2009: Creative Visions - Winner
Esa Mälkönen (Finland)
Fantail
There are probably only about a thousand bearded tits in Finland. Small groups live among reeds, and 'the best time to photograph them', says Esa, 'is in winter, when you can walk across the ice and get in among the rushes.' But they are not the easiest subjects. 'I sometimes spend an entire day on the frozen marshes,' says Esa, 'but while I don't see a glimpse of a tit, I often hear their voices ... The biggest challenge', he explains, 'is trying to photograph them flying among the reeds.' From the thousands of photos he took this winter, this shot of a tit landing on the ice is a favourite, 'its feathers fanned like the reeds.'
Canon EOS 50D + Canon 300mm f2.8 IS lens; 1/2000 sec at f5.6; ISO 400.
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