one:

Nothing special, but fun and sort of catchy.

Spring Pasque flower

2010-05-05T20:59:00.003+03:00

A few quick shots of the protected patch of our garden:

One more black grouse

2010-04-29T09:58:00.002+03:00

Pictures from a walk-about

2010-04-28T23:17:00.005+03:00

Yesterday morning I went for a walk-about at the swamp, just to see how spring was coming along. I was pretty exhausted after I was done, the swamp was still rather wet and soft and I could feel the mornings walk as lead in my legs when I back at work for nightshift in the evening. I did manage to get a few pictures, so I think it was worth it.

Thoughts on hide positioning and light

2010-04-18T21:05:00.001+03:00

I exchanged ideas with photographer and friend of mine, J.Lopperi, in his blog on how I choose the location of my hide and what factors I take into consideration when choosing the location. Mainly the question was on light and how much emphasis I give to the direction of light or if it is even possible to do so. That short bouncing of ideas and questions got me thinking about things a bit more and so I decided to share my ideas on hide positioning and what I take into consideration when choosing a location.

The first thing I think of is what I am trying to photograph. The subjects are at a certain location and I have to get the hide close enough for photography. This can be extremely hard at times, since things change constantly. A place where the subjects were yesterday may be devoid of activity tomorrow. Locating, observing and following subjects and their patterns of movement and behavior requires time and patience. No matter how well the observation has been done, there are no guarantees of success. On principle, I do not use food or other means to attract wildlife, I try to keep my photography as natural as possible.

Secondly I have to take into consideration the terrain in relation to the hide and having to spend several hours in it. Swamps can be rather challenging in this respect, there are places where I would not want to set up. Some spots are just too wet and soft to able to set up, even with my rather good "flooring" for the hide. I also have to keep in mind that the hide needs to be anchored somehow. Finding something strong enough to hold the hide in place during windy days is not very easy with only soft peat all around.

Lastly I consider the lighting. The rising and setting of the sun makes for great effects in pictures, with the light coming at a low angle and the colors are something very different from the "hard light" of noon. If at all possible, I try to position the hide so that the light would come from the side or at an angle to the subjects, at least during the time of "best light". This is obviously rather challenging at times, since the positioning of the subjects affects this as well. Unlike some other forms of photography, a naturephotographer can't really direct his or her subjects, but good planning can help improve the odds of getting the desired picture.

All in all, choosing the position for a hide is a combination of all factors listed above. All have an effect on the end result and none can be overlooked completely.

I do not photograph only from a hide, however. My "Year(s) at the swamp -sunken dreams" -project contains a lot of pictures taken without using the hide. For fast situations that arise while walking about the swamp, there is no time to consider the direction of the lighting, I simply take the shot and look afterwards what the picture looks like regarding lights and shadows. Not a very good way to do things, but sometimes there simply is no other way. There is no time to think things thru with a bird flying suddenly by, you either take the picture or then you don't. With stationary or slow moving subjects I do try to look for a good angle with the light in mind also. Plants and insects (and sometimes even birds) give the chance to think things thru a bit more and re-position to get the lighting at a good angle.

In the end, I am pretty much at the mercy of nature with regards to lighting. The subjects choose where and when they want to show up. I also have no say on the weather, which affects the available light considerably. If the weather is gray, cloudy, foggy or even rainy, there simply is not a way to get the light effect of the setting suns rays hitting the wing feathers of a landing crane. I take all these problems as something I just have to live with. If the conditions are not right, I'll just come back some other day and keep doing so until I have the picture I have visualized in my mind and was looking to get.

Live view function

2010-04-17T11:10:00.003+03:00

When I bought a new camera some time ago, I wondered what use is having the live view function in a camera. I couldn't come up with any way of using it to my advantage. I am so used to using the regular viewfinder, that I could not think of using the big screen at the back when taking a picture. My thinking was that the screen is there only so that I can check the histogram and other relevant information AFTER I have taken the picture.

However, sitting in my hide last week, I found a use for live view. Canon has one major flaw in its system. When photographing with lenses with smaller apertures (my kind of lenses, the cheaper ones) the autofocus does not function when using a extender. Looking thru the viewfinder I have serious problems with focusing right when going manual. With 400mm lens and 2x entension at full aperture there is no leeway in depth of field and even the smalles mistake in focusing ruins the picture. With smaller aperture, the shuttertimes become too long for my kind of photography, since my subjects seldom stay in one spot for longer than a moment. With longer shuttertimes the result is a blurred picture due to the motion of the subject. Photographing the grouses in the morning, I decided to try manual focusing using live view. I was surprised at how much easier focusing using the big screen was. It does have its problems also, but it's easier. I think I'll use it in again sometimes.

A few more grouse pictures

2010-04-16T18:38:00.003+03:00

Grouse morning II

2010-04-14T10:34:00.010+03:00

The rest of the pictures of a good morning for black grouse.

There is plenty of action in these first pictures of the morning, but unfortunately there was not quite enough light:
The knoll on the right of the first picture seemed to be the place the biggest ones were after. In the end this bird managed to secure it for himself:
Some of the birds from the nearby spots came close at times, but backed off fast when this one flexed a bit. Settling the hierarchy called for some tough looks being exchanged:
As the light increased, I got more of the colors and feeling of the morning into the pictures:
As the morning progressed the hens showed up also:
After the hens had dropped by, the party began to quiet down. Some of the leaving birds flew right over my hide. For a moment I thought this one was going to crash straight in:
Quite a load of pictures for one morning. I'm still looking to go back for one more morning of grouse action before the mating season is done. I'll just have to figure out a way to get there without sinking in too deep.

Grouse morning

2010-04-12T21:40:00.000+03:00

Moving the hide paid off. I arrived at the hide about four thirty. The trip over went well, except for the fact that what had a few days earlier been frozen ground was now extremely soft at some places. Noticing the deep and soft places in darkness before sinking in them was quite a task. For a moment I also doubted my navigation skills, since I did not see the hide when expected. Finding a safe path thru the swamp had caused me to judge the distance I had walked a bit wrong and also slightly off course. I managed to get my bearings right quickly enough and got to the hide without taking an unwanted swim. The length of my boots was just barely enough at some points along the way.

The sun began to rise and with the increasing light more and more grouses arrived. The first ones started to arrive well before there was enough light for me to see what was happening, but I could hear them coming. Especially the ones that glided in right over the top of my hide. As the light increased the birds became more and more active and the noise grew louder as about thirty birds started calling out. From time to time the ruffling of feathers and a slight move towards a better knoll would result in a clash. There was so much to action going on that I didn't feel any urgency in taking pictures and could take moments off to eat my sandwiches and just follow what was going on.
A few examples from the morning:
In addition to eating and taking pictures of the grouses, I managed to capture this piece of spring action:
On the way back to my car I just had to take a picture of the first butterfly for this spring.
I got a lot of pictures of the grouses, I'll probably post some more tomorrow.

