Bird photography with a personal touch.

Bird photography

Although I love birds, I’ve never been and I never will be a real twitcher / birder, it’s just not in my genes.
I sure love them, but I love them as every other creature and I couldn’t care less if they’re rare or not. When it comes to bird photography, I have two main interests:

1. The easygoingness of the bird

I use a full frame Canon 5D Mark III and Canon 300mm f/4L IS USM, which is way too short for photographing camera-shy creatures. Especially when you don’t like to wear camouflage gear either. Because of my very short focal distance I have to come pretty close and the last thing I want to capture is a disturbed, scared or angry bird. I like my models to be fully at ease 😉

2. The setting and light

Personally I prefer a very common bird in special light and beautiful setting above a boring photo of an extremely rare bird. Having said that, of course I do have my preferences, like utterly cute little owlets in fantastic backlight, Eurasian Bitterns doing silly walks, mating Kingfishers on a perch, angry swans, short-eared owls in flight, happily dancing White Throated Dippers, high speed mosquito chasing baby ducklings, god-wit silhouettes at sunset, elegant storks in the snow, imperturbable night-herons, or evil little goslings….
But I can get just as happy with a totally common starling feeding its youngsters or a sparrow enjoying its bath and hopefully this leads to beautiful bird photos with a personal touch…

White-throated Dipper (Cinclus cinclus)Cinclus cinclus rare red list Bird photography

Macro by Proxy White-throated Dipper (Cinclus cinclus)

We are Family…
Egyptian goslings (Alopochen aegyptiaca)

mist fog sunrise nature photography fine art fox snow

Morning Magic
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)

Bath Duck

Colourful Goose
Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)

murmuration starling sturnus vulgaris sunset flock swarm

F;ock of Starlings

bird photography Western Jackdaw Corvus monedula nestling

Portrait of a young Western Jackdaw
Western Jackdaw (Corvus monedula)

Natural Born Killer Duckling chasing a mosquito

Autumn heron II
Blue heron on a beautiful autumn day

Swan in the Mist

Empty spaces
Little Owl (Athene noctua)

Easter Chick

Little Owl Athene noctua Bird photography prey mouse

Little Owl with Mouse
Little Owl (Athene noctua)

Long-eared Owl Asio otus Strix otus nestling owlet baby cute youngster baby animal

Long-eared Owlet
Long-eared Owl (Asio otus, previously Strix otus)

Wild Duck | Mallard Anas platyrhynchos flowers fritillary Bird photography

I’m too Sexy for this Site
Wild Duck | Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos)

Cute baby bird
Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes)

Yellow duckling reflected in the water

Cute Baby Gosling nature photography fine art

Dream Duckling
It’s actually a cute gosling….

mist fog sunrise water silhouettes Bird photography Greylag Goose Anser anser nature photography mist

Repetitions Greylag Goose (Anser anser)

The Murmuration Makers Starling Murmuration

PINKISH

“Reflections in Blue” There’s something so magical about swans. Their dignity, the serenity that surrounds them… Did you ever notice that even the water and the wind seem to hold their breath when swan swims by…

Swan Lake

Little Owl hunting
PRINT AVAILABLE
Little Owl (Athene noctua)

FEED ME!
Common Starling ( Sturnus vulgaris)

Cold Feet
European Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

Hidden Heron

Serenity
Mute Swan (Cynus olor)

“Ode to Swans” Swans are SO strong. I have never seen them actually break an arm, nor do I believe that they would lower themselves to such a thing. But I do think they could…just in case. 😉 In springtime, swans look like dream boats; a floating suit of feathers, where baby swans can play til they drop in an endless soft feather bed …. how cool is that …?! This in contrasts with the sudden ferocity that arises when facing danger. (or a coot). Running over the water like consummate basilisks and flapping their wings as if they want to break the ditch in half! Swans are truly magical creatures, gliding over the water surface, as if controlled by something invisible. (which is actually the case) Pure dignity and calmness. Control to the max. That’s to say: until you arouse their anger. Do them injustice, you better hide! Nothing and nobody will stop them. That whiteness, that grace; almost supernatural purity. And at the same time there is this dark look; which unfathomable depths lie behind….? Swans; so soft and yet so strong, so loving and graceful, so ferocious and unpredictable …. Personifications of contrast. Never a dull moment with a swan. And sometimes I wonder … why did nobody ever get the idea to make the swan a symbol of feminity …?