David attended our Wild Brown Bears of Finland photography trip earlier this year. His primary interest is in bird photography, but when presented with the opportunity to photograph bears & possibly the elusive wolverine, he couldn’t resist.
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As a keen wildlife photographer, I am always looking at ways to challenge myself so when Sean Weekly told me of availability on a trip to Finland to photograph the Wild Brown Bears, I jumped at it. I had met Sean on Skomer Island back in 2016 photographing the Atlantic Puffins & learnt so much in that short time I was confident that I would enjoy the trip even though it was my first organised wildlife trip.
This is part two of my blog about my encounters with the Wild Brown Bear of Finland – if you have missed it, please read part 1 here.
Night 4 for me was a bit of a bust from a bear perspective. I chose to go into a single man hide for the night & was quietly confident of some good results. However, it was not to be as the wild brown bear sightings were too far away although there was some amusement as a very large male brown bear approached a nearby hide & the occupants started to panic as they were ‘over lensed’ for the shots & great panic ensued as the bear serenely walked past!
I was very excited waiting for the day I was to head off to on an adventure to see &, hopefully, capture some images of the wild brown bears of Finland for myself. I had previously spent a wonderful weekend with NaturesLens on their “Birds of Prey Workshop” prior to going abroad, this was primarily to help hone my, admittedly, very basic photography skills when it comes to wildlife & the capture of images of nature.
After this taster I was keen to get going on my wild brown bear trip & to try out my newly acquired skills. The time soon came & I was in this wonderful boreal location where wild brown bears were to be found & it was just beautiful; watching the sun rise, set & rise again in a few hours in the land of the “midnight sun”, lakes with mist gathering & the white balls of cotton grass seeds swaying in the breeze.
Before my trip to Finland to photograph the Wild Brown Bears, I knew that I wanted to come away with a series of compelling & exciting black & white photographs.
With wildlife photography, you can use monochrome to highlight the details of the animal or draw your viewers eyes directly to the subject of your image.
B&W images are also useful in turning distracting backgrounds into a dark uncluttered one. Probably the biggest reason I love shooting this way is that it keeps you focused on the actual composition & texture of the photo. It allows you to focus on shapes, light, shadows, lines, & small details, allowing for a more exciting image. That is why some photos look more convincing & compelling in black & white than colour.
It was not all about big Brown Bears during the Finland Photography Holiday in the Taiga Forest; we had opportunities to see other species too & this included the rather rare & elusive Wolverine!
Once abundant in numbers, the wolverine is now a scarce animal due to over-hunting. However, it was certainly one of the main highlights from the Wild Brown Bears of Finland Photography Holiday.
In June I had the pleasure of co-leading the NaturesLens Wild Brown Bears of Finland Photography Holiday to Vartius.
Close to the Russian border lies an area of the Taiga forest as wild & untouched as it gets within Europe, & here roams one of the most magnificent predators in the world, the wild Brown Bear!
On our first day, we arrived at the primary camp location around mid-afternoon, the group settled into their rooms in a comfy wooden lodge & unpacked, preparing all their camera gear for the first night in the brown bear hides. When unpacked the group headed to the restaurant for dinner; dinner was served around 4 pm every afternoon before every hide session. The food was excellent, home-cooked & tasty, & set us up nicely before heading off to the hides. 
We left our lodge around 5 pm every evening, taking in the 30-minute walk to through the forest & swamps to get to our hides. The hides were some of the best photographic hides I have worked from, supplied with ground-level shooting holes & beds – what is not to like? We split the group up into various hides from 1 man to 3 man hides around the area which offered multiple views of the forest from open cotton field meadows, pine forest lakes & deep woodland hides.
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Following on from our successful photography tour in September 2016, we are pleased to offer a pair of wildlife photography holidays to Slovenia to photograph the European Brown Bears, the first in May 2017 is focussed on the adult Slovenian Bear &, hopefully, their cubs, the second in September 2017 is to capture images of the Slovenian Bears & their yearling cubs, how will be more bold than those encountered during the May trip.
We have included below a selection of the images that we captured during the photography workshop conducted during September 2016 – unlike the trip to photograph the Bears of Finland, both the Slovenian Bears & Cubs Photography Holiday, & the Slovenian Bears Photography Holiday do not require you to spend overnight in the hides, you exit the hides when the light has gone, return to the hotel, have a warming evening meal & sleep in the comfort of your bedroom
Slovenia is an increasingly important location for the European Brown Bear & their survival as a top-level predator within Europe & it is easy to see why. The lush forests provide the ideal habitat free from being hunted for the European Brown Bear to thrive & survive, our 5 day photography workshop in the midst the territory of these impressive animals provides an abundance of opportunities.
We have two opportunities for you to photograph the amazing Slovenian Bears, both costing £1599 exc travel to Slovenia itself – all transportation within Slovenia, breakfast, lunch & dinner, accommodation & guidance/tuition from Sean Weekly is included, the date for the Slovenian Bears & Cubs Photography Holiday is May 20 – 25, 2017, whilst that for the Slovenian Bears, who will hopefully be bringing their older & bolder cubs to the hides, is set for September 2 – 7, 2017.
To hold a place on either trip, we only require a 25% deposit from you, £400, with the balance due 12 weeks prior to the trip taking place.
Please be aware, you will require lenses that let in the maximum amount of light – largest aperture or smallest f-stop – & a camera with which you are comfortable capturing images at a high ISO – the action is not fast-paced, so rapid FPS is not a deciding factor for equipment suitable for this trip.
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