Past work
Prague in black and white
Given the weather in the south east over the last week, it’ll come as no surprise that I have done very little in the way of photography. I have moved the hide from the marsh harrier site to the barn owl place and attempted a different take on an image of a great-spotted woodpecker. So, I have been doing the laborious, but necessary, task of processing images for my agents and converting a number of my photographs of Prague to black and white. This is primarily for a forthcoming Prague prints gallery on my website.
Those of you that have visited my website will know that I have quite a substantial collection of images, taken in all seasons and weathers, of the city they call “the golden city” or “the city of a hundred spires.” Since the majority were taken 4-5 years ago on transparency I have had to scan them, then convert. I am no expert on Photoshop (and I hope will never be!) but a basic understanding of tweaking colours, levels, curves, and a bit of dodging and burning can really transform an image. Prague is such a colourful city and sometimes it’s sheer vibrancy can deflect from the beauty of the architecture and gives it a rather old-world, timeless feel. Indeed many of them could have been taken a hundred years ago and you would never know!
Prague Castle, St Vitus Cathedral and Mala Strana or The Little Quarter. Photographed on the coldest day I have ever experienced in the Czech Republic. The large, digital road-side temperature sign read -15 C but with a strong wind blowing into my face it must have been close to -25. You really don't care what you like when it's that cold!
Statue on Charles Bridge (Karluv Most).
Steps from Prague Castle
West Towers in winter along Charles Bridge. Undoubtably the best time to experience this ever-busy bridge is to get there at dawn.
Taken during a blizzard. I added a vignette, sepia'd and cut down sharpening to give it that 'old' look. Matter of taste but quite like it. Good to try something different.
Buildings along Masarykovo Nabrezi, Prague. Taken moments before the sun set.
Tram moving across The Bridge of Legions (Most Legii) with the National Theatre (Narodni Divadlo) behind.
On the photographic side, over those years, my kit never changed. Nikon F5, 20mm, 28-105mm, 80-200mm, polarisers, ND grads, Velvia and Provia and a Manfrotto tripod. Everything was packed into a Lowepro backpack. Above all else, comfortable walking shoes! Prague is one cobbled street after another.
Bialowieza Bison
Eight years ago I travelled to the Bialowieza Forest in eastern Poland to photograph Europe’s largest free roaming bison population. I decided to go in the winter since locating them is made easier by following their tracks in the snow, visiting their feeding places and also, bison stand out much more clearly against a snowy backdrop rather than a dark, green one. Bialowieza Forest is a huge area covering 1500 sq.km where roughly, one third lies in Poland and two thirds in Belarus. The bison or wisent were reintroduced in 1929 where they had been hunted to extinction in 1919, largely by the occupying German army. Now, on the Polish side, there are 456 and including Belarus, 800.
I arranged a guide to help me on my quest and was duly met at Warsaw airport. I had my camera gear with me as carry on but that sinking feeling emerged when my hold luggage didn’t turn up. My guide spoke to the baggage handlers (who didn’t speak any English) and when they searched the rear of the conveyor belt, they found my bag which had fallen off the belt! Thank goodness for that. Inside the bag was all my warm clothing, insulated boots etc. It was February and as opposed to arriving in a snow laden Poland, El Nino had risen it’s head and instead, it was raining, though blisteringly cold. The forecast was for snow in the next couple of days and so our finger’s were crossed. We settled into our simple but comfortable Pension and awoke at dawn to be greeted with falling snow.
Road leading through Bialowieza Forest
For the next 3 days, myself and Andrew, trekked for miles through deep snow within the forest but had no luck. At this time of the year their feeding is supplemented with hay and also as a means of deterring them from feeding on the vegetation so most years they can be found relatively easily. We found tracks and footprints of bison along with those of boar and wolf. For such a huge animal, Europe’s largest, they were proving incredibly difficult to find.
Tracks of European bison or Wisent
Footprint of bison
My guide then suggested to enlist (hire) the help of an elderly chap from the village who, for over 40 years, was a Park Ranger in Bialowieza. A tall, wiry man, he led us into the forest and within 3 hours found a herd. They are near to impossible to get close too, which is often the case when they are together like this, cows with calves and with poor visibility and a blizzard, this was the best I could get.
