Succes for one of our participants

Claire Waring joined us last year on our Squiver photo trip to Finland. She has reached the finals of the Wanderlust Photo of the Year competition with one of the bear images she took. The image is of a brown bear cub escaping a large male by climbing a tree and it was shot from a small hide in the Taiga forest of Finland. The awards will be announced on 5 February at the Destinations travel show in London.

Claire about the shot: "Young brown bear cubs avoid male bears which, given the opportunity, will kill them. When small, cubs can climb trees faster and higher than the males, and this is a favourite escape route. From the forest hide we were photographing bears wandering through. Suddenly, I heard a commotion. The cub was shinning up the tree away from the male below. The camera was set on motor drive and I was able to capture the moment with the cub metaphorically thumbing his nose at his pursuer. As the male moved away, the cub slowly descended and rejoined his mother and siblings."

Congratulations Claire. Nice shot!

New photo tour to Zambia

During our second visit to Zambia last year, we decided that we definitely wanted to set up a photo tour to this spectacular country, and so we did!

Zambia is one of the last remaining unspoiled safari destinations in Africa. On this trip we will start in South Luangwa NP, with its lagoons and riverine woodlands, where elephants cross the South Luangwa river every day. The park and its water host large concentrations of wildlife, including over 400 bird species. We continue to Lower Zambezi NP, with elephants and buffalo grazing along the Zambezi river and on its numerous islands, and get eye-level shots of hippos. The safaris on land offer wildlife in beautiful settings with big winterthorn trees. We will shoot from vehicles, boats, canoes and on foot! You can top off your safari with a visit to the famous Victoria Falls. You can view an impression of this tour on video, by clicking the image below:

If this unique tour has your name on it, don't hesitate and make a booking now - this will be an exceptional African experience!

Happy New Year!

Video of our Kenya photo tour

This is the video with the tour impression of our Kenya photo tour in the Masai Mara. We had a blast! Come and join us in 2010 on this wonderful trip.

New Sponsor: Storm Jacket

It is with great pleasure that we announce our partnership with Storm Jacket.

Storm Jacket Camera Covers are the fastest and easiest way to protect professional cameras and lenses from inclement weather conditions such as snow, sleet, wind, rain, sand, dust, and harmful UV rays.

Keeping your camera clean and dry when shooting outdoors isn't always the easiest task in the world. Yes, you can check the weather forecast beforehand – and then just stay home – but that’s not an option for the serious photographer.

And for the professional photographer, working in bad weather is just a routine part of doing business. Some of the most dramatic photo opportunities don’t occur on bright sunny days, or under the most ideal conditions for your camera gear. So what’s the answer? Well, umbrellas don’t work, plastic trash bags are slippery, easily torn and hard to fit, and most commercial camera covers are very expensive, take up too much space in your bag, and require a lot of time and effort to put on and take off. Storm Jackets offer a hassle-free solution for protecting your camera that can be put on or taken off in about 10 seconds and stores in its own pocket-sized carrying case.

Constructed from high-tech AquaNylon fabric, Storm Jackets won't lose their water repellency and are rugged enough to withstand the rigors of professional use.

We won't let a little rain stop us from shooting. Having a Storm Jacket in our camera bag or stuffed in a pocket is an absolute must. We have peace of mind knowing that our gear will be protected, and that we can keep right on shooting.

Marsel also likes to use his Storm Jackets on safari as protection against the dust and to camouflage his equipment when operating it remotely. If you have a herd of zebras galloping around your gear, that can create an incredible amount of dust - the Storm Jackets will keep your equipment clean and protected. The images show how Marsel first put the Storm Jacket on for dust prevention and initial camouflage, and then added branches to hide it from the wildlife. We will show the results later!

New Panorama Puzzle!

The German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) is regarded as the co-founder of geography as an empirical science and was a legendary figure even during his lifetime. On his global research travels he discovered the beauty of our world in its many forms, which this puzzle edition named after him impressively documents.

This stunning panoramic puzzle consists of 1000 pieces and measures approx. 94,5 x 32,8 cm (37.2 x 12.9"). You can now buy one for just €29,95 (excl. shipping). Email us if you want one of these old school entertainment boxes!

Marsel joins Mountain Trail Photo

We are proud to announce that Marsel has joined Mountain Trail Photo. The MTP site was started to inspire and educate, and to offer collective photography, publishing, and workshop experience to other nature photographers. With Marsel added to the team, Mountain Trail Photo has now gone international and is no longer merely "Celebrating America's Most Scenic Places". The MTP team is made up of some of the world's top nature photographers, such as Marc Adamus, Richard Bernabe, Jim Clark, Jerry D. Greer, Bill Lea, Ian Plant, Joseph Rossbach, Nye Simmons, George Stocking and Guy Tal. Check out their websites and galleries containing hundreds of stunning landscape and wildlife images! To see Marsel's gallery on Mountain Trail Photo, click here.

