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March 2010
A DREAM COME TRUE
White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) and Stellar's Sea Eagles (Haliaeetus pelagisus) Japan is an amazing country, also because of its avifauna. Originally my interest towards Japan rose from printed nature books. Japanese printing technique was and still is the best in the world. I have long considered japanese nature photography my inspiration, although one japanese photographer wondered: how can one admire japanese nature photography; there is nothing original, japanese nature photography is based mainly on old chinese art... Oh well. The first time I was in Japan was when I had an exhibition in Tokyo in 1986. Then in 1993 me and Veikko Neuvonen travelled to watch the Macaques in the hot springs and the Mantchurian Cranes in Hokkaido. The Steller's Sea Eagles from Kamzatka also winter there, but I didn't visit them on that trip. On February this year (2010), I travelled to Hokkaido to photograph the mantchurian Crane, Brown Fish-owl and the Steller's Sea Eagle. We took off by boat from the town of Rausu, and there were the dream subjects, several dozen of the birds. They get fed, and they have gotten used to, and practically wait for their breakfast. There were about 30 photographers on the boat and a huge amount of cameras. Majority of the birds were white-tailed eagles, also common in Finland. Due to the weight limitations of air travel, I only had a 28-300mm zoom and a shoulder bracket with me. But the birds were experienced in posing for the camera. Japan, Hokkaido, Rausu, February 2010 |
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