A photo that I will hardly forget is the one of the lynx that I made in Lapland.
I went on vacation to Abisko in Sweden, a village that is located at the south of the big Tonreträsk lake. Because it was so close by the waterside, I was wondering if there would be waterbirds in the surroundings.
Somebody at the Naturum nature centre gave me the tip to go and have a look at a small lake not so far away. There were indeed quite some interesting birds: two red-throated divers, ducks, swallows and gulls. While I was searching for a good spot to observe the birds, I discovered at once a hide tent. It could be opened at every of the four sides, and was made of a water repellent fabric. Nice!
The day after, I started using the hide. No one could tell who it belonged to or why it was standing there...
On June 30th, my birthday, I went to the lake early in the morning. I would stay there until noon, so there was plenty of time for photos. It was 10 to 12 when I suddenly heard a noise. Rustling and panting, such as from a big dog. Carefully, I opened a flap at the back side of the hide, and I saw something I didn't expect at all: a lynx!
This was the ideal opportunity to make photos, so there was no time to lose. During the next 5 seconds, I made 4 photos, and then the gorgious animal disappeared in the bushes.
The photo that I like most is the one where the lynx looks straight in the lens - after I whistled briefly. It is cropped a little bit, and I have been doing some minimal post-processing in Photoshop. It was made without a tripod (exposure time 1/320 sec.), which might have resulted in a blurred photo. Fortunately, that was not the case. Who knows this was a result of Image Stabilizer in my tele lens.
Although everything happened extremely fast, I won't forget that moment. Afterwards, I met the owner of the tent - a bird spotter from Kiruna. He didn't mind that I had borrowed his tent; on the contrary he was pretty enthusiastic about what I saw.
I found out that a hide tent is very convenient for nature photography, in particular by the waterside!
