It was time for another photo session at Dueodde beach on Southern Bornholm. It was a beautiful autumn afternoon and my wife volunteered to model again.
This time I brought my Sony A1, with a Sigma 24-70 mm F2.8, and my new DJI Mini 3 Pro drone. This is the result:
Today I visited Dueodde Beach on the Eastern side of Bornholm island. It was pretty windy, but luckily the sun was out long enough for me to capture a few shots of the beach.
The photos are captured on a Nikon ZII and Anafi Parrot drone. I post-edited them using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. And for the first time ever, I have utilized AI in my post-editing process.
I’ve spent two days in Bastemosen on Bornholm with a flock of 8 red-footed falcons. This species of falcon is a rare sight on the island of Bornholm, so seeing 8 in the air over the small marshy area of Bastemosen is a real treat.
Here you can see some of my favourite shots of these majestic birds. All photos have been captured using the Sony A1 with a FE 200-600mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS lens. The images are edited using Capture One and Topaz DeNoise.
A male red-footed falcon hunting an insect in midair.
The red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus, or Aftenfalk in Danish) is a small migratory bird of prey that breeds in Eastern Europe and Asia, and spends its winters in southern Africa. It is named after its distinctive red legs and feet, which set it apart from other falcons.
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The male has a slate-blue head and back, while the female has a brown back and a creamy-white underside with dark streaks. Red-footed falcons primarily hunt insects, but will also take small birds and mammals.
A female red-footed falcon flying past above my position in the bird tower.
Bastemosen is a beautiful and unique natural area located on the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. It is a wetland habitat that encompasses marshes, ponds, and small streams, and is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna. The area is particularly known for its rich birdlife, with several species of waterbirds, raptors, and passerines present. Bastemosen is a popular destination for birdwatchers and nature enthusiasts, who come to observe and enjoy the tranquility of the area. In addition to its ecological importance, the site also has cultural significance, with traces of prehistoric settlements and burial sites found in the surrounding landscape.
For the first time in my life I have experienced the Northern Lights. What makes this an even more magical sight is that fact that it happened on the island of Bornholm, where I live.
During the day, reports indicated there would be a high chance of seeing the lights from various places in Denmark, but it rarely reaches the latitude of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. However, this night it turned out to be different. Around 10PM I was ready and waiting near Vang with my Nikon Z7II camera. I only waited a short while before the green lights appeared over the horizon and soon the dancing lights filled the Northern sky. What a fantastic and magical sight!
I have dreamt of getting a close-up of a Kingfisher for a long time. Last year a Kingfisher was reported in a small lake near my home, and I was ecstatic. However, it took seven months to study the little birds heaviour before I and another photographer finally managed to get close to it.
We shot a series of photos from our hiding spot through heavy branches, but we got the shots we wanted.
Equipment: Sony A1 + Sony FE 200-600 mm F5.6-6.3 G OSS.
I recently revisited the Glyptotek in Copenhagen to experience their newly opened ‘Amarna – City of the Sun God’ exhibition. I have read extensively on this specific period of ancient Egypt and always welcome the opportunity to see the ancient artefacts from this lost city.
I brought my trusty Nikon Z7II camera and using the FTZ adapter to attach a Sigma 35mm Art 1.4 lens. In this post you can read more about the Amarna period, the Glyptotek and see my photos from the various exhibitions.
The Amarna period in ancient Egypt, lasting from 1353 to 1336 BC, was a time of significant religious and political change. Pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled during this time, abolished the traditional polytheistic religion and introduced a new monotheistic religion centered around the worship of the sun disk, the Aten. A new capital city, Akhetaten (now known as Amarna), was built where Akhenaten and his queen Nefertiti were buried. This period is also known for its distinctive art style, which featured a new realism and a focus on the human form.
In Glyptotek’s exhibition, parts of the lost city are brought to life with recreations of a temple wall, a column in a chapel and a palace floor. Photos, drawings, and a 3d animated video provide an insight into life in the magnificent city.
You can read more about the exhibition ‘Amarna – City of the Sun God’ on The Glyptotek’s website here.
The Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is an art museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located near the city center and is known for its collection of ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art, as well as a large collection of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. The museum also features a beautiful winter garden. It was founded by the brewer Carl Jacobsen in 1888.
There are plenty of opportunities to take great photos in the Glyptotek’s various exhibitions. I only had a few hours, so I focused on the period of ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.
Read more about the Glyptotek and their exhibitions on the website www.glyptoteket.com
In January 2023, I spent a night and a day in Friskens örn och fotogömsle (Frisken’s Eagle and Photo Hide) near Kristianstad in Southern Sweden. The hide was only an hour’s drive from Ystad Harbour, so it was an easy trip from both Bornholm and Copenhagen.
You are not allowed outside the hide during daylight hours, so you must arrive at the hide before sunset and leave only once the sun sets entirely and everything becomes dark outside the hide. This way, you don’t scare off the birds in the area, and they won’t associate the hide with human activity.
Along with @mariusfolkmann I arrived Friday night and was shown the hide and its facilities. It has a primitive camping toilet, a solar-powered phone charger and a gas heater so you won’t freeze the whole time. However, it is cold in January, and the heater can’t run the entire time, so bring warm clothes.
We slept in the hide and woke up early at around 6 AM to remove the outside hatches and ready the camera equipment. I brought my new Sony A1 with a 200-600 mm lens. My maiden shoot with this new camera.
Around 9 AM, the first white-tailed eagle landed, and it just kept getting more and more enjoyable during the rest of the day. We saw 4-5 white-tailed eagles, 30-40 red kites, one kingfisher and possibly a rare black kite. Sadly we didn’t see any golden eagles, but then there is an excellent excuse to revisit the hide.
