In the air again

The weblog hasn't been update with recent material because of a holiday. Sandra, Max and I have spent a three weeks holiday in Finland and Norway. We drove high up through Northern Europe from Helsinki, via the wild brown bear lodge (http://www.wbb.fi/), through Lapland until the Barentsz sea at the Varanger peninsula. It was a marvelous experience with great photography. Brown bears, owls, capercaillie, black grouse, wolverine, beautiful sceneries..........etc etc. I came home with over a thousands images that are waiting to be processed. A nice job for the coming weeks! As a starter two of the highlights of our vacation. A picture of a male brown bear that needed a good meal after its hibernation (on the menu was a delicious elk steak) and secondly, a male capercaillie that is displaying at its lek. Both pictures are made with my beloved Nikon D3 combined with the AF-S VR 600/4.0.

If you like to view more photos of this trip:

birds: http://www.birdpix.nl/album_search.php?search_type=pic_username&search=D.J.+van+Unen&personal_album=0

landscape/animals: http://www.nederpix.nl/album_search.php?search_type=pic_username&search=D.J.+van+Unen&personal_album=0

Greetings,

Dirk-Jan

Black-tailed godwit in backlight!

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 600/4.0 with 1.4 TC

Yesterday evening, I visited again polder Arkemheen to search for photographic opportunities. It pays off to visit a certain area more frequently. The activity of the black-tailed godwit was high. The males were defending their females and their territories all over the area. However, photo opportunities seemed to be limited until ................... in the last light, I found some birds bathing in the pools that were present on the meadows. We had extensive precipitation during the last week. The back light gave a special atmosphere to the pictures.

I hope you enjoy the ambiance in the pictures!

Cheers,

Dirk-Jan

Beautiful day

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 600/4.0 met 1.4 TC

This is the song title of one of my favorite songs of U2. This morning I was extremely lucky. Photography is being at the right moment at the right place. Sunrise, frost, and back-light on this calling black-tailed godwit that was sitting on a snow-covered pole. Is it possible to have a better start of the day?

Hope you enjoy the photo!,
Dirk-Jan

Spring?

Last week I told you that spring had arrived in the Netherland. And now, what happened in the meantime?! An arctic depression brought snow during the Eastern weekend. Mother Nature took us by surprise! No white X-mas, but a white Eastern. Yesterday (second Eastern day as we call it) was a free day in the Netherland. A beautiful day for photography in 'winterly' conditions. I woke up at 5.30h after an uneasy sleep. Yes, it was still snowing! After a quick breakfast and a coffee, I had to remove about 10 cm of snow from the car. Before sunrise I arrived at a snow-covered polder Arkemheen after a slippery car drive. The plan was to make pictures of black-tailed godwits and lapwings in the snow. Usually these species arrive in the early spring and snow is rather scarce in this period. This was my change to take unusual photos of those species. I like to share with you two pictures of this remarkable day. One of the snow-covered polder landscape and the another one is a traditional 'black-tailed godwit on a pole', but then different.

Cheers,

Dirk-Jan

Nikon D3, AF-S 24-70/2.8

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 600/4.0 with 1.4*TC

Spring arrived!

Timing couldn't be better. While SPRING arrived in the Netherlands, I got the opportunity to pick up the new Nikon AF-S VR 600/4.0G lens at a dealer. I had eagerly waited for this moment. My 'good old' 200-400/4.0 didn't gave me enough reach for wildlife photography since I'm using a full-frame Nikon D3.

Weather conditions were fine for photography last friday and saturday. I went to polder Arkemheen, which is one of those areas in the Netherlands were small-scale meadow landscape is preserved. The area is well-known for its healthy hare population and its native numbers of meadow bird species such as lapwings, black-tailed godwits, and redshanks. It was fun to experience the amount of energy that explodes during spring. The male hares were chasing behind the females. The male birds were trying to obtain attention with displaying flights and 'macho' behaviour. To experience this was breath-taking and it made me very happy. I spend about an hour with a hare that wasn't shy at all. I could get out of the car and was allowed to come quite close (about 6 m). Was he or she exhausted by the mating season? The animal wasnt upset at all by my presence. It was grooming its fur, feeding, resting, and moving. Beautiful photographíc opportunities from a low viewing point!

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 600/4.0 with 1.4 TC

All over the place, the males of the black-tailed godwit tried to attract the attention of the females with impressive displaying flights and by showing their colourful plumage. During displaying, they show their black and white pattern on the tail by spreading those feathers. This adult male was walking towards a female bird with a very proud, almost arrogant, expression in its eyes.

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 600/4.0 with 1.4 TC

I'm energized for the new season!
Dirk-Jan

Flight behaviour of great grey shrike

Last weekend I spend an hour with a great grey shrike at the Oostvaardersplassen. It was a pleasure to follow the interesting behaviour of this beautiful bird. During observing I obtained the plan to compile one image with several stages of its diving flight. Out of four successive images, from a series that was shot with 9 images per second, I composed the following result in Photoshop.

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 200-400/4.0 with 1.4*TC

I hope you enjoy the result,
Dirk-Jan

Close encounter

Nikon D3 (ISO 1600), AF-S VR 200-400/4.0 at 400 mm

Yesterday, I was walking with a friend in the Oostvaardersplassen during dusk. Suddenly we saw this female red deer standing in close range next to the walking trail. We were quite upset with this uncommon situation, but the deer was quite relaxed. She remained watching us from behind the willow branches and reed stems with her penetrating eyes. We realized that our situation was a unique photographic opportunity. I selected this picture because her nose and both of her eyes are uncovered by the foreground elements. This picture reminds me of the hidden lifestyle of these animals.

Best regards,

Dirk-Jan