Here’s a slideshow with a few of my favourite wildlife images from Finland. Scroll down to see more.
I traveled to Finland in 2016, on a photographic workshop led by Craig Jones of Craig Jones Wildlife Photography, who I can highly recommend for this and any other of his tours and workshops. Not only is Craig a wonderful photographer in his own right, he is an excellent tutor and will offer advice and assistance whenever you need it. He is also a dedicated conservationist, working hard using his camera and his skills to raise awareness of nature and the need to protect the wildlife around us both at home and abroad.
I travelled there again, independently this time, in 2019. The main purpose of these trips was to photograph the european brown bears, wolves and wolverines, although there are also birds of interest, such as white-tailed eagles, and smaller mammals such as beavers and squirrels – and, in addition, it’s just a very pleasant place to spend a week or so.
The wildlife photography involves spending some 14 hours each night for several days in various hides positioned in an area of northern Finland near to the Russian border, which is a demilitarized zone where the bears and wolves can roam relatively undisturbed; the operators of the facility, Wildlife Safaris Finland, have been attracting the bears to the area using bait for many years with a view to helping the animals survive and to encourage wildlife tourism and photography, as a way of ensuring their continued protection. Without the bait to attract them it would be very difficult to get pictures of these animals, who are very shy and normally avoid people whenever possible; even with the bait, they are some distance away and are easily spooked by any noise or movement, which is why it is necessary to stay in the hides overnight. But it’s well worth the effort.
Most of these images may be purchased and downloaded as royalty-free stock photographs; if you click on the pictures below, you will see a link at the bottom left which directs you to the site from which the image is available, or if you’re just interested in viewing all of them (and others not shown below) click here — Finland Wildlife – to view these and others that are available.
Some of the images are also for sale as Fine Art Prints; click to view those currently available.