Zoos are a great place to have fun with animals, to practice handling of the equipment, to test new equipment and to try out the limits of new sensors and other technology. I go to the zoo regularly and have an annual ticket, it is a 30 min ride with public transport and it is always fun and rewarding.

Like in the real wilderness you never know what will happen, but you have much more options. Therefore you will never go home without great photo opportunities! My most important recommendation to all participants of my wildlife photography workshops is, to practice before going on a trip. And there is hardly a better place to find than the next local zoo!

You want to try your new bird eye detect AF with penguins or extreme face close ups, do not wait until we are on the Falklands or the Shetlands. Try it out at home! You want to check your noise limits of your sensor combined with the latest AI noise reduction software? Go to your local zoo or wildlife park and you will find in one place furry and feathered models, which is essential as all AI models behave very different with different textures!

Noise levels are depending on many factors some are important during shooting, some in post processing. On your location it is not the right place to stare at you computer and check out what the acceptable noise level is for you (not for funny influencers or reviewers....)

Over time you will learn a lot about the animals, your equipment and get more and more practice! Highly recommended, especially to prepare yourself for your next big trip.

The Bavarian Forest is not like Hellabrunn a day or half day trip for me, I always do overnight stays. I am a regular visitor of the national park for hiking and photography, landscape and wildlife. The huge enclosures in the wildlife centers are again a perfect training location, but you may not see anything for many hours, such big are the enclosures! Missing a shot hurts more than in you local zoo, as the opportunity may not come back, which is again a good training experience. It is a great destination for a week or so! I often check out the weather and make a quick decision like last year after christmas. We got the perfect light for the famous sunset on Mt. Lusen.

I never had such a light on Mt. Lusen, never ever! Regarding wildlife I was lucky with lynx and wolves, which is not a given, but everything else was not as rewarding.

During May I visited together with Christina south Tyrol and I was with Walter in Switzerland. There was still lots of snow in the higher altitudes but in South Tyrol we found wonderful clusters of pulsatilla vernalis,my favourite flower during spring. I am not in flower photography, but I cannot hold my horses when I see pulsatilla vernalis and I simply have to use my 40 year old vintage macro lens, which is still doing its job....

In Switzerland we focused on two locations at the Vorderrhein and Hinterrhein, the famous Viamala gorge and the big swiss canyon of river rhine, the Ruinaulta.

The Ruinaulta was true location finding. Strange enough, as famous as the location is, it is not covered well in my agencies and the best spots we found are not trampled by the insta crowd. Probably as you really have to hike and there is no "this is the best spot in the world for you selfie for your social media account(s)" documentation in the web. It is not an easy destination and the weather was only just ok. But I am happy with the results and it deserves a second visit when the weather is more suitable! Ruinaulta is a demanding location, where you can test and develop you skills.... I guess I want to come back!

Nearby to Ruinaulta is an UNESCO world heritage site higher up in the mountains called Sardona, which we could not visit due to snow. It would be a great trip to combine both locations.

Close to our campsite where some other nice places like this little gorge, great for long exposures and composition....

Viamala is a different story. It is famous, has a magical name and is rich in history as THE obstacle to cross the alps in this section of the mountains.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed, I know much more rewarding gorges at least for photography. The challenge is to create pictures which live up to the famous name Viamala...... As ususal I checked out the picture market before heading to Switzerland and I did not find good material covering Viamala, as I said, it is a challenge and I ended up with only a few interesting and marketable shots.

It is worth while to visit the place and it is a quite short stop, but be prepared and come early before the busses will arrive!

Finland was a longer trip, with extreme weather and it was our second attempt to cover the snow clad spruces of the tunturi, the finnish expression for their mountains. We stayed three weeks south and north of the polar circle and visited five national parks (Riisitunturi, Urho Kekkonen, Oulanka, Pallas-Yllaestunturi, and Pyhä-Luosto) and some nature reserves close to Ruka.

Our first week was full of snowfall and wonderful days and some gorgeous sunsets. But then the weather changed and we did not see the sun again, the temperatures jumped to some degree above zero, even beyond the polar circle and heavy winds distroyed most of the snow covers of the trees!

It was great for snowshoeing, cross country skiing and winter hiking, but very limited for photography. But the snowshoeing was fun no doubt about this!

The best known national park for snowy trees is Riisitunturi and it is the only one with lots of hikers, skiiers, small group trips and instagrammers. It is still a great place, however do not expect untouched snow. Already one or two days after a snowfall everything is full of tracks. The access path to the summit area is easy and you do not need any snowshoes or skis as long as you stay on the track. The huge parking area at the trailhead is already the hint that you will not be alone.....

Reindeer - just as during our last visit to Finland, I wanted to visit a place to take pictures of these lovely deers. In this area, most of them are herded up during winter to allow easy feeding, only some roam wild, just as they do in the extreme north of Finland.

The reindeer herder owning the farm Kopara near Pyhä has an excellent viewing area for male and female Reindeer, where they come to the fences to be fed. It is a good opportunity to watch and photograph reindeer, as it is a hilly area you can avoid distracting fences in the pictures.

Very different was the situation in Urho Kekkonen NP further up north. I managed to watch several times reindeer in the hilltops always in very harsh weather. It was amazing how these animals cope with wind and ice. They are meant to live there!