Bison herd in Bialowieza Forest
Over the next few days my luck grew and was confronted with a bull that was wondering, solitary, through the forest. We kept a respectful distance (who wouldn’t?!) and I obtained clearer portraits using a 500mm lens.
On the day of departure the temperature increased a few degrees and the snow began to melt. On that final morning, arrangements were made for me to enter the Protected Area, a must for anyone going t0 Bialowieza.
Entrance to the Protected Area
You have to obtain special permission from the Park’s authorities after which you are met by one of only a handful of guides permitted to lead you around. An untouched, primeval forest, the largest and finest of it’s kind in lowland Europe, where massive, several hundred year old oaks stand 50 metres tall as a result of the nutrient rich soil. It was a stunningly beautiful yet eerie place where no forest management has ever been carried out. The only means of transport within the forest is horse and cart. Where trees fall, they remain and among the tangled vegetation and fallen, decaying trees, wolves, lynx, boar and bison roam. Black storks, booted eagles and all 10 species of woodpecker exist within Bialowieza National Park, not to mention the endless list of plants and insects.
Massive oak tree
Three hours wasn’t nearly enough time to do it justice but it was all the time I had. Looking back on these images and recounting my experiences, I remember what a great trip it was. Highs and lows with lots and lots of walking!
Not another puffin picture!
I know, I know. The Internet seems swamped these days with more images than ever of this charismatic little fella. But who can blame a photographer for wanting to photograph them?! They are extremely numerous and very approachable. Getting something different then, becomes increasingly difficult.
I have recently been accepted by a second picture library (I have been with my other, FLPA, for 10 years now) called Wildlife GmbH, in Germany and as a result, I am in the process of submitting material to them, one of which is of this puffin in flight.
Atlantic puffin in flight.
Taken on Skomer a few years ago, I stayed for a couple of nights to photograph these and manx shearwaters. Manx shearwaters are incredible birds spending most of it’s life at sea, only returning to land at night to feed it’s young. Why at night? In nutshell, they are are very clumsy on land due to their legs being set far back towards their tale and so if they were to come ashore during the day, they would end up as dinner to gulls and the like. Anyway, back to the puffin. On my second day, fog rolled in along with strong winds. I fitted my flash-unit to attempt the flash-and-blur technique. If you pull it off it can be quite effective with the resulting image exhibiting both sharp and blurred elements giving the impression of movement. It’s relatively simple to do too. Select a slow shutter speed of say 1/30th sec. and your TTL flash-unit to -1. With the flash unit set to minus one stop the effect will be subtle though evident. Experimentation is the key here as the speed of the subject, it’s direction and distance will determine both shutter speed and flash output.
Wing tagging Marsh harriers
Apologies for the lateness of this post. I really should have added it shortly after Marsh harriers Part 2, back in mid October but I have been awaiting detailed information regarding this practise before committing it to a post.
A month into photographing a pair of nesting marsh harriers, I accompanyed two very experienced ornithologists, Rod Smith and Brian Watmough who were hoping to find a number of nests in order to wing tag the young birds. This is a relatively new practise and 2010 was only it’s second year. Initially, ringing the birds was the only option but of course the only time data could be collected was when the bird was deceased. With wing tagging however, simply looking through binoculars can inform you both of it’s origin and year it was tagged. It is therefore far easier to collect data such as age and where it goes throughout the year. One bird, for example, that was born on the Isle of Sheppey, has been seen in Lincolnshire! But why I ask myself should a bird leave an area that has an abundance of food and fly 100+ miles? Just one of those things I guess.
If I remember correctly, 4 nests were identified as possible sites to tag the birds. The first 2 revealed nothing even though I had myself been photographing the parents bringing in food to one of them. This isn’t unusual however. Reedbeds are so dense that visibility can be just a metre or so and when you have a large area to cover, regardless of how much you have pin-pinted it’s location, you can quite literally be on top of it and still not see it. After around 30 minutes they decided to move on to allow the parents to return and resume feeding. On the third nest, we got lucky. As I stood, some distance away from where they entered the reedbed, I could see a huge pair of wings flapping among the reeds. A sure sign they had located the young and were now in the process of gathering them.
