My passion for the natural world started as far back as I can remember. As a youngster, I used to love spending time with my Father beside the river bank, for example, and whilst he fished (or, more often than not, fell asleep watching a float bobbing up and down in the water) I woul dtrot off along the river bank in search of wildlife.
Over the years I began to learn about the fine art of fieldcraft, how to get close to animals and, as far as one can with wild creatures, to gain their trust. An example of this is when I was in my early 20’s I spent just over a week “living” if a field in the middle of nowhere with a family of foxes. After a few days they got so used to me being there and, more importantly, not appearing to pose a threat,
that the cubs would literally come and sit on my jacket beside me. They’d also allow me to pace around the field with them whilst they scrabbled around for food. I don’t know, maybe I was extremely lucky to have such an encounter, but whatever the case I was certainly made to feel like a very welcome guest in their home environment, and it was a truly remarkable experience that with live with me forever. Incidentally, not so many weeks later I had a very similar experience with badgers.
So, with the above in mind, I’ve decided that as well as continuing to take people in search of the Aurora Borealis (which I enjoy immensely), I’m also going to go back to my roots, to spend a great deal more time in nature and to do a lot more wildlife photography.
To help me along a bit, I’ve just purchased a brand new camera and lens and, over the course of the coming weeks and months, I’ll be attempting to photograph, amongst other things; Brown Bear, Wolf, Reindeer, Elk and Seal.
I consider myself both extremely fortunate and privileged to find myself residing in a truly remarkable part of the world, Swedish Lappland. I’m completely surrounded by amazing Arctic nature so not only am I going to make the most of it, but I’m also going to share it with others via my stories and pictures. Please do feel free to continue follow my adventures both here on the blog, as well as on my Facebook page etc. and, as always, thank you for your ongoing support.
Best wishes,
James Keen