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Over the last few months I've been working extensively for a local newspaper so unfortunately my wildlife work has had to take a back seat. Such is life of a professional when you can't always do exactly what you would like as bills and other boring stuff all need to be paid for. On a positive front the RSPB have recently used an image of mine which can be seen on the Elmley Marshes gallery. 'Cattle fencing on marshes' has been reproduced as a full size poster to be used on their stands as well as at their reserves. Anyway, well over 6 months ago I booked the flight tickets and planned with my Finnish pal Markus a trip to Finland. Hiking was of course on the agenda as well photographing wild brown bears near the Russian border. I had done this on 3 previous occasions and my last 2 were at a place called Wild Brown Bear. On this occasion however we were to visit a site slightly further north called Martinselkonen which I had visited back in 99. It is arguably the best place to see and photograph brown bears where as many as 20 can be viewed in a single night with almost 100% guaranteed success. Should you wish to view and photograph them from a distance and in comfort then you can do so in one of the 3 large hides but if you would like to get more professional shots and don't mind staying in more cramped conditions then you can pay a bit more and get real close-ups as well as them being in a fresh looking area which hasn't been flattened by their coming and goings. Throughout the shoot I used a Nikon D1x with Sigma 70-200 f2.8 HSM with occasionally a 1.4x tele-converter. This seemed the perfect time to use digi as the light was up and down and so could therefore adjust the iso accordingly. All were shot on RAW, auto white balance then later converted to 16 bit TIFF.

Unlike for the bears I opted to use film for my landscape work since the D1x doesn't handle low-light situations as well as slow emulsion. It also meant than I needn't worry about battery power quite as much since digi camera's drain power very quickly if you constantly use the rear view panel to check lighting and exposure. I took along 2 bodies being the F100 as my main and an F90s as back-up. Lenses included a 20mm, 28-105mm and a 70-300mm with 1.4x converter along with polarisers, warm-ups and ND grads. Everything was then packed into a LowePro Orion AW and on those occasions when the waves were a bit choppy or when we encountered rapids, it was then put into a waterproof tight bag. Fuji Velvia 100 was used for all those shown as was a Manfrotto 190 tripod for all except for when we were paddling .

We did this for 2 nights and were not to be disappointed. We settled into the hide at 4.45pm and had a long night ahead of us as we were not to be picked up untill 6.45 the following morning. Well, half an hour after we were inside the bears started to arrive and there was constant activity for the next 3 hours. At any one time the maximum we had was 7 infront of us. Big males, females and females with cubs. At times it was hard to decide where to point the camera! From then on we had activity, albeit less frequent untill the early morning. On the second evening it was entirely different since we didnt see anything for at least an hour and a half and although it was nothing like as frantic the previous evening we did get some nice views and shots. On one occassion a mother with her 2 cubs began to rub her back against our hide and look at us through the small (6" square) windows! We counted ourselves very fortunate as we left the hide on the final morning for as well as observing and photographing lots of activity and behaviour the weather was extremely good with a mixture of sun, cloud and mist.

Part of the trip also involved a 2 day 15 mile journey by canoe within the Hossa area which lies in the northeast, close to the Russian border. It was the first time I'd canoed and after the experience it definitely won't be the last. For one thing you don't have any heavy weights to carry so you can take as much camera/camping gear as you need and it's just the freedom you have. It really is the perfect way to get around and watch nature. Reindeer were ever present on the banks and if you paddled slowly enough you could get quite close. Along the route there were numerous cabins and shelters that you could stop off at and overnight in free of charge. To canoe in such a wilderness area in clear waters which were warm enough to swim in (I didn't though!) and lunch beside an open fire is something very few people experience especially here in the UK and it's one of the reasons why I never tire of going to this fantastic country.