Snow monkey image in new Nikon brochure

Nikon has chosen one of Marsel's popular snow monkey images for their new Creative Lighting System brochure. It had been snowing for most of the morning when he took this shot of a little Japanese macaque, but it was not cold enough for the flakes to stay. As a result the fur of this young fellow was covered with what looked like thousands of little diamonds. Marsel used some fill flash to brighten the face and eyes of the macaque and to emphasize the drops of water.

Marsel has recently switched to the new SB-900 and he is looking forward to experimenting with it in Japan next month.

Tour impression Kenya now online

The dates for our successful tour to Kenya have been set! We stay one night in Nairobi on 20 September 2010, after which we are off for a full week of migration spectacles. You'll see gnoes and zebras in numbers you would not think possible. Easy prey for the lions and cheetah, which follow the huge herds wherever they go.

And this year we are taking it a step further: we are going camping in the middle of the Masai Mara! You won't get closer to the bush than this. But.... we do camping in style: a private mobile camp with a generator for our laptops and camera batteries, beds in our tents and private facilities. We do the safari Squiver style, which means one row of seats per participant. This guarantees you enough room to move around freely in the vehicle and that you get the best views possible.

We've just added a video impression of our Masai Mara Migration photo trip to Kenya on our website, as well as a description of the trip. You can download the day-to-day schedule or read a report of our 2009 tour on our weblog. Like most tours, the Masai Mara photo tour is hosted by Marsel van Oosten and Daniëlla Sibbing.

Special offer Japan because of 2 cancellations

Due to medical reasons, we have 2 cancellations on the Japan tour that starts 20 February 2010. Book now and get a 600 Euro last minute discount!

If you are interested in going to Japan, this is the time to make the booking! This customized tour normally costs 5100 Euro and has been arranged for a group of 9 guests in total. Due to 2 cancellations, these seats can be taken for only 4500 Euro per person. A discount of 600 Euro per person!
Download the day-to-day schedule at: www.squiver.com/Day-to-dayJAP2010.pdf and read all about this exciting tour, which starts on 20 February 2010, ending on 6 March 2010. This tour is customized and different from the schedule advertised on our website and in the PDF, with more emphasis on birds. We will spend one day less at the snowmonkeys and have an extra day in Rausu, to photograph eagles on the pack-ice more often. The tour includes 4 chartered boatcruises.

Winter is the perfect time to visit Japan. Its breathtaking, snow-covered landscapes are the perfect backdrop for us to photograph Japan’s unique wildlife. During this spectacular trip we will visit the famous snow monkeys, while they enjoy a hot steam bath in volcanic hot springs and play in the snow. We will travel to the northern island of Hokkaido (the Alaska of Japan), where we will photograph rare and beautiful red-crowned cranes while they perform their gracious winter dances, large flocks of whooper swans floating in misty lakes covered with ice and beautiful mountains in the background, and white-tailed and Steller’s sea eagles, as they sit on the pack ice that has drifted over from Siberia.



Be quick and take advantage of the special discount of 600 Euro per person! It is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Fill out the booking form before 25 December 2009 to apply for this special offer. Only applicable for new bookings!

Marsel featured in Nikon ad National Geographic

Nikon's latest ad in National Geographic features one of Marsel's Japanese crane images. In the ad Marsel explains why he chose to shoot with Nikon, and why he still does. The original text is in Dutch, so here's a rough translation:

"I choose Nikon cameras because they are the most comfortable to handle. The ergonomics are truly unsurpassed. At Nikon they understand that nature photographers often have to work in extreme conditions. These Japanese cranes for instance I photographed in Japan at -23ºC. Every time I looked through the viewfinder and breathed, my breath immediately froze onto the camera, resulting in a thick layer of ice. Yet I did not have to change the battery a single time. And in Alaska I photographed brown bears in the pouring rain without any problems. As a professional you have to be able to blindly trust your equipment. I currently shoot with a Nikon D3 and Nikon D3X. I choose the D3 with its unprecedented low-noise sensor for fast action shots and low light situations, and I use the D3X for static subjects and landscapes. I love the flexibility of zoom lenses, and the quality of the Nikon zoom lenses is truly sublime: super sharp and fast. Especially in situations where I have to shoot handheld, Nikon's vibration reduction is highly effective and indispensable."

 

Marsel's bears in National Geographic

The December issue of National Geographic (Dutch edition) will feature three pages on Marsel's brown bear photographs from Finland. In the accompanying short interview Marsel talks about his personal visual style and photography in general. Most of the shots were taken on this year's Squiver Wild Brown Bears trip.