Grayness and grouses, the continuation

2010-04-09T22:11:00.000+03:00

Off I went again. And again the morning turned out to be gray and foggy and the grouses were far away. I sat and listened to the sounds of spring. The grouses, swans, cranes, lapwings and a number of other birds calling all around me. It just felt good. I tried to take some pictures, but they didn't really work out. Even with a 2x extender I could not get a tight enough picture and extenders tend to reduce the light and soften the pictures too much. Just not good enough. I deiced that the better option is to move the hide closer when the grouses have stopped their show for the day. We'll see in a couple of days if my move worked or not. Hopefully I'll be able to get better pictures next time out. Here are a few examples from this morning, not good:

Gray morning grouses in the distance

2010-04-07T10:42:00.000+03:00

I woke up just after two in the morning. This time it was a slightly different trip to my hide at the swamp, since another photographer was coming along, usually I go on my own. We headed off around three and arrived at the hide about four thirty. The break of dawn arrived foggy and gray. The grouses started arriving when there was just enough light for taking pictures. Unfortunately they landed a bit too far from the hide. We did take some pictures, but I'll have to go back out for another try at photographing black grouses at their mating season. These are not the type of pictures I was after:
The pictures do show what mating season looks like, but that's just about it. The season is definately on and picking up in pace.

Question

2010-04-04T20:49:00.002+03:00

I was looking at my naturepicture gallery and started wondering if I should put some information on the picture to go along with it? Would anyone be interested on what species of bird or butterfly is in the picture? What about time and place where the picture was taken? Or the exif -information for the picture? In case you are not that familiar with photography and cameras, exifs tell the camera settings used at the time the picture was taken.

At last

2010-04-03T14:48:00.002+03:00

I managed to update my naturepicture gallery. Go take a look. The link can be found on the right. All comments are greatly appreciated. In fact, why don't we start a small competition? Who ever has the best reasoning for naming his / her favorite out of that mass flood of pictures wins a prize.

Oops! Mistake!

2010-04-02T14:29:00.000+03:00

I obviously didn't think things thru when I set up my hide. Digging a hole in the snow for it came out of memory, it worked well a year ago. Big mistake! I didn't take into account the difference in snow depth and type at all. This time, all the melting snow filled my hole with water. Lucky enough I went to take a look at the place during the day and did not stumble into the hide in darkness to wait for sunrise. It would have been a wet and cold wait. The good thing is that the bottom construction of my hide actually floats, so it had lifted the whole system up as the water level rose. The foxhole looked like this after I had lifted the hide out:
There seemed to be a lot of water underneath the snow in this particular part of the swamp and I am wondering how things will develop as spring progresses. I hope I will not end up swimming with my photography gear. I moved the hide a bit and set it on top of the snow this time.
Judging by the markings in the snow, the grouses have begun mating season:
Not much of a picture, but the imprints in the snow are grouse tracks and the feathers indicate that some kind of a confrontation had occured. My hide seems to be at a rather good spot, but one can never be sure.

Music to suit the mood

2010-03-29T05:07:00.002+03:00

Some of my friends already know that every now and then this just does it for me. In addition to this most famous part, I strongly recommend that you listen to the entire piece, it really is just fantastic.

Setting the hide

2010-03-25T21:19:00.000+02:00

In anticipation of the approaching black grouse mating season, I took my hide to the swamp. Early in the morning the sun hadn't melted the icy crust on top of the snow and skiing was light, eventhough I was pulling quite a load with me. The load of gear looked like this:

After reaching the spot where I had planned to set the hide, I dug a hole in the snow for it. This year there was quite a bit more to dig than on previous occasions:

The completed hide in its' snowhole looks like this:

After getting everything set up, it was time for a small break:

On the way back, I had time to observe and capture some animal tracks. These two went on top of another for quite some time, but headed their separate ways in the end:

Tough scouting

2010-03-10T16:46:00.010+02:00

Today I was able to go the swamp for the first time in quite awhile. After a few days of sunshine and sub zero temperatures, the weather had changed to +4 C and a steady gray overcast. This never fails, whenever the weather is good, there is no chance of being able to go out and when I have the opportunity to go, the weather is not even close to ideal for photography. I managed to get my car parked at a crossing of two dirtroads and hopped onto my skis. After the first kilometer or so, I realized that this would be a much tougher trip than I had planned. The warm temperature caused the top snow to be extremely damp and it started to stick to the bottom of my skis. Moving along was more in the style of walking with skis than actually skiing, but I kept on going and took a few snapshots along the way.

I looked at this depression in the snow with some concern as soon as I noticed it from further away. I often feel a bit dubious of depressions and cracks in otherwise smooth and level snowsurfaces.

This time my concern was not unfounded, the unfrozen area was quite large, extending partly even underneath the even looking snowsurface:

Otherwise the landscape was rather bare and steady gray. There weren't even any fresh animal tracks to be seen. All in all quite boring:

I made my way to the spot where I had my hide in the fall and stopped for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. The picture shows well how the snow kept sticking to the skis and slowed my progress quite effectively:

I had left flooring of my hide leaning against a small tree in the fall and after some digging I was able to check that they were still there:

Next time around I'll have to bring along a snowshovel and a sledge so that I can move the planks to a different location. There I'll set my hide up again to wait for the black grouse mating season to begin. As I was taking my break, I set the camera up on my tripod and took a picture of myself. I think my expression says something about todays trip:

I didn't take the compulsory closeup shot of a pinecone, but opted for a moss closeup instead:

Kids and winter

2010-03-05T16:56:00.002+02:00

For once we have had plenty of snow this winter. The kids have had a great time being able to do wintery things, like skiing and just playing about in the snow. If some of you are too grown up to remember what it's like, here are a few pictures, just as a reminder:

Swimming to fill up the gap in blogging

2010-02-22T17:02:00.000+02:00

Just a couple of quick snapshots from swimpractice, just so no-one would think that this blog does not update at all anymore.

Journey back

2010-01-16T23:20:00.001+02:00

Wake up at four in the morning and started the cars at five. We got home just before nine in the evening. According to the GPS, we traveled 1104,4km in 14,35 hours, including our pit stops. Along the way we stopped for gasoline, a quick shopping stop at Haaparanta (right next to the border), once for lunch and once for a cup of coffee. Pretty rough driving, but I think we all were longing to get home.

Skiing in Sweden II

2010-01-15T18:43:00.001+02:00

We took off again nice and early in the morning. As usual we started the day with a heavy breakfast before going out, couldn't go about all day in the woods with skis without one, could we?

We drove the car to the same parkingspot I had used the day before and headed out in the direction where I had seen the capercaillie. Again we skied along the edges of swamps and clearings in the woods. The crust on the snow carried nicely and we moved along nicely eventhough we did take our time observing the treetops along the way. As we crossed the dirtroad we had a short tea break. Then we followed the edges of the swamp to the place where we made the fire on our first day, lighted up again and cooked some sausages for lunch.

After our break we skied back to the dirtroad, crossed it, and proceded in the direction where we had left our car. We found some old skitracks that were heading in the same direction we were going, so we decided to follow them. We climbed a rather large hill, at the top of which was a large swamp area. Following the swamps edges we eventually came to the road we had started from.

The longest skiing trip of the week, but the weather was great with a good crust on the snow that carried our weight nicely and temperatures ranging from -17'C when we started to -14'C when we returned to the car. The sky was overcast with some fog tossed in too, but visibility was good enough for us. We did see a few trees that had been used for feeding along the way, but no birds.

On the way back to the cabin we stopped by the local shop to fill up the tank in car and to do a little shopping. I bought a little hunting knife for Nea and a "kuksa" (a traditional wooden cup) each for the twins. The smaller girls have been wanting a kuksa of their own ever since they saw that Nea had one when we went out to the forrest some time ago. Now that defect in their camping gear got fixed.

