Finally, there are some new photos here on the website.
I also have a few new field recordings on the way, including a cuckoo that came much closer than I had dared to hope. I am looking forward to sharing that one, because it was one of those recordings that reminded me why I do this in the first place.
Things have been a little quiet here lately. Partly because I have been working on other projects, and partly because I simply have not been out in nature as much as I had planned. Some mornings have stretched out longer than intended, and suddenly the best hours of the day have already passed.
When I have been out, I have also found myself hesitating before publishing what I came home with. I have often felt that the photos were not quite good enough.
But after a while, I started thinking about what that actually means.
Good enough for what?
If I am honest, my photographs will probably never be world-class. They will most likely never win major awards or appear on the cover of a nature magazine. And that is perfectly fine.
The problem is that it is very easy to compare yourself with others. I love looking at photographs of big cats, king cobras, whales, sharks, and dramatic landscapes from some of the most spectacular places on Earth. I am fascinated by macro photographers who reveal an entirely new world in the smallest details. I also love black and white portraits of people whose faces seem to carry the weight of a long life.
There are so many skilled photographers out there, and so many extraordinary subjects.
But those subjects are not here.
There are no tigers here. No king cobras. No great white sharks. No mountains rising against the horizon.
What I do have are lakes with rich birdlife. Deciduous forests filled with birdsong. Roe deer, geese, insects, misty mornings, and evening light over the fields. There are spruce plantations too, if I am being completely honest.
It is easy to take your own surroundings for granted when you see them every day. But the more I think about it, the more I realise that there is plenty to discover here as well. What feels ordinary to me might be something completely different to someone living in another part of the world.
Maybe photography is less about finding the most exotic subjects, and more about actually seeing what is right in front of you.
So I am going to try to let go of the idea that everything has to be perfect. I do not photograph to win awards. I do not photograph to compete with anyone else.
I do it because I enjoy being outside. Because I enjoy discovering things, listening, watching, and documenting whatever happens to be there in that moment.
And after that, the photos can be whatever they become.