Wildlife Photography Workshop featuring the Spectacular Sea Eagles of Central Norway.
Location: Flatanger, Norway

Together with Ole Martin Dahle and his unparalleled facilities, we will have a really unforgettable experience, photographing this most iconic of bird species.

Because our workshop is at the beginning of July, we stand every chance of photographing the most challenging species of bird I know of – the Arctic Skua.

Not only will you learn how to capture the more “standard” style of images, but you will also learn how to shoot into the sun, backlighting, and the use of creative lens flare

The sun will set quite briefly while we are in Flatanger, so there will be quite a few opportunities for ‘blue hour’ images of the eagles on their overnight perches.

The Herring Gulls will always provide you with very close-up photography opportunities, due to their ‘unique attitude’ towards a small boat full of photographers.

Plus, they provide ample opportunity to sample the creative technique of ‘drag shutter’.

But the aerobatic prowess of the Arctic Skua will really astonish you, and you will most likely be photographing these birds in action from a distance of under 3 meters – yes, they come very close indeed!

Itinerary:

Day 1 – Sunday 29th June

We will be met at Trondheim Airport by Ole, who will then drive us the 2 hour journey to Lauvsnes.

We will stop off at the local Spar to load up with provisions (this is something we will do every day – Ole footing the bill, then we drive to The ‘Eagle House’ where we will stay for the entirety of the workshop.

The house is very well appointed, with two bathrooms downstairs, and 4 separate bedrooms upstairs.  Ole has his family home a few hundred meters away, and I usually crash on a settee downstairs, so you each have a bedroom to yourselves.
Around teatime, Ole will pick us up and take us to the Zanzibar Inn – run by my good friend Pol – the home of the finest Beef Snadder in all of Norway.
After we have eaten, weather permitting, we will have an evening photography session on the boat – this is where you will get a taste for just how hectic the action can be.

Day 2 – Day 5 – Monday 30th June to Thursday 3rd July

Ole will pick us up early from the house, and we will head out on the boat for our morning photography session, which will usually be for around 4 to 5 hours.
We then head back to the house for breakfast, download our images from the morning, put batteries on charge etc.  All in all, we have around 7 hours to do whatever you like.
Ole picks us up again around 4.30 to 5pm, and it’s a case of an evening meal at the Zanzibar again, followed by another evening session of photography.

Day 6 – 4th July

We get up early and have a good breakfast, before Ole comes to pick us up for drive back down to Trondheim Airport to catch our plane back home.

What You Need to Bring With You.

Clothing

No specialist clothing is required – Ole supplies one-piece floatation suits, life preservers and deck boots – though I usually take my own.
So the only clothing you need to bring is what you think you need to survive!  There is a washing machine and tumble dryer in the house, which we are free to use as needed.

Photography Equipment

Lenses

For the eagles, the most productive focal length ranges from 250mm to 400mm.
A 500mm f4 prime lens is very good, but frankly, will cause you problems when the eagles come close to the boat – they are huge birds, and so ‘fitting them in’ with a 500mm prime is hard to impossible unless you really know what you are doing.

A zoom lens that covers the 200mm to 500mm range (I use a 200-400 for most of mine) would be ideal, and many get excellent images with a 300mm f2.8 with a 1.4x teleconverter.

Please Note: PF lenses are fabulous things, but do NOT take kindly to being pointed towards the sun, even for a second or two.

A 70mm to 200mm f2.8 is ideal for Gulls and Skua.

For all telephoto lenses, it’s the AF motor type that will govern the ‘speed’ of your autofocus, and hence, its ability to ‘keep up’ with fast-moving targets. Linear/Ring motors are built for this job, and lens motors that run through a plastic gearbox are not as successful – you will still get sharp shots, just not as many of them.

Though not super-essential, an autofocus wide angle zoom would come in handy from time to time, using it to take shots that document your trip etc.

Camera Bodies

I would always recommend taking two bodies with you, each capable of shooting a minimum of 8 or 9 frames per second, and a buffer that is big enough to allow for at least 15 to 20 frames (full resolution RAW files) before it fills up.

You will need to use the fastest cards your camera can take, and their capacity needs to be as big as you can afford!

You will also need to be familiar with the ‘back button’ autofocus technique, at least up to the point where “you know you have to press and hold the rear AF button and NOT the shutter button, in order to begin the AF Tracking procedure!

I am there to help you sort out your autofocus and camera settings at any time, so there’s no need to worry about ‘being out of your depth’ with anything at any time.

Other Bits

A laptop, external disks, card reader, battery charger/mains power unit for laptop, and camera battery chargers.

Microfibre cloths (quite a few), camera/lens cleaning gear – although the waters around Lauvsnes are very calm, we are STILL on SALT WATER……so one has to pay attention.

You can NOT use a tripod in the boat, for obvious reasons, so there is no real need to bring one.  Ole has a few in the house we use, so if you want one for shooting the odd landscape when we are ashore, then that can be accommodated.

For all enquiries and further details or questions, please contact me via email tuition@wildlifeinpixels.net