VNF jubileum festival 5 november Hanzehof Zutphen

Voor het eerst in mijn blog schrijf ik eens in het Nederlands omdat dit toch vooral een Hollands evenement betreft.

(I’m sorry for writing this blog entry in Dutch, but it’s about a Dutch Photo Festival, which I’m going to present on November 5th, and I guess it’s kind of a Dutch party)

Ik ben al een aantal jaren lid van de Vereniging Natuurfotografen en dan van de afdeling Apeldoorn. En dit jaar hebben we een feestje te vieren!! De club bestaat namelijk 25 jaar en we gaan dit groots vieren op 5 november a.s. in de Hanzehof in Zutphen. En raad eens wie het festival gaat presenteren (ben nu al zenuwachtig en val straks vast van het podium af of zoiets..)

Er wordt al bijna een jaar aan de organisatie van dit festival gewerkt en het belooft dan ook een fantastische dag te worden.

Zo komen er internationaal en nationaal bekende gastsprekers waaronder ‘Wild Wonders of Europe” fotograaf Jari Peltomaki, Dutch photographer of the year David Pattyn en zal ons eigen clublid Jan Vermeer, 2x winnaar van Wildlife Photographer of the Year het festival openen met een prachtige presentatie over Africa. Niet de minste namen zou ik zeggen!! Verder zijn er werkelijk supermooie foto-presentaties te bewonderen van o.a. Karel Tomei en zal Gertjan Straalman een presentatie geven over filmen met de spiegelreflex camera. (heb ik zeker nodig want daar bak ik niks van ). Verder is er een ontroerend mooi klankbeeld over de Veluwe te zien, samengesteld uit ingezonden leden-beelden. Ongelooflijk hoe mooi dit relatief kleine Nederlandse Natuurgebied in beeld is gebracht!

Voor het volledige programma verwijs ik graag naar de website van het VNF-Apeldoorn en voor kaartverkoop naar de website van Foto Konijnenberg.

Het aantal toegangskaarten is redelijk beperkt dus bestel snel! Het zou ontzettend leuk zijn jullie daar allemaal te zien!

The Golden Cathedral

Because of visitors and a custom made workshop I was preparing, going out to photograph was not an option during the last 10 days, except for one morning that I went to the Veluwezoom. There wasn’t much going on as sunrise is already too late in this season; by the time it’s light enough to photograph, around 7.30 AM, the joggers, cyclists and bikers are also around, causing the animals to go into hiding for the day.

By the time I was driving back, the light autumn fog was lifting and the sun was already high in the sky setting the forest on fire with beautiful golden rays. It was as if  was driving through a golden natural cathedral. That really made my day!

Proud as a peacock..

Finally…. The book is out!!

My first really really official book has just been published! I am proud as a peacock!

Better yet, actually there are two books;

Have a look at the Dutch version or the English version.

I feel like I’ve just given birth Without the pain that is..

Surprise Party

Yesterday afternoon I was working when I all of a sudden heard a bird calling outside. It sounded all too familiar: Kingfisher! Although we have visiting Kingfishers every now and again it still is a rare guests as we live in a forest area and there are not that many nesting possibilities around. Two years ago, we’ve had a Kingfisher emptying our pond for a week, but since then it still is an exception when I hear or see one.

But this time she had landed on a branch over the pond and started scanning the water for fish. As there are a lot of fish in the pond I knew that it would mean that she was probably going to stay around for a while. The next 10 minutes were frantic. The moment she flew off for a moment I sprinted to the shed, got out my hide, threw it on the terrace that is next to the pond, got a little chair, my tripod, camera. Sprinted off to the neares patch of forest where I knew Hans had been busy cutting off branches. Dragged a huge one to the pond and just hung it just over the water surface. Took a dive in the hide, zipped it up and exhaled again

It only took a few minutes and there was the familiar sound again. To my great thrill it flew straight at the new branch, right in front of my camera. It took her only a minute before she took a dive into the pond and fished out her first little fish. It was a shame that it was cloudy and already quite late, so the possible shutterspeeds weren’t fast enough to capture her smashing the fish on the branch, but still got some really nice shots.

