Experience fosters curiosity – Matej and nature photography
Direct experience is a wonderful way to be introduced to a certain topic, or start to ask questions – in this post Matej goes through some of his best pictures and shares with us how his interest in nature photography and his formal education has gone together, and resulted in a fair share of great pictures (and memories)!
While exploring the paths in Muddus National Park, I got caught totally of guard by an northern hawk owl (Surnia ulula) directly in front of me. I started taking pictures like crazy, when I heard some noises to my left. Another hawk owl! I tried my luck by turning to the right, and yes, another one. I was surrounded by a family of owls, all looking at me with their “astonished” expressions. It was a good day!A curious common buzzard (Buteo buteo) kept soaring the skies above me while I was trying to find a path through a maze of pastures surrounded by thorny bushes. At one point I got stuck passing such a bush and started taking pictures of the buzzard. Shortly after, he left. I guess he got enough laughter at my expense.
This unfortunate dragonfly (Anisoptera sp.) got caught in a spider web and was pulling it down due to its weight. I managed to snap a few photos, before the dragonfly became a tasty meal for the lucky spider. Cycle of life goes on.As a large carnivore enthusiast, this is probably the favorite picture of mine. This wild mama bear brought her yearling cub right in front of a photo blind set up for wildlife photography. This was very early in my photography career, but I had an experienced wildlife photographer sitting next to me with his camera. I ended up using the same camera settings as him on my own, and I was really proud. In the six hours we spend totally silent in that small hunt, we had the privilege to observe the bears for maybe half an hour. Still totally worth it and one of my most treasured memories as a photographer and a biologist.I’ve never been this close to a white tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) before and I doubt I ever will again. This juvenile did a really close fly by, I guess we were interesting enough. A bunch of international students enjoying a sunny day on the Stora Fjäderägg. Maybe that’s the trick: loud laughter, flashy colors and an awesome day behind us.Ringed seals (Pusa hispida) are a favorite food of the polar bears. When they are not around though, like on Stora Fjäderägg, these fat professional sunbathers can just relax and enjoy their days in peace. The only distractions are arctic terns yapping at each other and a casual photographer trying to sneak closer. As I was trying to do just that, crawling among the rocks and keeping a low profile, I noticed two things: a snake skin next to my face and that my phone has fallen into salt water.After I saw this kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) flying around and hunting for voles I knew that biking down to Umeälvens delta that day was a good idea. I patiently waited until she caught something and proudly presented her prey in the shade of a telephone pole. After she had her fill of pride, I saw her disappear in a nearby forest, most likely to feed the kids.During a research trip to Costa Rica, we took many night trips from an Austrian research station La Gamba that was hosting us. The danger of stepping on a one of the highly venomous snakes in the dark was great, but so were the rewards of the tropical jungle in the night. We, most likely, woke up this red eyed tree frog who was taking a well earned rest. Sorry buddy!
Together with my classmates of management of fish and wildlife population master program at SLU, I had the privilege to observe modern Sami reindeer herding in practice. After they spent the winter on Holmön, the reindeer were ready to be transported off the island and to the mountains. This took some expert coordination on the Sami side, but they successfully managed to load most of them on the trucks and off the island. The smell and the fur however, stayed on two ferries for quite a while.Students of biology at the University of Ljubljana organize a traditional week long research camp every year somewhere in the Balkans. That year it was Montenegro, where we spotted this small tortoise (either Testudo hermani or Testudo graeca) that, judging by the size and scale aging, was enjoying its second summer.While in Costa Rica, I was fortunate enough to be permitted a visit to the herpetology department of Clodomiro Picado Research Institute in San Jose. They house several species of highly venomous snakes and use them to produce antivenom for most of the Americas and for some species, worldwide. They showed us a whole bunch of really scary looking snakes, and I can’t remember the exact species of this beauty, tree viper of some sort. Outside in the terrace, there are also some very photogenic trees for the beauty shots that the staff was very helpful to accommodate.Slovenian Marine Mammal Society – Morigenos, conducts research on marine mammals in Slovenian sea and nearby areas. During my bachelors in biology, I was involved with some of the research activities. One summer day, with the dolphins spotted from a church tower in Piran, we ran in full gear across the town square, making our way through a bunch of tourists towards the research boat. I really felt like a wildlife researcher on a mission, while people were giving us weird looks. It was awesome! Soon after sailing out, we were greeted by a pod of around 15 bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), that were comfortable staying very close to the boat. The society has been doing research for 10+ years so the dolphins are quite familiar with the crew, the boat and its sound. The best sign of this is the comfort of the dolphin mother letting her calf to explore the boat and us alone. Here they are however pictured together, frolicking in the sun and the sea.Like most of the big guns of the photography, the old school badasses, I started with an analog camera with a standard 35 mm film. On one of the regular herpetology fieldwork excursions we were hosting Swiss colleagues interested in the small population of asp vipers (Vipera aspis) close to the eastern border of Slovenia. This female was one of the several snakes we caught that day and was, judging by the murky eye, planing to shed skin soon. I snapped this photo and only after I got the film developed found that it came out great. Analog camera was hard for beginners. Now you can just fire along on a memory stick and learn by mistakes. Back then such lessons cost time and money.While on a trip in the Skuleskogen National Park with my friends, we stopped by one of the cottages to rest and replenish. After I got my energy back I went exploring with my camera and managed to snap this photo of a dragonfly (Anisoptera sp.) resting on said cottage. The light that day was quite shitty, so I had to edit the photo in post-production to accentuate the fine details of this beautiful specimen.
