A long drive for a swamp

This morning I got up before five and about five thirty I started a two and half hour drive west. I was going to take a look at a swamp. Yes, I know, there is something really seriously wrong with me. Little over 200 km drive to walk around a swamp and then the same drive back again to get home doesn't seem very smart. Especially if it involves getting up early in the morning. I don't think even I would have done it, if I wouldn't have had a meeting set up at a lean-to at the edge of the national park containing the swamp in question.

Now, the meet in question was a special one. I belong to a number of Finnish photoforums, but for the last year or so, have mainly been active in only one of them. It's not much like the others, there are only a few members and all of us have at one point or another just had enough of the other forums. They really are packed with one or all of the following: the techweenies arguing over which camera has the best qualities, (eventhough they never really utilize more than 10% of what their gear could do), the "you gave my picture favourable comments, so I'll say your picture is brilliant" -crowd, "bad reactions to critique" -bunch or "according to this or that book your picture stinks because it doesn't go by the accepted rules of a "good" picture" -comments. Our little group got together on the net and we focus on throwing comments at each other that most people would consider insults, but we all know it's done only because of a twisted sense of humor, with no real insult intended. We also believe that "going by the book" or focusing too much on technical issues takes the fun out of our beloved hobby, photography. There is really no other common factor to our photography other than it has to be fun. Most of the others are not into nature pics the same way I am and I have no interest in taking glampics of models or going to the circuit to take motorsport pictures for example. I knew a couple of this bunch pretty well and we had met up many times, but there were also a couple of actives that I had never met in person, only traded ideas and comments over the net. So, when a meet was set up and I time off from work, I felt that I just had to go.

We met up at the lean-to just after eight in the morning and after having a cup of coffee, we headed down the trail that went around the swamp. We stopped every now and then to take pictures, talked about this and that as we walked along. After our about 10km trek was over, we were back at the lean-to, got a fire going, grilled some sauseges and chatted some more. Then it was time to start the long drive home. Yes, 5 hours driving in one day is not much fun, but I am glad I went. It was fun to meet the chaps behind the nicknames in person and to discover that after all this time, it was like meeting up with old friends. I had a really great day and I hope our plans for another meet sometime in the near future will go as planned.

Here are some of the pictures I took along our little walk-about:

Sunset cranes

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

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.

Preparations

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:

After a long break

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.

Pictures from the meet

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

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.

Scouting

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?