At the cabin we heard that the other team had gotten a sighting of a black grouse, but didn't get close enough to take a shot before the bird fled. Our head chef had been on his final approach towards the bird when it took off.

Our evening meal consisted of a meatloaf prepared by the chef, with potatoes and grave done by me. After dinner we cleaned the cabin before calling it a night. We'd be heading home early in the morning.

Stomach trouble

2010-01-14T22:22:00.002+02:00

Yesterdays capercaillie celebration caused my stomach to be upset in the morning. The rest of the bunch loaded up into one car and headed off while I stayed at the cabin blocking the sewage system. At around eleven my stomach started to calm down and I decided to pack my gear and head out. The temperature had dropped to -27'C during the night, so I put on a bit more clothing underneath my snow outfit than for previous days. I headed to the same area where we had been on our first day of hunting. First I drove to the end of the dirtroad, turned and came back. Along the way I stopped to take this picture:

As I was putting my camera back in the car a capercaillie took off from a tree behind me and flew over the road and disappeared behind the small clearing right by the road.

I drove a couple of kilometers along the main road to a parking spot. I started to ski along the edges of clearings in the forrest, in the direction I saw the bird fly. Eventhough I used my binoculars often, I did not catch even a glimpse of the bird. Along the way I saw numerous moose and reindeer tracks in the snow. When I arrived at the dirtroad again, the sun was setting and I skied along the main road back to the car.

When I arrived at the cabin, the rest of the crew had already returned. As I was driving back, the cars thermometer showed the outside temperature to be -24'C, but in the bright sunshine it did not seem that cold when I was skiing. Most surprisingly the crust on the snow carried well, and skiing was very light and enjoyable.

In the evening our head chef prepared a well spiced tomato / mincemeat sauce to go with the pasta I cooked. A heavy meal topped off a nice day.

capercaillie

2010-01-13T23:18:00.001+02:00

Up at 8 and started the day with a heavy breakfast again. This time we fried some bacon and potatoes on the pan. I think there was some onion tossed in also. After eating, we packed our gear and drove off towards the hunting areas. This time we took the main road in the opposite direction and after a short drive we turned off to a secondary road, which we followed up the side of a rather large hill. We parked along the roadside and hopped on our skis. We skied down a small slope from the road and got to a swamp.

The weather was foggy, visibility was down to minimums, so we decided to light a fire and wait and see if the fog would burn off as the sun came higher. When we finally managed to get the fire going, (I have never in my life seen such a antagonistic fallen spruce) we came to the conclusion that the fog was not going to clear and decided to head off to see what was hidden in the foggy landscape.

We followed the swamps edges and stopped to look at treetops for birds. On one of our stops I looked at one pine a bit longer. I looked and looked, even turned my binoculars to other trees, but I kept coming back to that one tree and one branch just below the top of it. After some time I even asked my partner to take a look at the pine in question. After looking at it long and hard we agreed that the black lump on the branch had to be a bird.

I started to ski towards the patch of forrest nearby, slightly away from the bird. I thought I could approach the bird using the cover from the spruces at the forrestpatchs' edge. My partner remained in place to observe and try to capture the whole thing on video. As I was skiing, I kept taking quick glances at the bird, just waiting to see it flee. After what seemed like an eternity, I got to the cover of the trees and turned to approach the bird. I was aiming for the tip of the treeline protruding towards the tree the bird was sitting at. Just before I reached my destination, I stopped to remove my backpack, rifle and skis. The last meters I approached in a low crouch until I was behind the small spruce I had noticed on my approach. I lay in the snow and ever so slowly moved sideways until I had the bird in sight. I removed the muzzlecover from my rifle and chambered a round. I shifted myself to get a good steady position. For a moment I thought I had blown it and the bird had fled when I lost it from my sight as I tried to find a good position in the snow. Finally everything was good and I took the shot.

After I fired, I saw the bird fall straight down, indicating a perfect hit. A loud "yeah" from the direction where my partner was observing the situation confirmed my observation. After doing a "little hiawatha" -style "captured game dance", I gathered my gear, put on my skis and headed across the clearing towards the bird. I found the capercaillie right underneath the tree.

After gutting the bird, taking a few pictures and a few other compulsory rituals we headed off again. Every now and then the thin crust on the snow even carried us, but for the most part we kept sinking knee deep in the snow, despite our skis. At a small lake between two swamps we discovered that water had risen on top of the ice below the snow. We turned toward dry land immediately, but our skis got wet enough to turn into lumps of ice in a matter of seconds. Wet snow and water freeze solid rather fast at -17'C. Using our knives we scraped the ice off and got our skis back to working condition again and we were able to continue our journey. I took a few quick snapshots when we stopped for a break to have some tea and sandwiches.

We continued skiing from swamp to the next until the sun started to set. Eventualy we came back to the same road along which we had parked our car and skiid along the road back to our startingpoint. In the evening we again had a heavy dinner and did some celebrating also.

Skiing in Sweden I

2010-01-12T21:55:00.006+02:00

Wake up around 8 in the morning. Our head chef made us an hefty omelet, real "big boys" breakfast. It was so good that I just had to scrape the last little bits off the frying pan after everyone else had gotten their share. The morning turned out to be a beautiful one, with the rising sun painting the sky above the ridgeline and the river behind our cabin in different shades of purple:

While I was admiring the sunrise, I took a quick snapshot of our cabin, mainly as a memento of what our housing looked like:

We paired off and headed out. My partner and I took a short drive and then we were at our area, looking to find a place to park our car along a small dirtroad with high snowbanks on both sides. We even gave the snowbanks a try with a showel, but realized soon enough that showeling would take far too long. We found a good spot to park the car along the main road and skiied along the roadside to the dirtroad. Following the dirtroad we got the edge of the swamp that we had been aiming for.

We skiied along the swamps edges, stopping to look at the treetops thru our binoculars, but there were no birds to be seen. Along the way we stopped to light a fire, cook some sausages and have a cup of tea. As we were circling back towards the road and our car, the wind picked up. We decided to follow a snowmobile trail back to the road.

We drove back to the cabin where the rest of the crew had just arrived from their days skiing. In the evening our head chef made some garlic potatoes and sauce to go with the steaks I as the "assistant chef" cooked. I think I kept the steaks on the pan a moment too long, the order was for them to be medium but they were more in the line of medium+. Sometimes things just don't go right,especially when you think you know how things should be done. The head chefs sauce saved the day and with some good red the meal ended up being excellent.

Weather for the day? -2'C in the morning, heating up to 0 during the day with clear skies.

Oh, yes, almost forgot. We did see one bird during the day. There was a female grouse feeding at the top of a tree next to the main road as we parked our car.

The road to Slussfors

2010-01-11T21:09:00.002+02:00

We started off on January 11th at 5 am, five friends in two cars. Our first stop was after a few hours drive when decided it was time for breakfast. The pitstop was held at a place called Hirvaskangas. The foods from the buffet went down well and we were back on the road again. Our next stop was several hours later in a town called Kemi. We stopped at the local supermarket to load up on foodstuffs, eat and fill the gas tanks of our cars. For some reason we attracted peoples attention with our four shoppingcarts full of stuff. After a brief drive north we came to Tornio and took a steep turn to the west, crossed the border and continued our drive towards the setting sun:

The drive continued, without any real breaks, hour after hour. Finally we reached our destination, the small village of Slussfors. The drive, including our stops, took us over 15 hours in which we covered a distance of just over 1100 km. Weather was on our side the whole way with -16'C and clear skies when we started, -10 and sunshine at Kemi and +2 with cloudy / drizzle at our destination.

