Europe is having a major wildlife comeback, from bears to bison. Nature conservation works! Staffan talks to Boyd Matson on National Geographic weekend radio about the initiative Wild Wonders of Europe celebrating Europe’s natural heritage and showing it to Europeans and the rest of the world. Listen to ”Europe: Home (again) to bears and wolves – Staffan Widstrand” on National Geographic radio
On December 10-13, 2014, Staffan was invited to a Top-level photo competition shoot at the famous Poyang Ho lake in Jiangxi province, China. Poyang Ho is an extremely important wintering ground for hundreds of thousands of wetland birds, including cranes of 4 species and among them the critically endangered Siberian snow crane. Among the six photographers taking part, three were World Press Photo award winners, and two, among them Staffan, had been World Press Photo jury members. This event was organised by the Chinese Photographers Magazine and its Chief Editor Wang Baoguo, and sponsored also by the Poyang Ho County. The photographers’ task was to describe the natural and human life around the lake, through max 30 images. After three days of very cold and partly wet weather, and intensive travel in, on and around this huge lake, one of the world’s biggest, the images were presented for a big audience and a number of very qualified critics, who then in detail went through their opinions and thoughts when they saw the images. Staffan was the only nature photographer in the team and his images were widely praised by the audience and the critics. Apart from Staffan, the participants were: Frank Rothe, Germany, together with Chen Kunrong, Wei Zheng, Andrew Wong and Zhao Qing from China, all producing top quality images, some of it really exciting stuff. Please find Staffan’s 30 Poyang Ho images here: