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.
The rising sun colored everything around me in different shades of purple, red and orange as the morning progressed.
While waiting for the grouses to arrive, I had my usual "hide breakfeast" of tea and sandwiches. It was still a bit dark for photography, but when the lone swan that had been hooting nearby took to its wings, I decided to try a inflight pic against the dark background created by the trees surrounding the swamp:
As the light increased, the grouses started landing around my hide and soon territorial disputes broke out. A quick count gave me approximately 40 males at peak time and a couple of hens dropped by to bring even more heat to the situation. Clashes between males happened in every direction around the hide and at times I had trouble trying to figure out which birds to follow for the best photos. Below are some of the pics I took of the clashes that occured:
When the grouses had had enough and took off, I packed my gear and moved the hide a couple of meters to the side, since the melting snow was creating a flood right next to it. As I was moving the hide, a lone goose flew by. I would not have noticed it at all, had it not honked loudly as it approached me. Thanks to the sound it made, I had plenty of time to grab my camera from my backpack and take a picture of the fly by:
As I was skiing back to my car, I saw my old friend, the osprey that nests at the swamp:
All in all, I am happy with the outcome of my morning outing. I will try to go thru all the pictures I took in the near future, so more picture are to be expected to published soon. I am hoping to take my daughter out for one more "grouse outing" in the next couple of days and then I'll most likely move the hide to another location for the summer. I am hoping the snow will hold for the next few days, since that would make our journey to the hide much more enjoyable, after all, being finns, we love to ski whenever we need to move thru the woods.