Three, four week old Marsh harriers being brought out of the reedbed by Rod Smith (who is pin-pointing its location on his GPS) and Brian Watmough.
Once brought out they were taken to the car where both ringing and wing-tagging would be carried out. Two tags were attached. A blue one which indicated the year (in this case 2010) and a white one which indicated location which in this case was for the Isle of Sheppey, Kent.
As I looked on I could see how experienced Rod was in doing this. Totally confident in the way he handled them and maneuvered the birds to get them into the position he needed.
Blue tags for the year.
And white for the location.
After exactly an hour (to the minute actually according to the image EXIF data) they were taken back to their nest. I had never seen a nest of a marsh harrier before so upon borrowing a pair of waders, I followed.
I was instantly amazed just how deep the water was. At at least 2 feet deep it was the ideal place to keep the eggs and young safe from predators such as foxes.
Upon reaching the nest site I had just a few seconds to get pictures since as soon as the birds were released, rather than modelling perfectly in the centre, they scattered in all directions!
Immature Marsh harriers in nest.
I have to say I was a little disappointed with the nest. I had visions of a monster structure, perfectly entwined amongst the reeds. Instead, it was a simple nest of flattened reeds. But it was practical. It served it’s purpose, which afterall is what it’s there for.
It was a perfect conclusion to two months spent photographing these magnificent birds of the marsh and with approximately 30 nests on Sheppey, it looks as though they are going to flourish for many years to come. Hooray to that!
Marsh harriers Part 2
Having spent weeks positioning the hide, my real desire was to obtain images of the parents bringing food back to the nest. Talons clasping marsh frogs and birds for example. However, allowing for light, wind direction and not wanting to move the hide and alert the adults, I only obtained a few images that although were nice to get weren’t quite as I had hoped. With this kind of work you really are at the mercy of the elements. The following images were taken over 3, 5 hour sessions. On some occassions I didn’t get any pictures at all though I always saw them. In total I spent 30 hours over 6 sessions.
Marsh harrier carrying prey. Full frame. No cropping.
The image below has been cropped considerably so you can see exactly the prey it was carrying. A young rabbit as it turned out.
Considering it was taken at iso 800 in order to get a fast enough shutter speed, I am extremely happy with the quality the Nikon D300 produced.
Male bringing in another young rabbit. Other prey items include marsh frogs and birds, from lapwing to coot.
A long-shot showing clearly the outline of this fine bird. Broad wings and tail giving it plenty of buoyancy and maneuverability. Unlike other birds of prey, marsh harriers aren't put off by inclement weather. I have witnessed them in the rain, howling wind and snow quartering reedbeds.
The final image is one of my favourites. It’s all about the wing positioning with the late afternoon sunlight illuminating it’s underside. Although not the fastest birds they were quite hard to track. Indeed, when you are in a hide, your vision is restricted and so I would go by the mobbing calls of lapwings to alert me of their presence. I would then frantically look through each peep-hole to try and locate it. For all the images a 300mm f2.8 lens with either the TC-14EII (1.4x) or TC-20EII (2x) tele-converter was used on a Nikon D300. Stopping movement was the prerequisite so I selected an iso of 400 or 800 (depending on how late in the afternoon I was shooting) and the camera set to either shutter priority or manual.
Female arriving at nest
It was a wonderful experience witnessing and photographing marsh harriers from such close range and even with the amount of preparation involved, I am sure in the future I will attempt to improve my coverage of this stage of their lives. In the next installemt I accompany licenced handlers ring and wing-tag the young birds.
This time last year
Those of you that have been following this blog for the last year or so may recall the trip report I posted on my visit to north west Lapland last September. It’s hard to believe that it was exactly a year ago that myself, my dad, brother and brother-in-law stayed in a small log cabin on the banks of the River Konkamaeno on the Finnish/Swedish border. It all stemmed from the fact that my dad had always wanted to stay in a cabin by a river in the wilderness. Quite a tall order but I knew Finland well and already had a number of contacts and colleagues living there that could help. After many weeks searching for the ‘perfect’ cabin, I eventually found it.
