Over the past few years I have photographed wild reindeer at several locations and in different settings. But until now this has always been far above the tree line. You won't hear me complain about the conditions I have been able to photograph them in. I have been very fortunate in several occasions. However, it has been a great wish of mine to photograph them in the birch forest.
I find it fascinating to see how well animals are adapted to their environment. Yet, when you look at the antlers of the reindeer, when they walk through the mountains with not a single tree in sight, the lines and shapes of the antlers seem strange / out of place. But once you see the animals in the birch forest, it all makes sense. The antlers blend perfectly in with the branches of the birches. As soon as the animals enter the birch forest, they seem to disappear. Amazing!
In the start of this month my wish was granted. While I was guiding two photographer from Italy, we found several large herds of wild reindeer scattered over the side of a mountain. In total, there were about 1300 animals on that mountain. An amazing sight! Most of the herds were positioned in the birch forest, giving us some great chances to photograph in this amazing setting.
Wild reindeer are very shy animals. To not scare them away, we sneaked ourselves into a dense birch forest and waited for the animals to come to us. Most of the pictures we had to take through the small openings we found between the birches. Creating some of the most amazing settings. Find below a small selection of the pictures I took in this particular situation. Enjoy!
If you want to join me photographing wild reindeer, please take a look here for more information.