Our local contact, Eric, came to meet us at the local shop when we arrived and led us to our cabin. At the cabin Eric showed us the places and went thru the hunting areas from the maps. The thoroughness of Erics' review of the hunting areas was a positive surprise, he gave us a full picture of the areas and their features. That is, to those of us who understood swedish, I personally had to wait for the translation on many items that were covered. In the days to come this area proved to be the heart of our cabin, we spent hours at the kitchen table, talking, plannind the following days treks, eating, drinking and laughing:

Our head chef cooked us a evening meal of hash. After eating we discussed the hunting areas and decided who goes in which direction in the morning. Got to bed around midnight.

Christmas

2009-12-29T10:44:00.003+02:00

A few pictures taken over x-mas period:

Christmas coming

2009-12-21T20:19:00.004+02:00

I ordered a christmas present for myself. It will not arrive in time for x-mas, but anyhow. My previous snowcamo-outfit has mysteriously disappeared somewhere in the past years. In fact, it might be even a good thing that it's gone, because it most likely had shrunk over the years, at least at the waist. So, now there is a new one coming in the mail. Nice to head out to our little trip in january when the gear is in order.

Pictures after a long break

2009-12-11T11:49:00.002+02:00

We took a trip to visit relatives out west. I went along to watch a kids floorball tournament, managed to take a few pictures also:

Damn

2009-12-10T15:30:00.002+02:00

My second shift after a long time off from work and I'm feeling that what Jon Lajoies video is all about is not such an bad idea after all:

Autumn

2009-10-27T13:05:00.004+02:00

I could feel the silence this morning, the grayness of the fog muted the last sounds away. It felt good.
I took a few hours walk-about this morning. Took down the hide and brought it home to dry and wait for some minor adjustments.

Sunset cranes

2009-09-12T20:20:00.000+03:00

I promised to post a couple of pictures from yesterdays swamp meet and write a few thoughts on cranes. Let's start with the pictures:
The first picture gives an idea on how hopeless our situation was for photography. With the cranes at such a distance from us there was not much hope of getting the type of pictures that I was aiming for. The picture was taken with a 400mm lens and has not been blown up at all.

The second one I feel is beautiful in its own way, with a purple shade of the sunset and a flock of cranes flying towards the camera. A sight like that causes a photographers mind to start racing and heart to pound with excitement. Will the cranes land close or just fly by? If they land, how will they be situated in relation to the hide, will the background give maximum effect to the pictures and so on. The list of thoughts racing thru a naturephotographers mind looking at a sight like that one is almost endless. Yesterday they flew right by us.

It has been interesting to notice how differently cranes act at the swamp compared to when they are at fields nearby. A flock of cranes on a field could not care less if I walk to the edge of the field to take pictures. At the swamp, the slightest sight of a photographer at the edge of the swamp causes the flock to move farther away and at the swamp the distances in question are much greater from the beginning. Cranes landing on a field do circle the area before they land, but very seldom change their decision to land, even if they do spot a human somewhere close to the field. At the swamp the birds will pull up immediately if they spot any movement at their intended landingsite, as was the case with our group yesterday. Once landed, a few birds will keep their head up at all times, monitoring the surroundings. If any movement is seen, the entire flock will know about it immediately, most often resulting in having all the birds look first at what is happening and then the entire flock rising to their wings. It would be rather easy to take note of which fields are used by cranes during the ongoing fall migration and then pick out a suitable ditch at the edge of the field and lay there under camonetting taking pictures. I just don't feel that it would be the same. Difficult and challenging way of getting it is what makes a good picture all the more valuable for me personally. Besides, my goal at the moment is to capture life in the swamps in pictures, so I can't really go take them in some field, can I?

Picnic

2009-09-11T21:54:00.000+03:00

It went just as I feared it would, the cranes fooled us. Three photographers sitting around in the "west wing extension" of the hide and the cranes were nowhere to be seen. Or to be precise, we saw them. They flew right past us or then they were out in the distance. A small flock was approaching with intensions of landing close to the hide, but two birds at the edge of the flock caught a glimpse of us and right in the middle of their landing turn called out a warning. This resulted in the entire flock banking hard to the left and flying away. The cranes disappeared behind the small patch of forrest close to the hide.

As a desperate last ditch effort we decided to try and take a look at the other side of the patch of forrest, if the cranes would have landed close enough to the trees for a few pictures from behind the bushes. There were quite a few birds visible on the other side of the forrestpatch. The only problem was that they were resting at the far end of the swamp from us. Disappointed, we were heading back towards the hide and the gear we left behind, when we saw a much larger flock heading towards us. We took a quick sprint of about 60 meters in the swamp, trying to get under the cover of the trees. The cranes flew right past us and landed with the rest of their kind at the furthermost corner of the swamp. As the evening grew darker, we picked up our gear from the hide and headed back to the city.

I'll post a picture of two here tomorrow with a few more thoughts on cranes and photographing them.

Something different

2009-09-10T11:57:00.001+03:00

Scouting trip to the tower

2009-09-08T21:18:00.000+03:00

I went for a quick trip to the birdtower at the edge of the swamp. I wanted to see if the cranes were still in the area and if so, where. My big mouth had got me into trouble again, I had bragged to Jussi that I could get him "close enough" to cranes for a pictureshoot.

As always, the pride goeth before the fall. The cranes that landed at the swamp (a few hundred) seemed to be enjoying themselves at the northwest corner of the swamp area. Distance between the nearest birds and my hide was about 600 meters. Not good. Now I'm faced with a tough choice of moving the hide, putting up another temporary one, or just hoping that the cranes will move closer in the couple of days we have before our photo outing. I really need to know where they are going to land in order to be at the right place when they arrive. Trying to crawl close enough is tough at best and hopeless most of the time.

Cranes, cranes and ever more cranes

2009-09-06T13:08:00.009+03:00

Our photographer meet at the swamp never came about as one by one everybody cancelled. I had reserved the afternoon and evening for being out in the wild, so I decided to head out on my own. I didn't do the walk-about as planned for the meeting, but opted to head straight for the hide instead.

As I was unpacking my gear at the hide, a flock of a few cranes decided head away leaving me quite alone at the swamp. When I had all my gear set up I sat down, had a cup of coffee, ate a few sandwiches and just enjoyed the silence. Then I could hear a few crane calls from far away. Moments later the sound came closer and a flock of about ten cranes landed close to the hide. The cranes were going about their business and calling out every few minutes. As the evening progressed more and more calls sounded as more cranes landed. The cranes came in in mostly small groups but sometimes as a flock of 20 or 30 birds at once. Just before sunset there were so many birds around that the calls seemed to be continuous and coming from every possible direction.

As I was waiting for something to happen, I decided to take a "selfportrait".

I guess it tells something about the nature of my hobby:
I took this one with 70-300/5.6 zoom lens, with the focal length at 200mm. Posted her just as proof that nature photography does not always require those long lenses that cost a fortune:
Small groups like this one kept coming in all thru the evening:
At times the airspace over the hide was rather crowded:
Some groups arrived in nice, neat formations:
Just a pic of a few cranes feeding and one keeping watch:
A crane pic loaded with photographic cliches:
A "feelings pic" from underneath the camonetting:

Preparations

2009-09-02T13:24:00.000+03:00

I went out for a quick visit to the swamp this morning. I put up the extension to the hide in preparation for our photographers meeting on saturday. A warm, sunny morning was ideal for a quick walk-about in the boonies. Along the way I managed to take a few snapshots:

Progress or is it?