My brother-in-law Jim, my dad Roger, my 'daft' brother Malc and yours truly cooking sausages on an open fire infront of the cabin. Daytime temperatures were around 10 deg.C and at night would occasionally drop to minus 5.
Cabin at twilight.
50 metres from the cabin.
The cabin was basic, had an outdoor loo and no running water. Inside was comfortable with cooking facilities, no electricity (except for very weak solar lighting) and wood burning stove….perfect! The site of the cabin was fantastic. Just under a kilometre from the road down a track, you really did feel in the middle of no-where. To have a wash and brush your teeth, a short walk to the river was needed but this was all part of the experience. To add to this there was an adjoining sauna and rowing boat. The colours of Lapland at this time are absolutely stunning. The bright yellow of birch and aspen and the red of bilberry all combine to produce a kaleidoscope of colour. A day was spent exploring the Norwegian fjords (the size of which just blew us away) and to top it off, on the 2nd night, we had a full 45 minutes showing of the northern lights, all viewed just metres away from the cabin.
This was my sixth trip to Finland, the second during this season. In the past, in spring and summer, I have photographed bears, wolverine, orchids and owls but for landscape photography, nothing beats Lapland in autumn. Click here to see a temporary web page of many of the images taken on last years trip.
Frosty morning down at the river.
River Galggojohka, Norway.
Lapland Photography Holiday
I am looking at potentially running a Lapland Photography Holiday in Finland with a visit to Norway the same time next year and at this stage I am simply seeing what the interest is for something like this. The accommodation would be at a lodge not far from where I stayed where meals etc would all be taken care of. If, however, you would like to experience the basic, wilderness version then this may also be possible. As I said, I am merely ascertaining interest at this stage and would very much welcome your thoughts. Price-wise, you are looking at approximately £1200 for 7 days though this is just a ballpoint figure. This would exclude flights but include everything else, including transport.
One thing is for certain, this is quite unique. An adventure. There are no companies that do trips of this kind, anywhere. I will be putting up more details on this blog shortly but if you can’t wait till then and would like to register your interest, please contact me at rmcanis@msn.com or telephone, 07939 117570.
Working on the commoner species
Several springs ago while topping up the feeders at my bird feeding station, I arrived to find half a dozen hens and a cock pheasant crowded around the base of the feeder picking up the seeds that had fallen from above. Previously, I had only photographed pheasants from a hide or from a vehicle, rarely as the prime target but as something to shoot (pardon the pun!) while waiting for the intended quarry, notably smaller birds and squirrels. It occurred to me that here was an opportunity to take advantage of their relative tameness and to obtain images that were a little different to the norm.
The closest I could approach at this point was about 10 metres, far too distant for what I was after. So, every morning, I would jump over the gate, shake my bag of bird feed and sprinkle it in the area where the pheasants frequented most. After a week I could get to within 5 metres and after 2 weeks, within 1 metre. I became somewhat of a pied piper, that wherever I went, they would follow. The following week was then spent either following them around or them following me. I would take advantage of this by placing the food in attractive settings, such as the bluebell wood, often using a wide-angle lens to get that unusual perspective. By this point I could get to within touching distance.
Cock pheasant
At the tme, I was using film and used a Nikon F90 with a 28-105mm lens, Fuji Sensia 100 and a Nikon Speedlight SB-26 flash-unit set to -1.3 for fill-in. All were taken handheld with the camera set to shutter priority, possibly 1/125 sec. with the aperture fluctuating from f5.6 to f11, depending on the day’s brightness.
Cock and hen pheasants feeding
Pheasants in bluebell wood
There’s an awful lot to be said about working with animals we see on a day to day basis, rather than concentrating on rarer kinds. The more we encounter them, the more the likelihood of recording something interesting, as opposed to a mere portrait taken with a telephoto lens. Don’t get me wrong, I like a good portrait as much as the next person, but it really can’t compare to an image with the subject either actively doing something or photographed in an unusual way. With so much subject matter to choose from, the only thing we need to do is open our eyes a little wider and explore the possibilities.
Cock pheasant with hens
Playing by the rules
I originally wrote this piece two years ago but, since many who read this were not following the blog back then, I thought this would interest you.
