Chasing Shadows on The Grass

Lately I've been practically living on the street... don't worry, I have a roof over my head, I'm just trying to capture this summer in the northern regions to the maximum. I used to get out to the sea, mountains or tundra quite often, but now it has become almost a daily habit, a good habit.

So this weekend, I went to the coast through the blooming tundra, and halfway there I decided to take a few shots of the green carpet to the horizon, not even suspecting that I would have to run a couple of kilometers at the speed of a cheetah across this deceptively flat plain with a camera in my hands.

To be honest, these are not the best of my shots, because my hands were shaking, and my breath was lost even in the first two meters of running, but it's not so important, it's important that I was lucky to meet two new friends.

A Rough-legged buzzard attracted my attention with its squawking almost as soon as I got out of the car. But due to poor eyesight and distortion of sounds in the tundra, I could not notice him.

Obviously, the bird was offended by my inattention and decided to land directly on the exposition, which I was going to add to the piggy bank of desert landscapes.

This is the northernmost species of hawks. Small, weighing only about 1kg and with a wingspan of slightly less than 1.5 meters, it is distinguished from its southern counterparts by long feathered trousers on paws. Well, we all wear pants here, sometimes even two pants at once, this is normal.

Occurs quite often in the tundra, especially in summer, because these green fields are full of his favorite food, mice and lemmings. This handsome man decided not to facilitate my work and almost immediately broke into flight, looking out for prey.

Here I had to chase him around the tundra for about half an hour to try to get at least a couple of good pictures in flight, having limitations in focal length and stabilization. I think it looked funny from the bird's point of view, to see a huge stupid lemming running around down there.

As a photographer, I was defeated. But as a nature lover, I was delighted. Especially when I saw a hawk swooping down to some old building about 500 meters away from me. Apparently, someone is going to become a mom soon. Perhaps the intense running was worth it.

On the way back to the car, my second new friend was waiting for me. Well, to be honest, not that was waiting, I was attracted by the desperate squeak of a dying rodent, obviously, the hunt was a success.

Couldn't decide what kind of owl. For me, all the owls here are polar, because I live in the Arctic Circle.

I tried to sneak up on this guy as close as possible, slowly, very calmly and crouching to the ground like a paparazzi. You know this is akin to the feeling on fishing, when you see and feel that you have a large prey on the hook and the main thing is not to let it fall off.

With each step I tried to take a photo, realizing that the bird could fly away at any moment and I would not have a single frame left, but the lens range was categorically not enough for portrait shooting. And because of my hawk-friend, I threw the staff in the tundra, it clearly did not add speed and agility to me, so my old canon tried to cope with my sports tremor, which was difficult to distinguish from playing maracas. He did the best he could, not me.

I think the yellow-eyed beast realized that all the shots with her would be hopelessly spoiled, and did not want to become a co-participant in this creative failure. So without thinking twice, after making a few funny jumps in a ridiculous pose, she left me, deftly maneuvering at an extremely low altitude.

I didn't even try to repeat my running feat, in which the point with the hawk was already set. And it seems to me that it was a conspiracy, with the expectation that a fat stupid lemming would fall dead in the middle of the tundra from a heart attack, chasing birds, and they would profit from my carcass.

No, my friends, not today. In the light of my infinite wisdom, I am content with little and will choose for a good photo someone who always stands still and is ready to pose from any angle - the Eternal northern Rocks.

Remember, my friends, in pursuit of a goal, you need to stop in time and look around, maybe you have already achieved it. Have a nice weekend!