2009-08-26T09:46:00.000+03:00

"Year in the swamp: sunken dreams" -project moves along, or does it? While I was ill and delirious from a high fever, I came up with an idea for the project. Yesterday I took the first steps at making that idea turn into reality. Getting a complete picture of the entire area is not as simple as one would imagine, but not at all impossible. The cost is one thing to consider, the technical implementation another. Both have problems to be solved and I have to do a balancing act between the two. If cost would not be a factor, the technical side would be easy to accomplish. The lower I try to keep the cost, the harder the technical side becomes. Interest consideration at its best or worst, however one wants to look at it.

When my fever had come down, I also looked into how to complete the entire project. After a very brief study of the matter it became clear that self-published is the only way to go. The publishers' only interest is in making a profit and the markets for a book of this type are so small that there is no way it would be of interest to a publishing company. Lucky for me, self publishing has become easy in recent years and even rather cheap to a certain extent.

A morning walk-about

2009-08-24T13:56:00.001+03:00

After being stuck inside for so long, it was great to get out into the wild this morning. I walked about the swamp area without much aim, just looking at the sights, enjoying the peace and quiet and taking a few pictures. I stopped by at the hide to have a snackbreak. The hide was still tightly in place, the camonetting had not come loose and even the rain had stayed outside. I got to spend the morning outside and even managed to get a few pictures for the book project, mainly plants and insects this time, since the fall migration of birds is not on yet. Here are the "blog pictures" of the day:

A burning sensation inside

2009-08-22T21:42:00.000+03:00

For the past two weeks I have had a burning feeling inside me. I've been like an animal in a cage, restless and irritated. Earlier today I could no longer control myself when I saw something dark hovering over the sun lighted flowerbed behind our kitchen window. I grabbed my camera and rushed outside. It was time to do something about that burning I was feeling. At the corner of our garage, next to the flowerbed, I crouched, aimed and shot. I rushed behind the next cover, changed position, aimed and shot. I seeked different angles. Shot some more. Slowly I could feel myself getting closer to harmony. A few more pictures and I felt tranquility setting in. I put my camera down and just watched as the admiral butterfly sailed on:

Feeling ill

2009-08-14T19:15:00.000+03:00

I've been sick for the last couple of days. I even went to see a doctor. I was told that I had a normal cold and not the swine kind that everyone's been so hype about lately. Nice to know.

Fishing

2009-08-09T21:31:00.000+03:00

Some time ago I promised the kids I'd take them fishing. Today was the day that we went. After a few coincidences our departure was delayed quite a bit, so that we didn't have much time to spend at the lake. The girls really enjoyed every moment and we agreed to go again in the near future.

A few pictures:

And the necessary evidence photo to prove that Susanna proved her fishing abilities on her first time out:

Eleven years

2009-08-08T23:05:00.000+03:00

Rasberries and bugs II

2009-08-06T15:14:00.000+03:00

I had received more orders for the morning, so I went to the supermarket. After getting the shopping done, I headed out to pick rasberries. As allways, I had my camera with me. I left my backpack and camera at the edge of the rasberrybush, close enough to be grabbed on short notice if something interesting came into view. I took a few insect pictures. Here's one:
I had also promised another nature photographer a picture of my WK. This is what it looks like:
There were loads of rasberries. A couple of hours in the bush, and I had gathered just short of a bucketfull. There would have been plenty more to pick, but I ran out of time since I had to head of towards home to pick up the girls from daycare and get myself ready for nightshift at work. If there will be many more years like this one with wild berries, our family will need to invest in another freezer.

A morning in the woods

2009-08-04T18:41:00.000+03:00

After getting up in the morning, I did as I was told and cleaned the house. After vacuuming the last dustball away, I grabbed my backpack, a bucket and berrypicker and headed to the woods. Before lunchtime I had picked a bucket of blueberries and as I walked about, I found a great spot for rasberries. I'll have to go back in the next couple of days. I kept practicing taking pictures of insects. I obviously need the practice, since most of todays pictures turned out lousy. I seemed to keep making mistakes with focusing. The problem was a gray cloudy day in rather thick terrain, I didn't have much light to work with. I was concentrating on depth and did not take note of the extending shuttertimes as I had my camera set on AV. The end result was a lot of motion blur and obviously shaken pictures.

Along the way I snapped a picture of a fairytale forrest:
Here is a example of the days bugshots:

Not exactly what I was hoping for, I like the composition, but it would be much better if the spider would be completely in focus. I was planning to go out to the swamp this evening, but the dull gray weather does not make me feel like heading out. I think I'll just wait for a day with better light.

Rasberries and bugs

2009-08-03T17:23:00.000+03:00

My idea was to go pick blueberries. At first I had trouble getting myself started in the morning and once I got into the bush, I decided to concentrate on rasberries for a couple of hours and leave the blueberries for another day. While picking berries, I also practiced taking pictures of bugs, since I'll have to start taking closeups for my project sometime in the near future among a lot of other things.

The days pictures:

Berries

2009-07-24T22:43:00.001+03:00

I had to drop by at work to take care of something in the morning. I got the job done and was heading back home at around 10 a.m. At 10:30 I was on my way to the wilderness. I picked a bucketfull of blueberries and half a bucket of cloudberries. For my photoproject I took a few pictures while I was picking berries:

My butterflyspot didn't let me down:
A slightly different shot of a pine cone:
This butterfly seemed to love my backpack:
The osprey came to check me as I walked towards the nesting tree:
There appeared to be some birds in the nest:
Cloudberries:

All in all, a nice day and a good trip.

Tired but not sleepy

2009-07-23T22:01:00.000+03:00

Do you know the feeling? When you stay awake for a long enough time, you become so tired that you cannot get to sleep. I know it sounds crazy, but that's how it goes. I'm in that state at the moment. I've been up way too long and when I tried to go to sleep a moment ago, I sleep just would not come. This character from a children's tv show used to be a sure sign that it was time to go to bed when I was a kid. Maybe seeing mr. Sandman will make me sleepy:

Good night and sweet dreams to everyone who might be reading this.

Yearning for summer

2009-07-23T00:40:00.001+03:00

All of a sudden I felt a strong yearning to get under a palm tree. I'd love to have a rum cola in my hand and feel the sandy beach and the heat of the sun. Somewhere in the caribbean would be nice. But since I don't have any spare time from work and no money either, I have to make do with the feeling created by a song from some years ago:

At moss level

2009-07-18T21:43:00.005+03:00

As the rest of the family headed of to visit some friends yesterday, I packed my backpack with my camera, 50mm lens, a bottle of water and some mosquito repellent. I also grabbed with me a bucket and a lid for it. My idea was to spend a little time at the swamp, pick some cloudberries and then come back home for a nap before heading off to work for the night. At the swamp I walked around, picking berries here and there. Approximately 1/3 of the berries were ripe, so picking them was a rather slow process. There is not much point in picking raw berries, they are hard and completely tasteless, so I left the red ones alone and grabbed only the ripe yellow ones. I'll go back for the rest later when they are ready. If somebody else gets to them before me, so what? The person picking them has earned them just for going to the trouble to get to them.

