I decided to go on a short photography trip early in the morning. Or actually, I made the plan on the evening of May Day Eve, the day before, and decided to carry it out if the weather permitted. Even though it was a public holiday on May 1st, 2025, in honour of May Day, my alarm woke me up at a regular weekday time—six o’clock. I arrived at the shooting location a little over an hour later. The place is interesting because the last time I visited it was about 20 years ago. I had biked past it a couple of times in recent years, but I hadn’t stopped to take a proper look with photography in mind. Back then, I got my first photo of a Great Crested Grebe at that spot. There was a nesting pair on the pond, swimming back and forth actively and occasionally gliding into a good distance for my camera gear at the time.

Now I knew there were some birds around the pond, but nothing more specific. The pond is an old wastewater sedimentation pond for a nearby village—man-made and decommissioned decades ago. These days, some structures have been built for treating ancient wastewater, and at least the pumping station building is modern. When I got out of the car and started walking along the shoreline, I met an early-morning dog walker. After a brief chat, I continued toward a spot I suspected might be suitable for at least trying to photograph the pond’s birds.

I found the place and set up my tripod as close to the water’s edge as I could. I had a yoga mat with me to sit on, and it turned out to be a perfect aid. The ground is still quite cold and damp in that spot. The mat kept me warm and allowed me to sit comfortably by the camera.

Although I’m primarily a photographer, nowadays it makes a lot of sense to capture video as well. People consume moving images massively every day, and sometimes it feels like traditional photography isn’t as interesting anymore. I’ve briefly experimented with video using my DSLR before, but this time I decided to shoot a lot more video.

I have a lot of experience with video and editing, as I’ve been running another YouTube channel, MYMOTO.LIFE, for a couple of years. I edit my videos with Apple’s Final Cut Pro, and these days I can effortlessly produce short 10–20 minute videos from a sufficient amount of raw material.

I’ll certainly continue filming nature and birds in the future, alongside photography. When I got back home from my trip, I made a small additional purchase. I’ve been researching different video heads for tripods for a while now, and I finally decided to get a decent-quality combo—a tripod and a video head. I’ll return to that topic with a review once I’ve gained some experience with the products.

Now, if you’d like to enjoy a bit of nature on video, click the following link: https://youtu.be/WHtcTEYzoT0

MAY DAY MORNING: A QUIET PHOTOGRAPHY OUTING AT DAWN

A New Beginning: My Photo Site Goes Live

SPRING MIGRATION IN FULL SWING – RESTING WINGS IN CENTRAL FINLAND