She kept on fishing and in the first hour she caught herself 5 fish before she landed on a tiny little branch just above the water and started to clean her feathers. By that time I thought I heared the call again but dismissed it as imagination as I didn’t see her call. When I looked back at the pictures I took later on, the surprise was complete when it turned out there were two different ones! Talk about a surprise party!! Both juvenile females. I really hope they’ll return but I haven’t seen them again ever since.

Try it with a camera next time…

The other day I received an email with these pictures and the list in it. The result of a simple google search for whatever animal species and ‘hunting’.
I’ve decided to post them here and although the pictures come straight from the internet, no doubt posted there out of pride and vanity by the guys themselves, I’ll post them here unrecognizable.  

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against hunting in itself. I’m not a vegetarian and I know my meat comes from an animal and I’d rather eat meat from an animal that has had a good life, living free, than from one of our modern day bio-industry animals, who have had no life at all.

But what goes on in the minds of these people, who go and shoot endangered animals, animals that other people try to rescue from extinction, just for the thrill of it. Everything in this world is for sale, I know. But seeing this list (readily available on the internet) made me swallow hard. Cheetah? Their numberd have been decreasing rapidly. Millions of dollars are put in their conservation; money that comes from donations from people who care.

Roan, Sable and Tsesebe Antilope? Not many of those left either. Leopard?

 I bet that any animal that possibly could be on your wishlist is possible. It just comes down to the right price.
Polar Bear anyone? Tiger maybe? Or Rhino? Ah well, who cares if there, in the near future, will be none left.

There has been talk that some of these animals were especially bred for hunting camps. But does that make it right?

I would like to suggest something to these guys, who so enjoy the thrill of the hunt. Try hunting with a camera next time. The thrill is the same; the excitement of the hunt, the pleasure of spotting the animal, the gentle squeezing of the ‘trigger’, the aiming and finally, the capture. Oh yes, and not to forget the Trophy for your living room wall! 

Only in this way, both of you walk away unharmed….

Workshop Wildlife Photography: Red Deer Rutting Season

I have just updated my website with an exciting new Workshop: photographing the beautiful Red Deer in rutting season!

If you are interested in joining me at this wildly fascinating event on either thursday 15 september or friday 16 september, please follow this link for more information. (Dutch only I’m afraid).

Full speed ahead, mom!!

Those of you that know me a bit longer know that I simply love to spend time on our boat, the Tembo. Especially sailing her to the Biesbosch, a beautiful wetland area in Holland, is really my favorite trip. The boat has a little tender, a green rubber boat with an electro motor, but the motor got broken last year. Since we, so far, haven’t had the chance to take the Tembo out for a trip this year (!), there wasn’t a real need to repair or replace the electro motor of the rubber boat. But last week we received a phone call that the new motor was ready to be picked up.

A couple of days before, I had seen a couple of Grebes with chicks in the channel alongside the road I drive almost every day. I had tried to photograph them but the banks are steep and covered in thick reeds. But I really wanted to get low perspective shots of this cute little family. So when the motor arrived I had a brainwave and pursuaded Hans to bring the rubber boat to the channel. Put it in the water, attached the brandnew electro motor and off I went! (much to the amusement of the many people in cars driving next to the channel. Imagine this woman, big hat, big lens, big green rubber boat…. must have looked like I was about to go crocodile hunting )

At first the Grebes didn’t like me very much.. Slowly, ever so slowly I approached and the first couple of times just passed them by, to make them get used to the boat and convince them that I wasn’t a threat. That worked and after a while I could gently overtake them, tie the boat to a reed stem and wait for them to swim up to me and pass. It was really cute; mom and dad both carried the chicks on their backs and every once in a while, the chicks opened their mouths really wide as if to cheer mom on: “Full speed ahead, Ma!!!”

  It was a really fun way to spend a warm summer afternoon!!

On safari in Holland

Last week at the National Park ‘De Veluwezoom’ was fantastic. You know, I’ve heard so often that to see ‘real’ wildlife, you have to go to Africa, or Antarctica, or the Galapagos. But close to home, often you can see so much wildlife that it’s dazzling. But maybe we don’t find it exotic enough. For me, seeing a Roe Deer or a Wild Boar is just as exciting as seeing an Impala or a Warthog. Especially when you’ve waited days to get a clean shot of one of them it’s equally rewarding as being on safari in Africa. Well, at least, almost as rewarding..

The last couple of days have been awesome. I love, really love, being out there at the crack of dawn, nobody else, no joggers, no moutain bikers and especially no ‘tour-de-france-wannabees’ yet. (I could fill an entire blog page with my experiences with that group!). Totally quiet. The fun is approaching the animals without disturbing them. I’m getting quite good at that. My poor car is not enjoying rolling down a hill, motor off, heading with a speed of 5 miles/hour, but it works!! But to see the sun creep up the hills, setting the flowering heather ablaze with golden light is fantastic.

The Roe Deer don’t get disturbed but just continue fouraging, the Wild Boar let their young frolick around without heading off, the Doe shows her Fawn without totally panicking. I’ve seen Fox on several occasions but wasn’t able to get a clean shot. But I will, I’m sure.

Yesterday, the Roe Deer Foe who, by now, doesn’t seem to get alarmed by my presence anymore, let me approach her, by now only one, fawn pretty close. Imagine that up until this year I’ve only seen a fawn once, although I’ve been surrounded by Roe Deer all my life! All of a sudden I seem to know how to look, and where to look. Where I used to drive on after seeing a Deer Foe on her own, I now stop the car and wait patiently. Because a Doe on her own in June is likely to have hidden her Fawns somewhere. I can’t help it, but each time I see the head go up when she starts to call with soft high pitched sounds, I secretely smile. Patience gets rewarded every time!

There were two absolute highlights last week. First on monday, to see the Honey Buzzard. It’s a very rare bird of prey in Holland and there aren’t that many photographers that have a shot in their collection. I’ve seen one a couple of times before but had never been able to capture it right.
But this day was different. Although I had woken up an hour too late I still went but indeed all of the wildlife already seemed to have gone in hiding. Until I turned the corner, entering a road that’s overlooking a vast heather field. The light was harsh and shone directly in my face when I saw a shape sitting on a portruding branch. Hawk! I thought by the looks of the grey head and the bright yellow eyes. Exciting as I don’t have a good shot of those birds yet. Yes, dozens of in-flight shots when it’s flying over the meadow behind our house to it’s nest in the corner of the forest, but no ground shots. So I switched off the engine and let the car creep forward, rolling silently down the hill. Just when I was about in ‘shooting’-range, it flew off. Even before I could get a clear shot. Disappointed I sat back, until a shadow fell over the heather; it returned!! Be it one little branch further away. I started shooting although it was quite far away. Much to my surprise, it flew up only to land on top of a shrub closer by!! The harsh light I dreaded worked in my advantage as it shone beautifully through the stretched out wings from behind. When it finally took off altogether, I sat back, and ‘chimped’ through the images on my display and I suddenly realized I was looking, not at a Hawk, but at a beautiful male Honey Buzzard! So I waited around to see if it would be coming back but no such luck. Tried several times during the next days, but I’ve never seen it again (yet). Guess oversleeping made it my lucky day as chances are that I normally would have been out of the park already by that time.

Another highlight occured yesterday, which was my birthday. When I drove my usual circle I saw mom Wild Boar high up the hill. I’ve seen her there before (see upper photo) and I know she has little piglets. But the heather there is really high and usually all you get to see of the little piggies are the tops of their backs, shooting through the heather. But still, you never know, so I stopped and just waited. It took the good part of an hour but the little piglets came closer and closer!! When they were about halfway I suddenly remembered that my camera has a film mode, so I started taping some of the frolicks of the babies. I’m not good at filming but have a look at the video at the bottom of this blog entry. I think it gives a good idea of what I felt, watching those little piglets. Wait for the little white one to come racing through the frame!

While mom was still foraging, the babies came closer and closer until they were right next to the car! What a wonderful sight!! They started digging for food like tiny little shovels and it was realy too cute to watch them! Hard to imagine that one day these cute little babies will have grown into huge impressive Wild Boars

I don’t think I could have gotten a better birthday present as spending an hour or so with these little cuties!!

     
 
 

 

Wildlife Photography Workshops at Foto Konijnenberg

Yay!! I’m going to give three wildlife photography workshops for one of Holland’s biggest Camera stores: Foto Konijnenberg. On  Friday 22 july I will be in Den Ham and Saturday 23rd July in The Hague. I’m very much looking forward to it!!

For more information, please visit Foto Konijnenberg’s website

Keeping a cool head

With 36 degrees C, it’s not easy to keep a cool head. Yesterday, Rufa found a fun solution