Our visit in Urho Kekkonen NP was not as we would have liked it, when we arrived we saw the sun for the last time and the cloudy, windy and rainy part of the trip started. It is a very special and harsh landscape, already different to Oulanka or Riisitunturi in the south. The hilltops are bare and blown.

There are some marked trails for snowshoeing, which are great, but the rest of the huge national park is a demanding winter destination. As we had stormy and cloudy weather, even the marked hikes where difficult to find, as very often the tracks where covered by drifting snow. Nonetheless it is an interesting and rewarding place with a rich history!

We stayed near the ski resort Saariselkä, which provided the necessary infrastructure. Another national park we have not been before was the park Pallas-Yllaestunturi. As you see we did not see much.....

We stayed several days in the area, but no sun, only clouds and fog. It was a pity, as the pictures I found during my research had been promising, but you cannot change weather and it was good enough for some really nice hikes.

Back to the first week in the Ruka area, where some days had been really amazing! It was the true winterwonderland of finnish lapland!

The Ruka/Kuusamo area is for me the first choice for a stay in finnish lapland. Good infrastructure, really good network for cross country skiing, if you are in snowmobiling you find everythig necessary including a dense network of managed trails. Lots of national parks and nature reserves are nearby for landscape photography. And if you want to do wildlife you can book into hides for eagles and other critter including wolverine!

Nearby is Riisitunturi and Oulanka NP and two more NP are in a distance which can be done in a day trip. The hills around Ruka are nature reserves with a good network of managed snowshoe tracks, which are great for photography. By the way, you need tracks for snowshoeing to reach the best locations unless you are very very fit and have snowshoes made for real powder.

Our final stay in Finland was Pyhä-Luosto NP which is a couple of hours north of Ruka, again a ski resort which is essential, as outside ski resorts you will find hardly any options for accomodation. The weather stayed poor with the exception of two sunny hours. I was lucky as I wanted to hike, despite of the poor weather, and I was just at the right place at the right time. It was not good planning or strategy, it was just luck.

We had a great time in Finland, even if the weather was atypical or mybe the atypical is now the norm. We will see how it will work this year. In a couple of days, I will pack again and lets keep the fingers crossed!

At the end of this blog I want to come back the the long trip to the Shetland Islands (blog) and the Orkney islands (blog). The account of the last leg of this travel is still missing, our stay on the west coast of northern Scotland.

I met Christina near Inverness after taking the ferry from the Orkney Islands to Thurso at the northermost tip of Scotland (mainland). We wanted to drive down south on the west coast, cross the scottish mainland and take the ferry from Newcastle back to the Netherlands.

As you have seen the weather was very scottish, very very wet, wetter than anything I ever had on the west coast. Therefore my camera got more rest than intended. Only a few sunny days or patches of dry weather where the exception.

We visited Highland Games in a small village near Oban and I felt so sorry for the organizer and the participants. The pipes were played in pouring rain, tossing the caber was a slippery experience, so sad for everbody. For us it was an experience we will hardly forget, but fair weather would have been much more fun for everybody and after 2 hours of heavy rain most spectators had left and we followed soon!

At least our daytrip to Mull and Ioana was a pleasant surprise, we started after a rainy night and returned when it started to rain again. I had been to Iona many years ago and wanted to see it again. It is an interesting place and highly recommended just as Mull. Next time I guess we will spend at least one night on Mull. A daytrip was to short!

There is not much else to write, but if you are in Oban do not foget to eat seafood in the harbour, not in the restaurant, but at the open booth right next at the ferry terminal, reasonable priced and delicious! We ate two times there and it always was good and funny. It was raining (again) and we had our mussels under some umbrellas......

Since I visited the scottish borders for the first time by bicycle in the late 70ies, I am drawn to the ruins and history of this area. Kelso, Dryburgh, Jedburgh and Melrose, just to name a few. Before we drove to Newcastle across the border to England we stayed there for some nights. It was sad that nearly in all attractions parts where closed, some even completely. During Covid the Trust of Scotland used the time when everything was closed to visitors to check the ruins and buildings. Of course loose bricks where found. Since then scaffolding and fences are everywhere! It will take years until the cash strapped trust will be able to open all its mouments again. Even the destruction in some gardens created by uprooted trees cannot be repaired. So sad!

Finally we arrived in Newcastle and it was all over. Shetland, Orkney and the west coast of Scotland. this was very special, if you have not read the first two blogs, follow the link and you will understand what I mean....

That's it for the moment, as I mentioned already we will be in Finland soon, this time even further up north right to the border of Norway and beyond. That will be the first travel in 25 and I hope more will follow!

Wir sind jetzt wieder regelmäßig auf den Fototagen und Reisemessen unterwegs. Wenn Ihr wollt besucht uns! Die nächsten Messen sind:

Naturfototage in Fürstenfeld bei München, 01. bis 04. Mai, wir sind am Wochenende an unserem Stand an der üblichen Stelle!

Wir haben die Workshops für die nächsten Jahre überarbeitet, einfach reinklicken! Neu ist zum Beispiel Finnland im Winter, weideraufgelegt ist die ein-Monatstour Falkland und Südgeorgien. Im nächsten Abschnitt sind die links!

Thats it for the moment! Stay tuned and healthy!

written in the trains from/to Hanau and Freiburg, January 2025