Almost three years ago, to the day, I fulfilled an ambition I had held for years, to photograph common buzzards in the wild, in Kent. Why? Well, up until 10 years ago they were quite a rare sight around these parts (North Downs) but over the years they have moved further and further east to a point that it’s now unusual not to see one while out on the hills. There are now close to a thousand pairs in Kent and I personally know of 3 nests which I am dying to work on over the coming years.
OK, so they are incredibly common in the west and north and hardly magnificent golden eagles but there is just something about them. The way they soar, their call…….. As I visited my woodland birds feeding station over the years or, indeed, sat in the hide photographing them, the desire would burn deeper and deeper to photograph this beautiful bird. I am privileged to have access to a lot of land within their territory and so, the previous October, decided to commit the following 4-5 months to this project. But everything, and I mean everything, had to be by the book. Birds of prey are notoriously shy and keen-eyed birds so, unlike a blue tit at a nut feeder, where you can come and go from your hide without them so much as batting an eyelid, with buzzards, in this part of the world, not a chance!
The following was then carried out.
* 5′ sq wooden hide erected (adjacent to a hedge to break up it’s outline) under cover of darkness, so buzzards didn’t associate it with humans.
* Hide left alone for several weeks.
* Stockpile of road-kill rabbits stored in freezer. Thanks Martina!
* December. Once a week. Rabbit put down pre-dawn in front of hide. At night, if rabbit not devoured by birds, was taken and put up a tree to stop foxes taking it. Put back down following morning…….
* Continue and wait for hard weather to commence photography.
In mid January we had hard frosts lasting a couple of weeks so I took the opportunity to get some shots. I entered the hide 2 hours before sunrise. 11 hours later one arrived and fed but the light was poor. It got terribly cold in the hide, very rarely going above freezing. I would, occasionally, ignite the stove for a few minutes, wrap a blanket around me and wear a balaclava. Winter, neoprene lined boots made by Le Chameau helped keep my feet warm (though they froze after 5 hours). I firmly believe in making yourself as comfortable as possible, since the more comfortable you are, the longer you will wait and the more likely you are of getting the shot. I tried, again, a few days later and this time one appeared in good light but something was missing….snow!
Then, at the end of January we had a substantial dumping with poor visibility, lasting for several days. I needed a break in the weather to entice the buzzard’s from where they had been sheltering from the terrible weather. I then had the forecast I’d been waiting for. A clear day, blue sky all the way. Perfect! This would surely tempt them out to look for food. I got everything ready the night before and woke at 3. With all the snow I knew it was going to be tough driving and there was no guarantee that I would even reach the hide. I gingerly made my way to the spot where I needed to park the car but first there was a hill to get up. I had a bit of a run-up but the Mondeo only made it half way. Four attempts later it got me to the top. I now have a 4×4!When I reached the hide, there was over 18 inches of snow. I staked the rabbit down (this is to avoid it being carried off), set everything up in the hide, took snacks out of wrappers (to avoid noise) and sat back, waiting for light and, finger’s crossed, buzzards.
Then, at about 10 o clock, one arrived and fed for over 30 minutes. It took my breath away to be this close (15m) and knowing that all the hard work had not been to avail. The low perspective was achieved by attaching a tripod head to a piece of MDF with tent pegs pushed into the ground with the lens protruding through a nurses-sleeve about 6 inches above the ground. I attached one-way mirror film to small perspex panels at eye-level so I could see clearly outside without being seen.
Common buzzard
Several hours passed and then an immature bird turned up and, just like the one previous, spent around 30 minutes feeding, oblivious to the photographer who, at this point, was the happiest man on the planet!
To see a video of what I saw, please click here. It was filmed on my point-and-shoot camera so please forgive the rather poor quality.
All images were taken using a Nikon D2x with 300mm f2.8 and 1.4x converter (sometimes without) with right-angle finder attached. I ached for days having spent several hours with my head between my legs peering through this!
Of all the projects I have undertaken, this has certainly been the toughest but without question the most satisfying. Hamilton Holt’s quote comes to mind….”Nothing worthwhile comes easily. Work, continuous work and hard work , is the only way to accomplish results that last.” But, why do they have to be so strenuous!
About Robert Canis
Robert Canis is a professional photographer specialising in the natural world.
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