While walking along with my nose in the moss, I had a great opportunity to take some different type of pictures than usually for my project. Here are the days pics:
I must say I am very pleased with the days walkabout. I got pictures I needed and were long overdue for my project and a bucketfull of cloudberries. The only downside of the trip was that my ½ liter water bottle was much too small. It was 25 degrees, sun shining down and because of the mosquitos and horseflies, I had to keep my camo jacket on and my water consumption went sky high in a flash.

All of the above pictures were taken with a 50mm f 1.8 lens. Far too often I myself and many others I know think of "nature photography" as something that requires a lot of money to get long lenses. I think we should just remember to keep our eyes open as we move along, there is a lot to see in nature at a very close level, and photographing it all does not necessitate long lenses and big bucks. Just stick your nose down into the moss and see what comes up.

Into the wild, at last

2009-07-14T22:00:00.000+03:00

Today, in the late afternoon, I managed to get out into the wild again. Nea, my five year old daughter tagged along. At first I was a bit dubious of taking her with me, since I was planning on going all the way to the swamp. I doubted if a little girl could walk that far in rather tough terrain. We parked the car at the end of the dirt road as usual, and proceeded on down the path that follows a clearing cut into the forrest and leads to the edge of the swamp. As we reached the swamp, I think both of of us were a little doubtfull if a little girls small boots would be sufficient to get her thru the wetlands, but as we got past the toughest part, we had a great time walking around, observing nature and even taking a few pictures. As we stopped at my hide, I was happy to see that even after a month of inactivity, it was still in place and in good condition. As we headed back home, Nea told me that she enjoyed our trip a lot and wanted to come along again sometime in the future. The day's pictures:

Rainy day things to do

2009-07-13T19:13:00.003+03:00

I got home from night shift in the morning. I had planned on going out and getting some pictures, but the weather forced a change in plans. Rain that started during the night seemed to continue steadily and everything looked rather gray and dull. Not really the optimal weather for photography. In a way it would have some documentary value as rain is as essential part of nature as any, but my project needs pics with more vivid lighting conditions, at least at the moment. Or maybe it's all just my lack of vision and skill speaking, but in any case, I stayed snugged in tight at home.

I decided to make the most of my time indoors and sat down in front of the tv, watching the usual crap that comes out of it and programs that I had for some reason or another decided to save on our digital receiver. I could take it all of an hour and then I had to find something else to do. I started going thru pictures that I had downloaded from memorycards into my computers "sort and file later" -file. Most of the pictures are just basic family snapshots, but they all have a significant value in the sense that they all contain memories of a situation, event or happening that I have felt the need to document for later times. There are a surprisingly large number of pictures in the file. I guess being lazy earlier got me back ten fold, as usual.

Writing my blog, I decided to try and be a little lazy once again. I tried google translator to do my blog for me, or at least to translate it from the original finnish to english. The result was dissappointing. I know my old english teacher, dr. Hendrickson would strangle me for all the mistakes I make now, (all are result of not having to use english as much as I would like) but google really hit the bottom with this one. The "translation" lost a significant amount of meaning and put finnish words that it didn't know in to the ready text as is. I feel confident in writing my blog as before, first in finnish and then with a day or two of delay, in english as well. Writing the text myself seems much faster than trying to correct the gibberish the translating software was able to produce.

After a long break

2009-07-09T22:30:00.000+03:00

It's been quite some time since my last post. The reason (or excuse) is that I have been busy re-doing the bedrooms in our house. In the middle of it all, I haven't had the energy to give a thought to computers or the net, much less blogging. A little time away from the net felt pretty good, sometimes it is just time to concentrate on something other than a keypad and screen. There were moments that made me feel like what you get from listening to this song:

Not so much the lyrics, but rather the general feeling that comes from the music. This held especialy true to the couple of days that I spent wallpapering.

During the past month, I did manage to take a few pictures. Nothing spectacular, but I took them anyway and at least I got to get some feel for my new camera.

These birdies I managed to photograph at lake Lappalanjärvi, just a 15 minute drive away:
Then it was time to celebrate my mothers birthday. Quite a few people showed up and the party was a success, eventhough the rain and cold wind tried to make a garden party a not so great idea. For the group picture we managed to get everybody except me, since I was behind the camera and tried desperately to get our kids to look the right way, without any success:
A friend of mine, Jussi, dropped by and took a picture of me. I was amazed how fast the whole process was. While I was changing into my camo outfit, Jussi had set up his lighting system in the small spot of forrest just behind my backyard. All that was left to do was sit down on my backpack, and snap, snap, snap, a few quick shots and we were done. It's obviously easy, when you know your system. Jussi is a great guy, and I feel lucky to have gotten to know him and now I got to see what his type of photography is about. An enlightening experience.

After our little photoshoot, we called up another photographer and headed into town for a cup of coffee, some talk on photography and the world in general and a small walk around the town, snapping pictures of this, that and whatever.
In the top picture, photographer "virus" is showing of his surfing moves behind our town hall. He spotted a loose cement block and decided it was time to show a balancing act. In the lower picture a young lady, out in town with her friends for her bachelorette party is showing us some aerobics moves.

New camera on a walk about

2009-06-07T14:00:00.000+03:00

I got my new camera yesterday. Today I decided to go out to the wild, mainly to check out if my hide was allright after the stormy winds of the last few days. I also planned on taking some of the camo netting off, since I no longer needed the "extension" to my hide that I made for our little meet at the swamp some time ago. I gave my good friend Simo a call, and even though my call came on a short notice, he was all set to go out and see what we could find at the swamp.

Our walk about started off on a good note, as soon as we got out of the car we spotted a black woodpecker at the other side of the clearing. I managed to get a couple of quick snapshots, from a rather long distance away, though:
At the swamp a couple of wood sandpipers were flying about as we walked towards the hide. Judging by their behaviour, they had offspring somewhere close by. We took a few quick pictures and headed off, not wanting to disturb them any more than it was necessary to get past the area.
The hide had remained in place, and on the way back we saw the osprey returning to it's nest from its own trip.
For a quick walk about and a sort of "getting acquainted with my new camera" -trip, this was a pretty good outing. Now I need to take a nap before heading off to night shift.

Too bad

2009-06-05T22:09:00.000+03:00

Sometimes it would be nice to be on the scene when something interesting happens without being "on the job" and with my camera in hand. For example, today would have produced some great pictures. Pro photographer Lassi Kujala did stop by while the situation was going on, and he got the pictures needed for the local newspaper.THIS is what I´m talking about.

The good news is that I received a phone call at the end of the day. My new camera is waiting to be picked up tomorrow. Now I have to still remain patient for a moment longer.

Time to be patient

2009-06-03T17:44:00.000+03:00

I stopped in our local photography shop today. Näppäri is a great place, I have allways received excellent service from them. The same was true today, and after a few moments in the shop, we had come to an agreement that they would call me when my new camera has arrived. It was a bit unclear if the camera would arrive tomorrow or in a couple of days, but I'm in no hurry since I will not have time for photography for the next few days anyway. I could have ordered the camera for a slightly cheaper price from somewhere else over the internet, but I must say that I gladly pay a few extra euros for face-to-face service and for the fact that the shop is and will remain in business in our town center.

