Happy World Kangaroo Day! š¦š¦These adorable creatures are truly one of a kind. I feel so lucky to have watched them in the wild on Kangaroo Island. It was amazing to see how the mother took care of her little one. Such a special bond between them! š
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I’m feeling grateful and honored as Canon Sweden chose my photo to be their Facebook cover for the month of October. I am so excited to share my passion for photography with a broader audience!
(I know there’s a long way to go to a National Geographic cover, but one has to start somewhere).
āIf we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love.ā, Steve Irwin said.
I talked about how I became a wildlife photographer in my previous post and how I found my mission to share my animal photos with the world; and, by doing so, inspire people to protect them and ensure human activities don’t harm them and their habitats.
This is what the Canon Sweden Facebook page looks like now; I’m so proud! Please forgive me for blowing my own trumpet but I feel the more people see how beautiful these animals are, the more they’d be inspired to do something for them.
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Although my plan was to photograph flowers when I left Microsoft, my photo library began to fill with more and more wildlife photos instead.
When we bought a new house upon relocating from Switzerland, it came with a large garden. The garden was, in fact, one of the main reasons we bought the house. I always loved animals, so naturally, I wanted it to be a wildlife-friendly garden. Not so much manicured lawns and formal flower beds but a place where animals, birds, and insects would thrive. A wildlife heaven.
Four years on, I can safely say we succeeded. We have identified over fifty species of birds (so far!) coming by to sample the food on offer or drink/bath in one of the many bird baths; insects love the flower beds planted with pollinator-friendly flowers, the tiny insect water holes we set up here and there, and the insect hotels we offer in winter, free of charge; and animals are roaming the grounds day and night.
So far, we’ve got deer (oh, how they love my flower beds!), red squirrels, foxes, rabbits, and badgers (only short visits, none have taken up residence, thank God!). Unfortunately, there are no hedgehog sightings yet. However, I did prepare a corner in the backyard for them, with a huge pile of dry leaves, twigs, and water nearby. I’m still hoping, though.
Naturally, I wanted to document the process. It was so much fun seeing the garden transform and more and more animals and birds coming by! One thing led to another, and I’m now, somehow, a wildlife photographer, too.
I’ve started traveling to photograph wild animals, and it was so exciting! Combining my love for Australia with wildlife photography was the ultimate experience. I’m looking forward to more trips and meeting more animals and birds in their natural habitat.
I reflected on my journey to wildlife photography as today, October 4th, is World Animal Day. My love of animals brought this amazing transformation into my life, for which I’m forever grateful.
āIf we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love.ā, Steve Irwin said.
Now, this is my mission, too. Share beautiful photographs of the amazing creatures we share our planet with, share my wildlife, and touch people’s hearts. Because humans want to save things they love.
October 4th is Animal Day, but every day should be animal day. We share this Earth with others, and the topic of animal rights isn’t about animals only but about us, too. Let’s build a world where both animals and humans can thrive. Animals also have a right to live free lives unharmed and unexploited.
āHe who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.ā – Emmanuel Kant. Some food for thought.
If you care about animals, there are a lot of things you can do to help them, for instance:
“I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to the protection by man from the cruelty of man.ā – Mahatma Gandhi
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You know how much I love Australia, so it’s no surprise I love cuddly koalas, too! Unfortunately, while found in millions in the past, the koala population has dwindled to less than 100,000 due to deforestation, urban expansion, and hunting.
Koalas are found in the wild in parts of eastern Australia (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia). I was lucky to see koalas in the wild in both New South Wales and South Australia, and I hope both I and others will still be able to do so in the future.
September is Save the Koala Month, and Save the Koala Day is celebrated on the last Friday in September. The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) started this campaign in an effort to save wild koalas whose number is steadily diminishing. Their website has a wealth of information about koalas and what one can do to help them.
Even if you don’t live in Australia but care about koalas, you can help by donating money here or buying something from their online shop (worldwide shipping). If that’s not practical, please help by spreading the word about Save the Koala Day and the Koala Foundation!
I leave you with this cute koala compilation; it’ll melt your heart.
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Another photo taken with my new Lensbaby Velvet 85 lens, and I’m still in love with it!
All Lensbaby lenses use only manual focus, so it’s best to take lots of photos to make sure you nail the focus – especially when shooting at large apertures, as I do. I love to shoot for the blur, and I normally love F/1.8 to F/2.8, but I noticed that F/2.8 to f/4 works best for me when using a Lensbaby.
And since EXIF data for the lens is not available, it’s best to note what lens and what aperture you were using. Since I only have the Velvet 85, the lens is not an issue, but I tend to forget to note the aperture. I still need to find the best process for this. I think simply going from large to small apertures (F/1.8, which is the largest on this lens, to F/2.8, then F/4, then F/5.6, and so on) would be simplest. Or having cards with the aperture values that you photograph every time you change the value. Oh well, time will tell.
Iāve continued experimenting with still-life photos and textures. This is so much fun! I particularly love this photo because it contains the three things I love most: photography, books, and flowers.
I used myĀ macro lensĀ at f/2.8 for this photo and a couple of textures fromĀ 2 Lilā Owls Studio.
This is another photo taken with the Lensbaby Velvet 85. How gorgeous! Straight out of the camera, hardly any processing needed. Did I mention that I love, love my Lensbaby? I added a texture from 2 Lilā Owls Studio, since I’m so in love with textures at the moment.
Great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) posing in our backyard. This is the old oak tree that both squirrels and birds love.