Friskens örn och fotogömsle is highly recommended and I look forward to another trip in the future.
Follow the hide and its visitors on Facebook here or read more on their website here.
I absolute love the Sony A1 with the 200-600 mm lens. I captured shots I couldn’t with other systems I tried and the 50MP allowed me to crop the image quite a bit. Here are some of my favoirote photos from the day. I used the Sony A1 with the Sony 200-600 lens on a fluid tripod head.
Last year I was contacted by a Swedish marketing company working for Nutella. They had spotted my landscape photography of the Opal Lake on Bornholm and wanted to buy it for an upcoming marketing campaign for Nutella.
I sold them the rights to use the image for the campaign, and now my photo can be found on Nutella glass jars all over Denmark. This is something I’m quite proud of with my photohraphy.
Well, at least for wildlife photography. I’ve been a Nikon shooter since I ventured into photography almost 12 years ago. I didn’t see myself ever owning anything besides a Nikon camera, but that changed when I switched to mirrorless.
I started photographing birds with my Nikon D810 and took some amazing photos of birds in flight. However, I also felt it was time for a camera upgrade and I wanted to switch to the new mirrorless technology.
So I selected the new Nikon Z7II with the FTZ adapter, so I could still use my Sigma 150-600 mm C lens. I eventually wanted to upgrade to more Z glass down the road, but at least I invested in a new camera.
At first, I loved the camera. It’s perfect for landscape, product and portrait photography. I even invested in a 105 mm native Z macro lens. However, I soon realized that something was off with fast-moving objects – like birds.
Don’t get me wrong, I could still get photos of birds in flight, but if I took a lot of photos I could only find a few keepers. At first I believed it was my lack of skill or knowledge of the camera, but after trying for 1½ years I finally decided to try something else.
One evening I was browsing YouTube for advice and tips for wildlife photography and I stumbled upon Bayou Josh’s video “Addressing the Elephant in the Room”, about his switch from the Nikon Z9 flagship to Sony. After watching this video I realized how far ahead both Sony and Canon were with the auto focus system and I decided to invest in a new camera just for wildlife photography.
After a lot of research, I finally decided on the Sony A7 IV with a Sony FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G Oss lens. I’ve tested this camera out twice this weekend and I don’t see myself ever again picking up the Nikon Z7II for wildlife photography. This is a great camera + lens combination and I can’t wait to test it out even more!
Here are two of my first photos with the Sony A7 IV camera. It just snapped to the bird – or even the bird’s eye. Even in flight, I got at least 8-9 keepers for every 10 shorts (sometimes all were keepers).
March-April 2022
Once again, we set out on a trip to Southern Jutland to experience the Black Sun phenomena when birds migrate through Denmark.
Though we enjoyed our last trip to the island Rømø in Southern Jutland, we did not experience a true Black Sun where thousands of starlings gather in the evening and suddenly group together in beautiful formations to protect against a bird of prey.
So we decided to try again and this time wait till the end of March, so the weather would hopefully be a bit warmer and sunnier. Since our trip in a summer house was a very cold experience, we decided to book a hotel that offered breakfast in the morning as well.
After some research and finally decided on Hostrups Hotel in Tønder (not far from the German border). This place serves an excellent breakfast and has very comfy rooms. However, the big selling point for us was its vicinity to Tønder Marsken. A marsh area with plenty of birdlife and sightings of Black Sun.
Though we experienced some days with sunshine it was quickly replaced with grey skies and plenty of wind. However, we still had plenty of wonderful experiences and sighted several interesting and rare birds. I have gathered information about the most prominent locations and sights below, so you have some ideas of where to go on your next bird sighting tour of Southern Jutland.
This marsh area is found just South of Tønder city. It is easy to get around with a car, and you can spot wildlife from the road, but there are few places to explore on foot. We drove around for a while and spotted a Short-eared Owl hunting over a field on Udbjergvej (a road going West-East just South of Tønder) near the T-intersection with Møllehusvej.
From this location, we also spotted hundreds of Common Starlings gathering during the evening hours, so we headed for the border to Germany to see the black sun phenomenon.
Though the Glossy Ibis is rather common in some parts of Europe it is a rare sight in Denmark. Several photographers had shared photos of a Glossy Ibis near Ribe (city) on various social media forums dedicated to wildlife. Since we were within a few hours of Ribe, we decided to drive to its last reported location and look for the bird.
It proved exceptionally easy to find the bird near a parking lot at the Southern end of Ribe. The bird seemed very used to people and ignored us and all other traffic passing it. It gave me a rare opportunity to study the bird and snap a few photos when the bird emerged from the undergrowth.
One of the main attractions for bird enthusiasts in Southern Jutland is the enormous nature park along the coastline. The Wadden Sea is the largest tidal flats system in the world, where natural processes proceed largely undisturbed. It extends along the coasts of Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.
For its globally unique geological and ecological values the Wadden Sea is listed by UNESCO as World Heritage. Nowhere else in the world is there such a dynamic landscape with a multitude of habitats, shaped by wind and tides. Global biodiversity is reliant on the Wadden Sea (source).
You can read more about this unique area here nationalparkvadehavet.dk (English)
The nature park contains a wide variety of bird and other wildlife in a beautiful landscape. To get a good understanding of the area and wildlife I can highly recommend a visit to The Wadden Sea Centre near Ribe. The center’s exhibitions contain information about the nature, wildlife, history and environmental impact. You can see some of my photos from the exhibitions below and read more about the center here.
Getting around the national park requires a car since it is covering almost an entire region of Denmark and you might have to cross the border to Germany. I took numerous photos in the park but selected just a few to show in this blog post to show some of the bird life.