Tough choices

2009-05-29T09:15:00.000+03:00

My reliable old companion, Canon 30D has come to its end. I bought it second hand and proceeded on using it in all kinds of conditions for every cent that I paid for it. I put the poor camera thru a lot of abuse and it kept on going. Now I have to sadly say that its shuttercount has reached it's limit and I need to find myself a new camera.
The problem is that I don't know which camera to buy. Well, I do know that I will stick with canon, simply because of all the lenses I have. I don't feel like changing all my gear, getting a new camera body is expensive enough. From all the camera models that canon makes, I can rule out all of the 1-series bodies, I simply cannot afford to put that much money into my hobby. 100-series cameras feel small, light and just aren't up to the task I have in mind in some areas. That leaves me with the "ten block" and here is where the problem begins. I really don't know if I should buy a new 40D,
a 50D or maybe look for a bargain on a used one, in which case a 30D could be considered also.

I would be very grateful for any comments and ideas on what to do, especialy if opinions are backed up with reasoning and facts.

Pictures from the meet

2009-05-22T21:16:00.000+03:00

So. I managed to go thru the pictures I took at the meet. As usual, a lot of them were a load of crap, but I did manage to take some that I feel ok to publish. I suppose the pictures tell something of our get together. Many thanks to all the guys for attending, it was nice to trade views on the world, photography and maybe give everyone a glimpse of what photography is for me and what my hide projects are all about.

This is what the bunch looked like underneath the camonetting:
The scenery looked something like this, when viewed thru the holes of the netting:
Despite claims to the contrary, some birds did come within photography range:
As we headed back, the bunch broke up a bit, as everyone was looking for their own favourite route back:
If one kept his eyes open, there were things to be spotted and photographed along the walk:

Meet

2009-05-21T22:48:00.000+03:00

We held the allready once cancelled "swamp meet" today. The usual gang attended, only the venue of the meet was a little different this time. The walk from the cars to the hide must have been an experience for the guys, the swamp is a little soft this time of year. At the hide we sat about, talking about cameras, photography and the world in general. Our talk was loud enough to make sure that birds would stay out of photography range. We did however spot quite a few birds and heard many more. The most common species seemed to be "gull" and " a black gull"...

All in all, I do believe the guys did manage to take some pictures. My shots of the day are still on memorycards awaiting transfer to my computer and then publishing. I'll try to get the pictures out tomorrow, now I need to chill out a bit, take care of my dog's evening feeding and walk and then it's time for bed so that I can get up bright and early for work in the morning.

Backyard life

2009-05-19T21:39:00.000+03:00

Sometimes I wonder if this nature stuff is getting a bit out of hand. Or what do you think of the following:

I have been observing life in our back yard all spring and I suppose I should get my camera out and start spending more time in our yard waiting to get a few pictures. Right behind our fence is a small hole leading underneath a tree. A small mouse has set up house in the hole. It comes out of the hole and runs under the fence to our yard, heads past my dog kennel and hides under the small stack of lumber I have stored in my yard. After hiding a moment under the lumber pile, the mouse comes out and heads on to one of my wife's flowerbeds. It snoops around the flowerbed for some time and then heads across the lawn to the next one or back to it's hole. I suppose I'll have to get a picture of it one of these days. As long as the mouse understands to stay in the yard I don't mind. If it wonders into the house, even once, it will most likely pay for the mistake with it's life.

One of my kennels out back is not in active use at the moment, and now a nest has appeared on top of one of the supporting beams for the kennels' fencing. There are six eggs in the nest. A fieldfare seems to be looking after them. The fare moves away from the nest when ever a dog comes close, but since the kennel is not being used at the moment, it is mainly left in peace. I do have "blacklisted" fieldfares, since they tend to eat everything from berrybushes. Last summer we had zero strawberries because of the birds. I guess I'll take a picture of the bird and it's nest in the near future and just get some netting to cover the bushes as the summer progresses.

Scouting

2009-05-16T18:53:00.000+03:00

I made a quick trip to the swamp this afternoon. My goal was not to get pictures, but just to do a little walk-about in the area. I also did have a clear mission to accomplish: I had decided to scout a good route to the hide in preparation for the "swamp meet" next week. Walking on my own, it does not matter that much if I have to back up from time to time since the ground is too soft or wet to walk, but with a larger group of people in tow, it is not a very good option. At the same time I had a chance to check how my lightweight hide had survived the few days of inactivity. It was good that I decided to head out to do some scouting, the route that I had previously used had become rather soft and risky, so I scouted a different route from a slightly different direction. The hide had also taken some damage from the windy weather of the last couple of days. The tie-downs for the camo netting had broken and the entire netting was in one heap in front of the hides' entrance:
I put the netting back into place and fixed the tie-downs all around. While at it, I put up the netting to cover a slightly larger area next to the hide. I used the trees near by to get good anchorage and elevation for the netting. Now there is plenty of room to hold the meet, there is room for everyone underneath the netting and plenty of observation- and photography slots.
What do you think, good enough?

Well, I'll be darned

2009-05-15T08:59:00.001+03:00

A couple of days have passed and now it seems that this laptop is working. At least the "power off" problem is gone. I seem to have a talent in fixing these things. Maybe I should start a business of cleaning coffee stains from inside computers?

The smaller kids have been ill all week. First Susanna had a fever. When the fever was gone, we thought, o.k. no problems. I took the girls to the daycare center. They had been there for about an hour when my phone rang and I was told that now Tiina had a temperature. I went to pick Tiina up from the daycare center and when I got there, I was told that Susannas stomach was upset. So I took them both home with me and called work that I had to take the day off. Now the girls have been at home with a stomachbug all week. Today has been the first better day, but they are still not well enough to go to daycare. I really would have had some things to do today, but what can I do, the kids are obviously priority number one. I had received an invitation to the opening and banquet dinner at the police museum at Tampere. They are opening a show on the 100 year history of policedogs in the service of the Finnish policeforces and some of my photographs of policedogs have been selected to be part of the exhibit. I will try and stop by to see the exhibit the next time we head out west to visit relatives, since the city of Tampere and therefor the museum are along the way.

Oh-oh

2009-05-13T12:18:00.000+03:00

It appears that this laptop of mine didn't get fixed after all. Powers out on it's own, seems that it heats up too much. At least the undeside feels awfully hot to touch when ever a "power off" -situation happens. Well, no worries. I'll just open everything up again and proceed with more cleaning, must be some kind of short circuit somewhere in there due to a coffee stain. Or then I've assembled this wrong and there is not enough air circulating thru the system to cool it. Maybe I'll manage to get this to work.

My darling wife got tired of this thing acting up and ordered herself a new laptop. I'll try to be extra nice to her in the near future so that maybe I'll be allowed to use it, too.

I do feel that it would be a shame to have to give up on this old laptop of mine. This isn't really anything special, but when it worked, it worked well for the uses I had for it.

Coffee

2009-05-12T08:24:00.000+03:00

It's a shame I didn't take pictures, but yesterday photography was the last thing on my mind. Mainly I was concentrating on all the swearwords I could think of. I managed to pour a full cup of coffee right on top of my laptop. As usual, the laptop had it's power on. I grabbed some kitchen paper to wipe as much off as I could, but as the screen went into a mosaic pattern and coffee appeared to be leaking thru the openings on the undeside of the computer, I knew I had a big problem. I proceeded to switch the power off and dry as much of the coffee as possible. Then I just let the machine sit and waited and hoped for the inside to dry up without too much damage. After some time I tried to turn the power back on, but no luck. The power indicator light flicked a few times and then everything powered out.

