Mountain Hares and Landscape Photography at Glenshee, Scotland

During a cold spell in December 2022 I decided to go to Glenshee to photograph mountain hares. It was a tough day in the hills and I didn’t find many hares. However, the few encounters I got were spectacular and the light at the end of the day was so good that I even tried for a bit of landscape photography.

 

First stunning views when I reached the top in the morning.

OM-1, 40-150mm f.2,8, 150mm, f/4, 1/250s, ISO 200

As soon as I reached the top I also heard a songbird, at this elevation that could pretty much only mean a snow bunting. I found it amazing to see how it got to the seeds at the end of the grasses. Check out the video to see!

OM-1, 300mm f/4, 1/320s, ISO 1600

 

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I actually first encountered a mountain hare far away and I went for some high key images of the hare very small in the frame. Here are two of my favourites:

OM-1, 300mm f/4, 1/100s, ISO 800

OM-1, 300mm f/4, 1/125s, ISO 800

When I finally managed to get close to a mountain hare I had this dreamy soft light that made the snow, sky and the mountain hare almost blend into each other.

OM-1, 300mm f/4, 1/1600s, ISO 500

OM-1, 300mm f/4, 1/1600s, ISO 500

At the end of the day the light got unbelievable, but as I didn’t have a hare to photograph I pointed various cameras and lenses at the far away hills and tried for some compositions that stood out to me.

This one just felt right to convert to black and white.

OM-1, 40-150mm f/2.8, 130mm, f.7.1, 1/1000s, ISO 200

As the sun was getting close to the horizon the hills took on an orange colour that made it look like I was in the desert.

OM-1, 300mm, f/4, 1,4000s, ISO 250

I had been vlogging with the OM-5 and had the 12-45mm f/4 attached so I used that to capture some of the foreground light and the colourful sky as the sun was getting close to the horizon.

OM-5, 12-45mm f/4, 35mm, f/8, 1/1600, ISO 200

I spent all day in the hills and only a couple of mountain hares that I didn’t get to spend much time with. The experience however, was one that I’ll cherish for a long time.

 
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In the FieldEspen Hellandyoutube, settings2 Comments