Squirrels and books, two of my favorite things in the world đ. Happy World Book Day!
Favorite Photos: December 2023
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- Paris Is Always A Good Idea
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Scaly-breasted lorikeet (Trichoglossus chlorolepidotus). I love parrots, and this one was so much fun to photograph! It didn’t sit still for a moment, jumping nosily around as these parrots do, but it did take a break for a few seconds, and I was ready with the camera!
I photographed this Australian white ibis (Threskiornis molucca) on my January 2023 trip to Kangaroo Island but haven’t edited it until now. Many believe they’re a feral species introduced to Australia, similar to foxes or hares. But these ibises are, in fact, native Australian birds.
A cute tiny blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) stopped by and posed so nicely for me. A blue tit weighs around 11-12 grams. A lot of attitude in such a tiny package, wouldn’t you say?
And a couple of squirrels, of course! A good ending to the year.
I hope you enjoyed these photos; there are more to come next month.
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Merry Christmas!
Ho Ho Ho! I hope youâve been good this year. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful day with family and friends!
Favorite Photos: November 2023
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- Favorite Photos: July 2023
- Favorite Photos: August 2023
- Paris Is Always A Good Idea
- Favorite Photos: October 2023
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Baltic Sea reflections. I hoped to photograph some beautiful swans that day, but they were nowhere to be found.
Instead, I stumbled upon the most breathtaking reflection of pine trees and birches in the sea, which looked like a Monet painting. I tried to do justice to that feeling in the editing.
A macro shot I haven’t gotten to process until now, a tiny snail peering down over the edge of a coneflower. I usually take lots of photos during spring and summer, when the light is good in Sweden, and then process many of them during late autumn and winter when there’s hardly any light. It’s a way of reducing my frustration during that dark time and enjoying spring and summer again.
This is another shot from the archives that I just processed. I had almost deleted it. It wasn’t a bad photo, but there wasn’t anything special about it. Something about it made me give it a three-star rating and keep it to try processing it on a rainy day. Now I’m glad I did; I love it!
Another photo from the archives, a European honey bee feeding on an allium flower.
This November has been one of the darkest I can remember, and the snow came first at the end of the month. I use only natural light, so taking photos this time of the year is a challenge. The sun goes up around 8am, and it starts getting dark at 2pm already this time of the year. Unless it’s sunny or snow, there’s no real light in between, just some kind of grey curtain hanging over the world. On heavy overcast days (and we had many of these this month), you wait and wait for the daylight until you realize it’s getting dark again!
I’m glad I still have many photos left to process. Other people may be stressed by having many unprocessed photos, but I don’t. I know November will come, you see.
What a difference some snow makes! It acts like a giant reflector, hides messy backgrounds and dampens colors.
I hope you enjoyed these photos; there are more to come next month.
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Favorite Photos: October 2023
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- Favorite Photos: March 2023
- Favorite Photos: April 2023
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- Favorite Photos: June 2023
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- Favorite Photos: August 2023
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- Favorite Photos: October 2023
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Autumn has never looked more stunning than at MillesgÄrden. The vibrant colors of the garden are simply breathtaking, and that Lensbaby Velvet 85 lens creates the most delicious blur and bokeh. Can you believe this is a real place?
I usually use my Canon RF50mm F1.2 L USM lens at MillesgÄrden or the Canon RF100mm F2.8 L MACRO IS USM one, but this time, I wanted to test my new toy, the Velvet 85. I bought it for flowers and still-life photos, but I was curious about other images.
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 usually 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 – for flowers.
It turned out that F/2.8 is the only aperture I love for this type of photo. F/1.8 is wonderful; the blur is insanely soft, but it only suits some photos, and getting the focus is really tricky. F/4 and up is fine; it’s pretty easy to focus, but as more of the background comes into focus, some of the magic disappears. Hence, F/2.8.
Another shot from MillesgÄrden. It is such a magical place in the autumn! This is the statue of St. Martin on the lower terrace.
MillesgĂ„rden was the home of Swedish sculptor Carl Milles (1875 â 1955); he designed and built it, and it is now a museum with Millesâ antique collection, sculpture garden, and art gallery. The garden is inspired by Italyâs Mediterranean gardens, and itâs a work of art in itself. Carl Milles and his Austrian wife Olga, an artist herself, spent the winters in Italy that both loved.
Squirrels! As soon as there are fewer squirrel photos on my Instagram or Facebook accounts, someone will wonder where the squirrels are. Somehow, I became the squirrel whisperer. Not a bad thing when it comes to social media.
This is a photo from last year that I hadn’t processed. I thought it would make a nice Halloween card and processed it accordingly. You can see the card here.
Just squirrel-ing around and finding its inner peace, ha, ha!
I had a few pumpkins out in the garden to get some photos for a squirrel Halloween card, but I wasn’t pleased with the images. They were fine, like this one, but didn’t work for a card, so I gave up in the end and used that photo from last year.
I love photographing wood nuthatches (Sitta europaea); they usually strike a pose when landing and again before taking off, checking their surroundings. I can always count on them to sit still long enough for me to get a decent photo.
Did you know that nuthatches can forage when descending trees head first? Inveterate hoarders, they store the food in the bark of the trees, then conceal it with moss or small pieces of bark.
I hope you enjoyed these photos; there are more to come next month.
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Happy Halloween!
Trick or treat, bag of sweets, ghosts are walking down the street.
Happy Halloween!
My First Cover Photo!
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).
âIf we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love.â, 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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Share My Wildlife With Me
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.
âIf we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love.â, 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.
âHe 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.â – 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:
- Spread the message, not only on this day but all year. Every day should be animal day.
- Support an animal charity by raising funds, donating, or volunteering to work for one.
- Donate supplies to an animal shelter (towels, toys, medicine, etc.).
- Become a fan. Like and follow your local animal charity or shelter on social media and share their posts.
- Adopt a rescue animal or become a foster.
- Make your garden or balcony a haven for wildlife to find shelter, food, and water.
- Support companies that donât test on animals.
- Support fur-free fashion.
- Do not support animal attractions.
- Fight poaching if you can.
- Draw attention to cruelty.
- Take a stand against overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction, and other threats to animals.
- Educate children to show compassion for animals.
- Help change the laws by signing petitions, e-mailing your local representatives, and involving your friends (share campaigns and social media posts).
“I hold that, the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to the protection by man from the cruelty of man.â – Mahatma Gandhi
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