I decided I had nothing to lose and proceeded to remove the covers off the laptop. Having never opened one before, it turned out to be a rather tricky exercise. Slowly but surely I managed to open everything up without doing any obviously visible damage. Everything inside the computer seemed to be covered in dryed coffee stains. I went to my workshop and took a bottle of pure alcohol and some cleaningpads and -swabs. One drop and swab at a time I started to wipe the stains away from everything I could see. Eventually I felt that I had cleaned everything and started to put everything back together. I was done at one a.m. I decided to leave testing the laptop to the morning and went to bed. Now I tried turning the power on and to my amazement this seems to be working.

Good move

2009-05-07T13:50:00.001+03:00

I headed out to the wild in the morning. I didn't really plan on going to the hide to take pictures, since the best time to be there is when the sun is rising or then in the evening, waiting for the sunset since most birds and animals are active in the early- or late hours of the day and tend to lay low during daytime. So my idea was to go out more for the exercise and freshair rather than photography.

I walked about in the area and then decided to go take a snackbreak at the hide. At the hide I took another piece of camo netting from my backpack and set it up next to the hide, as a sort of "open extension" to my hide. I had just set the netting up and was enjoying my snack when I looked up over the netting. Four cranes and a curlew had arrived next to my hide. I had no choice but to start taking pictures. As I looked around I noticed quite a few more birds nearby. I remained at the hide for just over an hour and had lots to observe and even some pictures to take. My decision to move the hide was obviously a good one. Todays pictures:

Getting older

2009-05-06T20:05:00.001+03:00

I received a text message from my sister in the morning, wishing a happy birthday to a "old geezer". Ok. So I'm a year older, but I really don't feel that old. All the birthday greetings I received during the day made me think of how the years flow by. This in turn forced me to look up my idol from my teenage years from youtube. I doubt that Angus feels very old either, and he's quite a bit older than I am:

Still there

2009-05-04T22:36:00.001+03:00

I took a quick trip to the swamp in the morning. My hide was still in place, even though there had been some really windy days and the tiedowns had loosened when the snow had melted:
I took down the entire system and moved it to another location, closer to the area where I had observed the cranes to spend a lot of time during my previous trips. At the new location I covered the hide with some camo netting:
On my way back I took a quick snapshot of the scenery and the hide:
Blends in rather well, doesen't it?

Swimmers

2009-05-03T17:40:00.001+03:00

My little miss "I'm 5 years old" is a keen swimmer. The local swimming club kid's group had their last practice for the spring today. I took my camera along when I took the girl to the sports center:
It's hard to take pictures when the girl acts like a seal, spending more time below the surface than above it:
Luckily the kids coach made them do a few jumps off the edge of the pool, so I managed to get a couple of pictures:
That was that for today. In the morning I'm hoping to get out to the wetlands again to see if my hide has survived the strong winds of the last couple of days, not to mention the usual springtime floods. Lets hope it's still there.

My deepest apoligies

2009-05-02T22:08:00.006+03:00

I try my best to make sure I keep all my agreements and appointments. However, now I have to apologize to all the guys from the Nikon bunch who were set on coming to the "swamp meet" on april 25th. Due to reasons that I could not control the meet had to be cancelled. The worst part was that I had no way of getting the word out of the cancellation. I am truly sorry guys.

May 1. went. We spent the day with the family. Went to the lake to grill sausages and so on. I managed to take a few nature related pictures:
And if those weren't proof enough that spring is here, a sure sign of spring is that flowers are coming up and blooming:

Another morning at the hide

2009-04-15T11:28:00.010+03:00

Once again I started off during the early hours of the morning. At 5 am I had set myself up in the hide with all my gear ready. It was still far too dark to take any pictures, but I was still late. The sun was already making the horizon lighter and therefore I was not able to get to my hide without being detected by the birds resting at the swamp. Soon I'll have to start going to the hide in the evening and sleeping over to be ready in the morning. With the advancement of spring soon there will not be many dark hours to use for covert movement.

As the sun rose, the lapwings started their morning concert, as did the curlews, swans, cranes, grouses and a number of smaller birds that I can't identify by their sound only.

Noticing that the ospreys had returned to their nesting tree brightened my morning considerably:
As usual, cranes could be seen only in the distance:
The grouses were busy with settling their mating territories, however this time they stayed further away from my hide:
The swans made several fly-by's:
Lastly, no trip to my hide can be made without a few pictures of a sunrise:

Grouse

2009-04-08T12:18:00.004+03:00

This morning’s phototrip started as many previous ones, my alarm clock rang at three a.m. For a moment I thought of staying in bed, my blanket felt so lovely and warm. In the end I decided to get going. After all, I was all packed and ready to head off. I had even made sandwiches to take along and it would have been a shame to waste them. (As everyone knows, sandwiches taste much better out in the wild than at home.) The weather looked good also, -6 degrees and a clear sky were promising a good morning to come.

The dirt road was a little soft at some places, but I managed to get thru without problems. A full moon lighted my way as I walked along the trail towards my photography hide. At the hide I took my gear from my backpack, set up my cameras and sat down to wait. The sun rose in due course and the weather was pretty close to what I had hoped for:

I sat in the hide and munched my sandwiches, drank some tea and listened to the sounds of the morning. Lapwings were making sounds as the first rays of the sun started to shine and a swan was sounding from the other side of the swamp also. Grouse were not to be seen or heard. As the light increased, I noticed two swans resting at the opposite side of the swamp from me. I wondered if they were the same couple that I had been following last summer. I kept an eye on the swans, but didn’t take too much notice of them.

I had just poured myself another cup of tea and started on a sandwich, when I heard the sound of the swans change. I looked to see what was happening, maybe I could get a picture of the swans in flight if they decided to move on. I almost choked on my sandwich as I realized what was happening. I am sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, the distance was so long that I’ve had to “crop” the pictures with a heavy hand to be able to show even this much:

A lynx tried to get a swan for breakfast. It’s a pity I was situated so far away, but that’s how it goes at times. I don’t think I will be seeing a similar situation anytime soon, so who cares if the pictures weren’t top quality? Nature gave me a thrill I will not forget anytime soon.

Oh, yes, the grouse? A short moment after the episode with the lynx and swans, a flock of about 20 birds appeared in the middle of the swamp. I really don’t know where they came from, all of a sudden they just were there. The birds seemed to be feeding, slowly walking towards my hide. I watched the grouses and snapped pictures. Apparently my hide worked well, since the birds walked right past it, some as close as 10 meters. The grouses didn’t seem to be interested in settling their mating territories which I had expected to be happening. On second thought, this is rather understandable, why have turffights when one can be enjoying breakfast with the guys?

Here we go

2009-04-06T11:51:00.001+03:00

I've been writing my blog on nature and wildlife photography in finnish for half a year now. Now I decided to start writing my entries in english also, just to keep my language skills up and maybe to get an "international" view on things. So, from now on I will keep my original blog going as before, but for each posting I will also do a translation.

At the moment I'm looking to get pictures of Black Grouses, especialy their mating rituals. My photography hide is at the swamp / wetland area, at a location where I've seen grouse flocks last year. All thru winter I've been skiing at and around the swamp area, looking at animal tracks, droppings and other telltale marks to find a good location for my hide. Here are a few pictures of what I am talking about:

This is what the area in question looks like in the fall:

This picture was taken a week ago:
This is my photography hide being erected:
Here are a couple of pictures from last spring / summer: