We saw this lovely male cheetah, in the Masai Mara.
This is one of the 25-30 black rhinos left in the Masai Mara.
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I like to thank you all for visiting, commenting and liking my pictures and blogs both here as well as on Instagram and Facebook.
I wish you all a Happy New Year.
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A few weeks a go I created a small bird feeding station with a tiny reflection pool in our garden. I have already realized that reflection pool actually is to small to work well as a reflection pool, but on the other hand I'm not sure I want a lager one in our garden, it will have to do for now.
However today I'll show you some pictures from yesterday evening when I was stalking roe deers in Hågadalen. In the evening it is getting quite dark now, especially in the forest, this makes it more difficult to get good pictures. I'm happy that the technic in the new cameras are so good. I had to increase the iso sensitivity up to 6400 and 12800, even then I get shutter speeds as low as 1/25th of a second. I did manage to get some sharp pictures handholding my old 400mm lens.
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All pictures are un-cropped.
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Wildlife stories will be a series of slideshows/movies showing a special place, plant or animal. In this the first Wildlife story I will take you to Knuthöjdsmossen a bog outside Hällefors in Västmanland, well known for it’s nesting red throated loons. I visited this area a weekend early in May just when the read throated loons started their courting and nesting. I got a some wonderful mornings and evenings among the loons, golden eyes and Canadian geese.
Thanks for all the comments and visits during last year and I'll hope to see you here in 2021.
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Visitor viewing my exhibition.
Reflections in one of my pictures.
One of the pictures in my exhibition.
]]>It's less than a week until NATURFOTODAGEN in Västerås. It is a tradition to visit NATURFOTODAGEN and the last two years I have also had my own exhibition. I will have an exhibition of my own this year as well and if you are around please come by and say hi. Visiting the exhibition is free if you want to listen to one of the great talks you can buy a pass, if you press the NATURFOTODAGEN banner in the picture below you get linked to where you can buy tickets to the talks.
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I would also like to thank every one that has visited my site over the year and the ones that has left any comments most appreciated.
I would like wish you a Happy New Year!
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White tailed eagle flying in from Lausviken the evening light.
Small fishing cottages in Lau. Next to the small houses the barn swallows were swirling around and feeding their you ones.
Next to Lau is the village of När and at Närsholmen you can see my favorite lighthouse as well as a lot of common terns.
I know that the lupine is an invasive art, that takes over from other domestic flowers. However, I can't help it, I really like them. I have played around among the lupines trying to capture them in a new and different way. I hope you like it.
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Twenty past four I took my camera gear and in the light of my torch carefully stepped out on the moor to a tent hide a bit closer to where the black grouse hopefully soon would appear.
At quarter past five the first sounds of the black grouse could be heard. Still, way to dark to photograph, I could see three black grouse outside. Gradually the light got better and I could start taking some pictures. At most I could see six to eight birds out on the moor at the same time and another eight to ten playing in the reed.
Half past nine all the black grouse had left the moor, I could still here some playing far a way in the distance. Very satisfied, I crawled out of the tent hide and my first black grouse lek was over.
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This weekend was spent in Orsa, Dalarna with my family enjoying the winter, but now I really longing for spring. Back home in Uppsala today, I saw the first "snow drops" popping up on the lawn. It sure is a good sign that spring is cooming.
Before leaving Orsa this morning, I took a morning-walk in the nearby forest where I met this lovely lady moose. We spent a few minutes together, I took some pictures and left her to go on with her business and I went back to the cabin for breakfast.
Wish you all a nice week.
I strongly recommend a visit, the exhibitions are for free but if you want to listen and see any of the great shows you’ll need a ticket.
I welcome you all to Västerås and Naturfotodagen 2019 and my exhibition.
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Thanks for all your visits and comments on my blog/webpage last year, much appreciated.
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SK 16 Harvard
SK 50 Saab Saphire
Team 60
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The alarm was set to 4:00 am to get in position before the sunrise, just to be able to capture the birds and in beautiful morning light. This area is famous for misty mornings witch creates magical pictures. During my two mornings there were unfortunately no mist.
Along with the loons there wear several Golden-Eyes and Teals in the area fighting for their females hearts.
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I exhibited nine pictures from Bass Rock and Isle of May, at Naturfotodagen. I would like to thank all of you whom visited my exhibition and a special thanks for all the positive feedback I got.
Yesterday I delivered three of the pictures from the exhibition to a new home in Västerås.
Naturfotodagen is a one day event focused on nature photography where you have the opportunity to see great photographic exhibitions, listen to photographic talks from famous nature photographers and meet a lot of friendly people.
If interested in nature/"nature photography" and you haven’t visited Naturfotodagen before, I can strongly recommend it. For more details check the link ”Boka Nu” on my blog sidebar.
I have updated the look of my webpage, I hope you like it.
Below are a fresh picture from this year, it is an ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) picture of a birch forest just a few hundred meters from our cabin in Orsa.
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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
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I wish you all a great Easter.
Yesterday I saw that the crocus had popped up on our lawn, bees were visiting the crocus and I also saw three butterflies in the air. I sat outside today and enjoyed a cup of coffee in just a T-shirt, without freezing.
One hour each day they open up the orphanages to visitors and then they show and feed the young elephants meanwhile they tell each individuals story, how long they been at the orphanages, what happened to them in the wild (before they ended up being orphanage). It is amazing what love and dedication the care takers show.
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The Masai Mara, in Kenya, is a great place to visit if you want to do safari and experience the African wildlife. In Masai Mara it is still possible to see “the big five”. Elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo. You will also see the great plains and all the herbivores living on the plains. We visited Masai Mara in December and most of the wildebeest and a lot of the herbivores were in Serengeti, Tanzania, but there were plenty left to see and photograph.
There are also other things to photograph, not only wildlife. Each morning several hot air balloons takes of with tourist, that wants to get a view from above.
I would like to take the opertunity to thank you all for visiting my blog during 2015 and for all your wonderful comments, they are really appriciated. I hope to see and hear from you all during 2016.
After walking up and down the riverside for at least an hour, I found the magical spot. I had found them, now several beautiful demoiselle were flying around me. I tried to capture them in flight but no succéss, I did however get a few pictures of them sitting still and posing.
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I saw where it went and thought I'd try to sneak up on it for some close-ups. When I was close to were I thought the buck were to be it were nowhere to be seen. I thought it was strange since I walked against the wind and were really careful. I stood there watching when my phone rang, no reaction no buck runnning away. I reallized then that I must have tricked me and sneaked away in the high grass.
Then I saw it just 4-5 meters away laying resting in the grass, they are so well camoflaged. He was so calm tilted his head a bit and looked at me several times, I think I waited at least ten minutes before he heard a barking dog passing by far in the distance then he finaly stod up. I got my close up and then he slowly walked away 10-15 meter and started to eat from a bush. Then I saw another roedeer, sun was getting lower and I wanted to try to get a back lit shot of the roedeer. I had to change position so that roedeer between me and the sun. I got a few shots but it was tricky in the high grass. The best one is shown in the end of this blog post.
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I learned that good looking web page easliy can fool you. The company was not what I expected. However the family jungle trekk was OK. We did see the jungle and the kids enjoyed it.
We did take a tripp down to Koh Lanta national park, down south on the ilsand. This is a place where you easliy could find and see the wonderful crab macaque.
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One day when returning from the pool, I saw this bird among the palm leafs, I rushed in, grabed the camera and got this shot just outside from our balcony.
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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I would like to thank you all for your visits on my blog and all your kind comments this year, I really appreciate it.
Best regards,
Erik
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Below you can see the picture on display.
Just play along with wind, the rain, the grey dull weather. Just play along with autumn and have fun.
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This is the story of the hare who lost his spectacles.
Owl loved to rest quietly whilst no one was watching. sitting on a
Fence one day, he was surprised when suddenly a kangaroo ran close
By.
Now this may not seem strange, but when owl overheard kangaroo whisper
To no one in particular, ``the hare has lost his spectacles,'' well, he
Began to wonder.
Presently, the moon appeared from behind a cloud and there, lying on
The grass was hare. in the stream that flowed by the grass -- a
Newt. and sitting astride a twig of a bush -- a bee.
Ostensibly motionless, the hare was trembling with excitement, for
Without his spectacles he was completely helpless. where were his
Spectacles? could someone have stolen them? had he mislaid them? what
Was he to do?
Bee wanted to help, and thinking he had the answer began: ``you
Probably ate them thinking they were a carrot.''
``no!'' interrupted owl, who was wise. ``i have good eye-sight, insight,
And foresight. how could an intelligent hare make such a silly
Mistake? '' but all this time, owl had been sitting on the fence,
Scowling!
Kangaroo were hopping mad at this sort of talk. she thought herself
Far superior in intelligence to the others. she was their leader;
Their guru. she had the answer: ``hare, you must go in search of the
Optician.''
But then she realized that hare was completely helpless without his
Spectacles. and so, kangaroo loudly proclaimed, ``i can't send hare in
Search of anything!''
``you can guru, you can!'' shouted newt. ``you can send him with owl.''
But owl had gone to sleep. newt knew too much to be stopped by so
Small a problem -- ``you can take him in your pouch.'' but alas, hare
Was much too big to fit into kangaroo's pouch.
All this time, it had been quite plain to hare that the others knew
Nothing about spectacles.
As for all their tempting ideas, well hare didn't care.
The lost spectacles were his own affair.
And after all, hare did have a spare a-pair.
A-pair.
]]>I had the camera set on miniature setting this means that it automatically defocuses om areas in the camera, not sure that it was a wise decision, but I wanted to see if it was possible to get something that looked a bit different. The miniature effect is similar to what you can get with a tilt-shift lens but done with software in the camera.
Well after enjoying a few really cool big jumps we decided it was time to back home and do something else.
This was a good exercise since it is so easy to rush when you are out with your camera, at least I know that I tend to do that. You are in a hurry to find a great motive and sometimes you give up and move on to quickly. Today I spent over an hour crawling around just one tiny fern. Below are some of the pictures from today.
I underexposed the pictures to enhance the feeling of beeing in the dark wood.
Aperture f4.5, 1/125th of a sec at 190mm. Underexposed -2 stops.
Aperture f3.2, 1/160th of a sec at 115mm. Underexposed -1 stop.
Aperture f3.2, 1/320th of a sec at 100mm (macro). Underexposed -4 stops and some added greenery in front of the lens.
Aperture f3.2, 1/80th of a sec at 100mm (macro). Underexposed -0,7 stops and some added greenery in front of the lens.
Aperture f5.6, 1/100th of a sec at 400mm. Underexposed -1 stop.
Before they take off from the rock or when they land, they have a ritual where they look up in the sky with their beaks and nods towards each other. You can see some of this ritual on the pictures below.
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Each morning we packed a small picnic bag and took stroll around the island to explore its beauty. The afternoon we usually spent bathing, the weather was perfect sun and 25 degrees until the day we should leave for home. Then the sky opened and the rain was pouring down, the thunder and lightning almost delayed our boat ride back but it all cleared just in time.
It was not the last time we visited this island that’s for sure.
When going through the pictures from the trip I realized that I'm not a landscape photographer, as long as the macro or tele lens is fitted I'm OK but with the wide angle I'm really struggling.
Below are a few pictures from the trip, the last picture from when waiting at the boat house for the bad weather to clear before heading back home.
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I also had a very short encounter with a young badger. I can’t remember when I saw a badger the last time (not counting the unfortunate ones lying on the road side).
Yesterday however I had the opportunity to look at them for almost an hour, before they moved on into the forest. However they were at quite a distance but I managed to get some pictures of them. I know that the image quality isn’t the best, but still I like the pictures and it was a wonderful experience. The images were taken with a Canon 7D, 400mm and 1,4 converter.
Thanks Åsa for hinting where they could be found.
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There were several photographers in the area last Sunday. When the owl finally appeared a number of photographers came running from close by (texed/called in by some of the other photographer). I guess that there were six or seven photographers in total. We all were shooting away to get a picture of the owl, some better than others I guess. When the owl decided to take of too another pole, cameras were turned in that direction but it was too far away for some and they decided to move closer. I was almost caught in the heat of the moment and on my way to join them but I realised that I in my mind they were going too close and I stayed behind.
They were almost cornering the owl, mabye not aware of it, all just focused on getting the best picture. The owl finally decided to fly off into the forest again.
I have seen and photographed Great grey owls before and they are majestic birds. I know that I haven’t got the picture that I’m dreaming of yet, but it is not worth disturbing a bird or animal in this way for any picture. I will most likely not go back to this place in the near future.
I hope that the owl manage to raise their young ones, it seems to be a lot of food this year, and these owls are pretty used to photographers. I hope that the owl goes back to hunt in the old field where the photographers don’t have to be in the middle of the hunting ground to get a picture.
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Spring is here for sure now with flowers everywhere and birds tweeting away. I spent Easter on the west coast of Sweden at my parents place. Where the wood anemone was in full bloom.
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Well when the day light finally arrived I could count up to 11 eagles in total. They were all sitting in the tree tops on the other side of the bog it took until lunch time before the dared to come down and eat and they were only there for a short period of time. I’m satisfied with my stay in the hide, I did get to see the eagles and I did get some pictures of them. Unfortunately it was grey and dull weather leading to high ISO. I show you some pictures from my stay in the hide, more to come; I have not had the time to process all pictures yet.
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They way the Swedish government is currently handling the questions regarding the big carnivores we all might have to visit Zoo’s and wildlife parks if we want to see these beautiful animals in the future.
All pictures below are from Orsa Bear park.
Lynx is the smallest of the big cats in this series of big cats and the only one that lives wild in Sweden.
This is the Amur Leopard another big cat that lives in snow.
Last of the big cats in this series is the Siberian Tiger.
I wish you all a Happy New Year!
I thank you all for visiting my blog this past year and I hope to see you in 2014.
]]>Jack Frost doesn’t seems to visit us this Christmas let’s hope that Santa will! I show a picture from February when we had both snow and cold weather.
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These two pictures were taken during the weekend, the first one in Mariefred and the second here in Uppsala.
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It was sitting on a fence pole looking for water voles, after a few minutes on this pole it flew away to another pole 20-30 meters further away.
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However there is an ancient Slavic folklore belief, that the eve of Ivan Kupala is the only time of the year when ferns bloom. Prosperity, luck, discernment and power would befall on whoever finds a fern flower. Therefore, on that night village folks would roam through the forests in search of magical herbs and especially the elusive fern flower.
Below are two different pictures of Fern taken this year.
Below two pictures, Bass rock from the sea and the light house on Bass rock.
At first it seems to be such a small area for ten photographers to be in but it showed out to be sufficient and I managed to get a lot of different pictures of these beautiful birds. Normally the gannets should have had small chicks when I visited the island but due to a late and cold spring the hatching/chicks were at least delayed by two weeks. So unfortunately there were no chicks visible.
I strolled along when I suddenly heard a roebuck barking not too far away. I just got a glimpse of it as it set off. I tried to walk in the direction of where the roebuck were heading to see if I could manage to get a picture of it. After I while I saw the roebuck in front of me, it was a huge buck. It crossed the road where I was standing and into a field. The buck stopped and sniffed in the air before it set of again. This time I was prepared and got some pictures.
Grey heron fishing.
Grey heron flying towards night rest.
Grey heron ready for night rest.
After about 35-40 minutes we reached the waters below Bass Rock. Fisherman Lassie threw fish from the boat to get the Gannets to come closer and get them to dive towards the fish thrown in the water; this is called “chumming”.
Below are some pictures from the chumming.
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I will show you a picture from this weekend where I tried to capture the essence of Midsummer. Flowers, bugs and light airy happiness.
If you are in Edinburgh and have some time over I can recommend a visit to the botanical gardens.
I will be on vacation for a week so it might be a bit longer than usual until my next blog.
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On my way back to the car I fell back into old habits and did some bird photography at the bird pond next to the car park. I did try to do something different and creative. I was using my 50mm lens and long shutter time to create a more artistic picture. I show the best of the picture out of the lot below.
Life is skittles and life is beer.
I think the loveliest time of the year is the spring.
I do, don't you? 'Course you do.
(Words by Tom Lehrer)
The last couple of days it's been thaw outside. The sun is slowly melting the snow outside and it puts a smile on my face. It is an indication that soon spring is here. Water dripping of the tiles on the playhouse and the pebbles is starting to be visible through the ice.
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Below are two different pictures of our plum tree taken in lovely May.
I show you another picture (see earlier post) from one of the more peculiar photo opportunities of this year. One afternoon when I arrived home from work we had a young Pine Marten at home eating plum that had fallen down on the lawn. The picture is taken from our living room window.
Below you can see a picture taken from the beach. In the evening the father of the young common guliemots are calling out to their chicks to jump from the nests on the mountain wall. The father want the chick to join them in the water. The young chicks can't fly yet so they live on the water together with their father and spends the winter in the southern parts of the Baltic sea.
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The picture is of a Fieldfare on the nest.
The second bird is large, white or at least very bright in color, heading down the birch stem.
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I tried to get closer but the old bull kept an eye on me all the time. It was just an open field between us, every time I tried to get closer, he turned his head and smelled and looked in my direction for several minutes before deciding that I might not pose such big threat to him. Eventually they decided to go further away from where I was located so I decided to go back to my car and go home.
The second picture shows a male Drill relaxing. The picture is taken through some small bushes to give a feeling of not being at Zoo and this also helps hiding fences.
The picture below is of a Longhorn beatle that I captured this summer. This Longhorn beatle was feeding on pollen from these yellow flowers.
The second picture is of a Dragonfly that is resting and sunbathing on the dirt road.
Below are two rainy pictures. The first one is an effort to capture summer rain, it's a double exposure. Focus on first exposure is on the leaves of the tree and the second exposure is on the pouring rain a bit further back.
The second picture below is of a very wet and misearble Fiedfare.
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It was a bit nervous running back and forth across the road a few times before he started to relax and eat. Finaly he walked into the forest, leaving the road and the open fields behind.
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If I would have known parselmouth (snake language in Harry Potter) I would have asked what this snake was thinking when it looked at me with its evaluating eyes. Friend or enemy? Then off course I would have apologised for nearly stepping on it.
The male Blackbird arrives home with food to the hungry chicks. The parents dropped of food every 10-15 minutes witch gave me quite some possibillities to capture them arriving with food, but I only got a handful pictures that was worth keeping. The birds are quick and the timing critical. The nest had three possible entrences, the male nearly always took the entrance witch you see on the picture above meanwhile the female used the back entrance (not as photogenic). That is the reason why I only show you pictures of the male at the nest.
Male Blackbird feeding the young chicks, once feed he was of again in search for more food.
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The picture above is from the march where they carry the tendril to the Maypole. Below is a picture of another typical thing, mosquitos.
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Yet the other day I finaly manged to get a picture that I satified with.
The second picture that I'll share with you is of one of our garden's unidentfied spiders. It was hanging around in one of our Pions.
The name "blog 67:18" relates to the plot of land where our house is based and where a lot of my photography is done.
The picture below is not from our garden it is from our cabin up in Dalarna and was taken a few years ago but it is a picture that I really like. The next post on the blog will feature new images from our garden, I just need to process them first, I'm a bit behind on processing my pictures due to the computer issues I've had. But now I'm back...!
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