Sometimes things happen the way you hope they’d happen 😉 Teddy shows up after only a few minutes of wait; he strikes a lovely pose where I want him to, and it even starts to snow! It doesn’t happen very often, but it is a pleasant change when it does.
Photography is preparation AND a little bit of luck, isn’t it?
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Black Friday starts now!
Get your Christmas gift shopping done early with my Black Friday sale! All my prints are 50% off until November 27th.
Click here to go to my online store. Shop early and save 50%!
You’d think that photographing swans (or any other waterfowl) would be easy when you live on an island with plenty of birds around. And it is, most of the time. Not when you set out to photograph them, though.
During my usual walks along the coast, I could see many swans paddling quietly around the island, foraging, or cleaning their feathers, always close to the shore. So I’d think, “I’ll come back and take some photos.” Then I’d come back with my camera, and one of these two things would happen:
1) They wouldn’t be there. At all. Gone. Hasta la vista, baby!
2) They would be far away at sea, out of the reach of my telelens.
But time, patience, and perseverance paid off, so I could take the photos—eventually 😉. These are some of the photos I was able to take after several frustrating attempts.
Have you tried taking photos of birds or animals?
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I finally gave in and replaced my old macro lens (the beloved Canon EF 100mm ƒ2.8 Macro). I was reluctant to let it go because it is a good lens, albeit a bit heavy. It lacks image stabilization, though, and it’s not a problem if you use a tripod. I, on the other hand, seldom use a tripod. I like to move around freely.
Enter Canon RF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM. What a difference! It has a new design, is not as bulky and heavy as the old one, and fits much better in your hand. And most important, it has image stabilization. Even if handheld, the combined camera and lens image stabilization let me get sharp images at f/5 – something I couldn’t have dreamt of with the old lens. After checking the first photos I’d taken with the new lens, It was easy to let go of the old.
So, here you go, a few photos taken in my garden with a Canon R5 camera fitted with the new lens. Which one do you like best?
Pssst! The top image is available to purchase as a print or digital download in my online shop, along with other flower photos.
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This is one of my favorite photos, mating emerald damselflies (Lestes sponsa). The top one is the male; females lack the bright blue color of the males.
Damselflies are most common in July and August, so I spent the last couple of weeks by the small lake near our house photographing them. Emerald damselflies are found mainly near stagnant water (lakes and ponds, canals, etc.), rarely along flowing water. Aren’t they beautiful?
A well-camouflaged winter damselfly (Sympecma fusca). They like to perch among reeds, where their muted colors allow them to blend in.
They’re related to the emerald damselflies (Lestes sponsa) and, like them, can be found near stagnant water; but they don’t have their bright red or blue colors.
Western Willow Spreadwing (Chalcolestes viridis)
Moustached Darter (Sympetrum vulgatum)
Another photo of that moustached darter.
Which photo do you like most? My favorite is the top one, the mating emerald damselflies, even though it was hard to choose, I love them all!
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I’d grown so fond of my tele lens (Canon RF100-500mm F4.5-7.1 L IS USM), which works so well for both wildlife and flowers, that I’d completely forgotten my macro lens (Canon EF 100mm ƒ2.8 Macro) that I used so much until a couple of years ago.
I truly loved that macro lens, an old design that still works; poor thing, forgotten in my photo cabinet, at the back with old lens caps, batteries, and what not. Time to take it out and show it some love, I decided. So, here you go, a few photos taken in my garden with Canon R5 fitted with that macro lens.
Which photo do you like best?
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Lovely glory of the snow in the morning light. These photos were pure luck. I did plan to scout the woods for a field of Scilla to photograph, but I didn’t need to in the end. As I was returning from an early seabird photo session, this incredible sea of blue flowers caught my eye while waiting for the traffic light to turn green. It turned out there was such a field next to one of the parking lots of our little shopping center! Since we order most of our stuff online, I rarely go by that lot. So there you have it, as a photographer, you need both preparation and luck 😉.
Both images are available to purchase as prints or digital downloads in my shop, along with other flower photos.
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Spring has finally arrived in Stockholm, at last! I have hundreds of photos of the Japanese cherry trees blooming in Kungsträdgården in Stockholm already, yet I go there every spring to take a few more. I can’t help it!
Both images are available to purchase as prints or digital downloads in my shop, along with earlier cherry tree flower photos.
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Easter is around the corner, so I added some new cards to my Freebies page. They’re completely free to download; feel free to have a look and use what you like, no strings attached.
I hope you like them. I love working on greeting cards; I don’t feel any performance anxiety as I’m not an illustrator. It’s just a pleasant hobby, and it makes me happy to see people using them.
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What better way to celebrate World Poetry Day today than by writing or reading a poem? I wrote this poem a few days ago, on the night of the full moon.
full moon
watching its twin
In the pond
To read more poetry, click here.
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