September wallpaper

The September free wallpaper is now available from my website. Please enter and download at www.wildphoto.no

The image show a lake in northern Finland near Kuusamo. I took the picture on my trip up there last September. I was invited to have a talk at the Nature 2008 festival in Kuusamo. What a great experience, where I met a lot if brilliant people.

Hope you like it!

Fresh Martens

My fourth day in my Pine Marten hide was finally a good day. After a couple of hours the first Marten showed, but it was nervous and left shortly after. After another hour a new animal came in to feed of the honey I left for them. He stayed a little longer and gave me some pictures to take home. He even came back half an hour later for another go :-) Then a third Marten decided to join in on the meal and I had my fourth visit in only four hours.

Finally I got him up close and by the tree I wanted. I went for the short end on my 70-200mm and included some landscape before getting a few portraits of this cute little girl (I think it is...).

Nice to eventually succeed!

Signing books

Saturday 29th of August I'll be signing books at Sola Bokhandel in Sola together with text writer Gunnar Henriksen. We will be signing from 11:00 until later that day... To get your signed copy of the Kjør book, come to Sola on this day.

We still have quit a few copies of the Kjør book on Grey Seals so please contact to get your signed copy.

For those of you interested I have less then 200 copies left of the Exotic Rogaland book from 2006 left. To get your signed copy please contact me.

Great stuff!

I have been back at Terje Syltes excellent Pine Marten feeding site in Molde trying to get something different with these amazing animals. I have been working with short focal lengths and wide angle on remote control, as well as focusing on behaviour. After two days I shot more than 1000 images of the Pine Marten family.

Parallel to visiting Terje I have been feeding Martens with a couple of friends at home. Today I had a go at my own hide and was happy to see three animals at the site when I arrived. During the next two hours one of the animals came back twice, giving me a opportuinty to take some pictures. The animal seemed relaxed and enjoyed the sweet honey I had smeared on a nearby branch.

The environment is great here with nice oak forest. I am hoping to get some images of the animals in theire natural habitat during the next couple of weeks.

The top image is taken on the D3x with a 24-70mm f/2,8. The file is amazing. The vertical shot taken with the D3 using the 70-200mm at 800 ISO.

Moving?

We are currently considering moving from our apartment, perhaps build our own house. Therefore, we are looking around to find some inspiration ;-)

These beautiful houses in Jøssingfjorden in Sokndal, Norway, called Helleren is probably not for sale...

Lots to do before...

The weather is horrible at the moment so I spend a lot of time in front of the computer, which means I get things done. At the moment I have so much to do before I go to Kenya in September. Firstly I need to finish selecting the images for a BioFoto exhibition on biological diversity and endangered species in Southwest Norway. Several of the images are still not taken. Then I have to make a DVD for this same exhibition. In the meantime I am having another go with the Pine Martens hoping to get some more variation. It is important to use the opportunity to the fullest when it occurs. I might never get this chance again. At the same time I am working on my schedule for the Bolivia trip in October, hoping to make the most out of two weeks in this unexplored country. Trying to sell my latest book Kjør also take up alot of my time.

I am also trying to do some work on the blog layout. Is it getting better?

The image above shows an old Oak tree which is being displayed in Vitenfabrikken, Sandnes, Norway, during the BioFoto exhibition opening 20th of September. Taken with D3x, 14-24mm, using two SB900 flashes.

Free wallpaper

Download this hedghog image as a free wallpaper on my website www.wildphoto.no. I aim to add a new wallpaper evey month with updated calender for the central European time zone. Other time zones might be added later depending on feedback from my followers around the world. People from around 50 countries have visited the blog untill now!

While you're at it VOTE for my blog for the 2009 Photoblog Award her.

Composition and form

This weekend I have been working on an article on composition and form for the Norwegian nature photography magazine Naturfotografen. Members of BioFoto will be able to read the article in the next issue.

It has been quit challenging, but at the same time it has forced med to dive into a very important issue. I have been searching though my database looking at my images with composition and form in mind. This has taught me a lot about my one photography, and also about the importance of knowing the basic rules, so you can be sure to break them when necessary :-)

The picture is showing a reindeer on Spitsbergen, and contains several basic prinsiples of comopsition and form. Nikon D3X with 70-200mm @ f/8, 1/250 and iso 200.

Tragedy at sea!

Common Eider in clear blue water, where we like to see them.

Friday night, 31. of July, a Panama-registered cargo vessel hit a rock of the southern Norwegian coast of Telemark. the crew was quickly rescued but now more then 200 tons of heavy oil has leaked into the ocean, hitting the fragile shoreline. The birds are hit extremely hard, and thousands are expected to be exposed to pollution. Already almost 200 birds have been shot and killed due to thick layers of oil covering their feathers, making cleaning impossible. Until now the Common Eiders are most numerous birds affected. Strong currents are however bringing the oil southwards heading for some of most fragile bird areas in this part of the country, Jomfruland. Lets hope it doesn't reach that far.

At the same time energy companies are pressing the Norwegian government to lift the ban on exploration for oil of the Lofoten Islands' sea bed, one of the most pristine parts of the world.

Read more on BBC her