I’ve been traveling a lot in the last month and have been home for about 7 days in total this past month. Needless to say, I haven’t had time to process many images.
I didn’t get to go on the Pantanal trip with Donna Bourdon and Harold Klein as I had other bookings, but they sure did hit the jackpot. Donna told me that the guide we hired was outstanding. He knew the waterways, the animal behavior and how to maneuver the boat quickly and efficiently. Thanks to one of my colleagues for hooking us up! It’s good to have connections. Some of the photos I’ve seen so far from the group have been terrific. And I had complete and total fomo as I watched shot after shot being posted on Facebook. We do have another trip planned for next year around the same time with the same guides. Harold will be leading that trip and hopefully if the dates work out, I can attend.
I’m super excited to let everyone know that plans are underway for a return visit to China in 2028. For this photo tour I am in the process of arranging a few photo sessions with the Great Panda bears. Below is a list of target species for the trip. So, save the dates if you’re interested—March 9-20, 2028.
* Giant Panda
* Golden Snub-nosed Monkey
* Takin
* Asian Black Bear
* Red Panda
* A complete collection of China’s rare pheasant species
* Wintering Mandarin Ducks
My flight to Finland started in NY. I flew into Helsinki then onto RVN for my first wolf, wolverine, and bear photography tour. The weather in Finland at this time of year averages a cool 50 degrees. Perfect weather for me, especially after sweltering in 100-degree temperatures with a broken AC unit for a few days while waiting for a part to came in… ugh.
The hotel that we stayed at was more of a lodge with traditional Finnish styling. It was situated on a large lake with fantastic views from the wall of windows that adorned our dining area. The breakfast (that was included) was wonderful with an assortment of dishes, meats, cheeses, breads, cereal, fruit, eggs, pastries, and much more. We had lunch daily at a nice local bistro that offered a buffet for 13 euros, so very reasonable. We shopped at a local market to pick up some snacks and such.
Our first photo outing was exceptional. I had a bit of a time getting used to “hide photography.” I had my Flex-Shooter Pro mounted on a platform provided at the hide. Ugh, it reminded me of the old tripod days… I haven’t used a tripod for wildlife in a long time. I enjoy the freedom of hand holding. I know some folks use a tripod religiously, but I just can’t. So, getting use to it again felt very constricting. After about an hour of frustration I decided to just handhold my 200-600mm lens attached to my new Sony 7r6…. much better!
The layout for the hides was good. There are several at each location and most fit one or two people with a couple accommodating three, four, five and six guests. A narrow window stretching across the blind for viewing with a chair and a ledge. Toilet facilities in some with buckets in others! But it was all very doable and overall comfortable.
The walks out were very easy. Not too many bugs either. I was expecting more. The one issue I had is that I felt we should have left the hides earlier than we did. After I was on ISO 10,000, I was done but we had to stay until the end so as not to scare off the wildlife for anyone else that was still in a blind. September will be a shorter evening in the blinds- yippee!
On our first outing we had a total of 4 bears and 2 wolves. It was an exciting experience. Before I came my expectations were good but never in my wildest dreams did, I think we would have had 2 wolves together at close range. But when they chased a young bear right toward my hide, I almost lost my mind! Whoohoo!!! It was a heart-pounding day that I’ll remember for a long time.
Our second session was in a forest location. There we had 3 bears visit us. I had envisioned the “enchanted forest” look for my photos and this was certainly the place for that. No wolves on this day and still no sighting of the wolverine. But some of the others got a wolf on their forest day.
During the next few days, we saw wolf after wolf and plenty of bears. We did not see wolverine but that had been spotted several times by others — most of which slept the night in the hides and saw them at 4:00am.
On our last photo shoot, we went to the lake where we got tons of reflections. We had all the hides to ourselves, so we spread out. A couple of bears showed up with one of them standing at a tree 3x.
Just before 7:00pm (still light out) we had a wolf come in and drink from the lake. She was a timid wolf that we had seen before. She walked back and forth at the lakefront before putting her feet in the water and then her snout to take a large drink. It didn’t suck!
Overall, it was a great final photo shoot on our tour. Plans are underway for a return visit in September of 2027. We hope to add 3 days of Black Grouse Lek photography to the tour at a nearby hide. This time we are hoping for autumnal colors. Anyone interested just get in touch, I’ll be announcing it soon.
She was such a timid wolf, I’d love to see her in the winter with a full coat.
I was going for the enchanted forest look so I applied some Glamour Glow to the shot.
This is just the reflection portion of the lake, it reminded me of a soft blur.
This was one of my two days at the lake, this day the water was really calm. I loved the depth of the strong reflection.