Photo of the Month April 2013

Photo of the Month April 2013
Photo of the Month April 2013

Back to basics

Last month was a very busy month for me, with the start of the first field work season for my PhD, and the conference in Weimar, which resulted in only one trip to the outdoors with my camera. In the last weekend of March, I went to the Hatertse vennen with some fellow members of Natuurfoto Rivierenland, a nature photography group based in Randwijk. Unfortunately, the weather forecast wasn’t to good (but it wasn’t bad either), so we were anxious to see what the weather gods would bring. It was rather cold for the time of year, which resulted in frozen water and no mist. Not the ideal circumstances I needed for the picture I had in mind. Optimistic I went searching for other possibilities to photograph and ended up photographing these geese. Canada geese are not native to Europe, and therefore I have always refused to photograph them. In this situation, however, I was ‘forced’ to work with them, and they appeared to be willing models for my picture.

Lately, I find myself going ‘back to basics’, focussing once again on the animals in their environment, and trying to tell a story, in stead of focussing on creative photography, which is depicted in this picture. The Canada geese swimming in the bogs they inhabit. The ultimate picture for me would of course be a creative picture, telling a story of an animal in it’s environment, but that one still has to be taken. So my good intention for next month will be going out with my camera more often, which won’t be too much of a problem, as I will be going on a holiday to Abruzzo NP in Italy in about a week!

Canon 5D mIII, Canon 70-200, 1/6 @ f/8, iso 100, tripod, cable release

Photo of the Month March 2013

Photo of the Month March 2013
Photo of the Month March 2013

Due to a performance with my band, and preparations for my field work, I did not go out to take pictures a lot during the last month. Fortunately, I did go on a photography trip with my father to Flevoland, of which I already showed some pictures. This picture is my favourite from the trip. It depicts a group of greater white-fronted geese flying over the Markermeer in the early morning light. They are flying from the area in which they have slept, to the area where they are going to forage.

The combination of the soft light and the pattern made by the geese, makes this picture stand out from the rest. I hope you enjoy it!

Canon 5DmIII, 200mm, 1/320 @ f/8, iso 400

Early morning geese

A group of geese flies over the Markermeer from their sleeping area towards their foraging area Canon 5DmIII, 135mm, 1/400 @ f/8, iso 400
A group of geese flies over the Markermeer from their sleeping area towards their foraging area
Canon 5DmIII, 135mm, 1/400 @ f/8, iso 400

Another picture from last weekend. This one is from Sunday morning. After photographing the sunrise, we (my father and I) went to the Oostvaardersdijk in search for some waterfowl to photograph. We saw a reasonable group of tufted ducks, but in the end I decided to focus mainly on the overflying geese, which contrasted nicely against the soft early morning sky caused by the sun shining through the clouds.