We call it the Tree of Life. Woodpeckers and squirrels chase each other up and down its trunk, small and not so small birds land on its branches first before jumping down to the bushes closer to food and water, and a lot of insects call it home. It provides a quick getaway for birds and squirrels when they get startled, and even our tabby Minette climbs it every now and then to survey her domain. (I suspect the woodpecker may have something to do with it.)
The butterfly and damselfly season is here, at last! Iāve taken loads of photos, but I didnāt have time to process any of them, save for this one š . This is an emerald damselfly couple (Lestes sponsa). The top one is the male; females lack the bright blue color of the males.Ā
I’m looking forward to setting camp by the little lake in the woods and photographing more damselflies and dragonflies again!
I hope you enjoyed these photos; there are more to come next month.
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This is my favorite photo at the moment. I’ve finally bought a Lensbaby Velvet 85 lens, and I’m in love! This is the very first photo I’ve taken with it. It was meant as a test shot, and I didn’t have any expectations, Lensbabies using manual focus only thus a bit challenging, especially at large apertures – but look how gorgeous that Dahlia came out! Love, love, love it! I took a lot of photos yesterday but didn’t process them yet so, this one will have to do for now. Now I do have some expectations for the new photos, ha, ha!
Iāve started experimenting with still-life photos and textures, which I quite like. I used my macro lens at f/2.8 for this photo and a couple of textures from 2 Lilā Owls Studio. (Denise Love runs the studio, and her textures are gorgeous).
It’s butterfly and dragonfly season, and I’ve taken loads of photos. I didn’t have time to process any of them, save for this one, and that very quickly, mostly to test the new textures from 2 Lil’ Owls Studio. This is a dark green fritillary butterfly (Argynnis aglaja).
Yep, I’m still processing Australia photos. I came home with 20 thousand photos. Even after brutal culling, I still have plenty of keepers to process. I found this funny Kangaroo Island kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus fuliginosus) at Stokes Bay, Kangaroo Island (South Australia). I always dreamt of photographing one on the beach, but no luck. Yet.
Northern lynxes (Lynx lynx lynx) rest after playing hard for half an hour or so. I photographed them and many other animals and birds at the Nordic Wilderness Center in JƤrvsƶ, some 300km north of Stockholm.
Did you know that these mini tigers can purr just like domestic cats? How cute?
Bonus: the stunning shades of blue and green of the sea on Kangaroo Island. The colors are so vibrant and captivating, it’s hard to believe they’re even real! These photos only start to capture the beauty and majesty of the ocean. I hope they can make you feel like you’re right there, soaking it all in.
I hope you enjoyed these photos, there are more to come next month.
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My Kangaroo Island Glossy Black-Cockatoo photo has now been published in the Journey Beyond Magazine in Australia! Here’s the article if you’d like to read more about these magnificent birds and Kangaroo Island wildlife.
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I’d seen some cute photos of squirrels and strawberries on Instagram, and I decided to give it a try. Said and done. I picked up the most beautiful strawberries I could find at our little market, set up my hide, and waited. For a long time. I had almost given up when this cute red squirrel finally showed up and approached, oh, so cautiously, the strawberries. Quite suspicious of the whole thing, I can tell you.
She picked one up, sniffed it carefully, and then threw it away. Not interested, apparently. I barely had time to take a photo. Then she selected a large walnut instead and ran away with the treasure.
Experiment over, and I’m happy with the outcome. One photo but quite pretty, isn’t it? It’s enough for me.
A goldfinch posing so nicely in my garden. I’ve been trying to get a decent photo of a goldfinch for quite some time now and wasn’t pleased with the earlier results. Nailed it this time, finally!
A close-up of ivy-leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) taken at MillesgĆ„rden. I’ve added a texture from Flypaper for more background interest; the background was a bit flat for my taste. The texture I used is Vetheuil from their Impressionist Painterly Pack. (I’m so impressed I could identify the texture; I had actually renamed the texture layer for future reference, I always intend to but very often forget it ha, ha!).
Forget-me-not from my garden. I used a texture for the background again, but I’m not sure which one; I obviously didn’t rename the texture layer in this case. I think it’s from Flypaper as well, their textures are some of my favorites.
I didn’t process this photo of the Kangaroo Island Glossy Black-Cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus lathami halmaturinus) in June, actually, but I’ve included it anyway. It’s the one that will be published in the next issue of the Journey Beyond Magazine in Australia. So, super favorite at the moment!
I hope you enjoyed these photos, there are more to come next month.
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Iām so happy to share that my photo of this Glossy Black-Cockatoo couple will be published in the next issue of the Journey Beyond Magazine in Australia.Ā
This is a special moment for me, not only because itās my first photo to be published in Australia (a dream come true!) but also because it was taken at Ecopia Retreat on Kangaroo Island (South Australia), a place very dear to me.
The Kangaroo Island subspecies of the Glossy Black-Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami halmaturinus)Ā is listed as endangered, with a population of about 450 birds before the devastating bushfires of 2019/2020. 75% of their habitat in the western part of Kangaroo Island was impacted by the bushfires. They feed exclusively on Drooping She-oak seeds and only on particular trees in the forest, making their survival even more challenging.Ā
Yael and Rob, the Ecopia Retreat owners, have created a haven for these rare birds around Ecopia, planting She-oak trees and putting up bird boxes to help them survive. I was thrilled and awed to be able to find them and see them going about their business in the wild.
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