The National Geographic International Council of Advisors were in Stockholm September 18-22 for meetings, presentations and seeing some of the major sights during their stay – from the Millesgården and Gamla staden to the Wasa museum and Fotografiska. Staffan was invited to give a keynote presentation to them at Fotografiska, showing images on four different screens on three walls, some images from the Arctic but most from Wild Wonders of Europe and Rewilding Europe, including two short films. Staffan also presented the possible new Wild Wonders of China. It was a lovely and very competent and experienced audience.
On Friday September 26 you can listen to Staffan talk about Rewilding Europe and Wild Wonders of Europe, also showing some of his latest images from Svalbard and British Columbia. The lecture is at EXPO, a two day event at Scandinavian Photo in Malmö, Sweden. There will be other photography lectures too and Nikon is there to show their latest products. More information and tickets here
Staffan joined Polar Quest as a lecturer and expedition photographer on a Svalbard expedition cruise with m/s Quest, 2-12/9. The group spent 10 nights on the ship and made several landings with Zodiacs to explore the Arctic landscapes and wildlife. Fantastic encounters with walrus, Svalbard reindeer, arctic fox, polar bear, beluga whale and bearded seal provided great photo opportunities and some memories for life. So did the ”Polar plunge” in the Arctic Ocean at the 80th parallel.
Staffan was invited to the Folgefonna-conference in the Hardanger area, Hordaland, Norway, August 27-28, where he gave an illustrated presentation about the natural heritage of the Hardanger area and what international tourism potential it might have, with a focus on wildlife watching. More information about the event (in Norwegian) here
During February 13-24, Staffan joined Ola Skinnarmo and Expeditionsresor as the official expedition photographer during their trip to Galapagos and Peru. Visiting the Inka sites in Cuzco and Machu Picchu in Peru, as well as an expedition cruise on board the m/s Coral II around some of the best areas of the fascinating Galapagos archipelago in Ecuador.
Staffan Widstrand is invited to Xishuangbanna Photo Festival in Yunnan, China, talks about Wild Wonders of Europe and presents the ideas behind a possible Wild Wonders of China. An event on the topic Nature Photography as a tool for nature conservation followed at the ”Zhengzhou High-end Foreign Photography Forum.” Art photography exhibitions by the three Nordic nature photographers Jari Peltomäki, Staffan Widstrand and Olli Lamminsalo were on display and visited by over 1000 people already the first day. Two days of slide presentations and workshop lectures followed at the He Nan Art Gallery, after the exhibition launch. Thereafter a full day nature photography workshop, called ”Photography Talk time”, was held at the Ministry of Culture Old University in Beijing. Speakers in front of this hand-picked audience of Chinese professional photographers were: Jari Peltomäki, Staffan Widstrand, and Olli Lamminsalo. A ceremony also took place, where photo books were donated to China’s National Library Reference Collection by the speakers, and the Old University also issued “visiting professor” certificates to the three foreign speakers. Good discussions followed about subjects like photojournalism, digital manipulation and the balance between commercial and non-profit clients and assignments and the speakers also met with the China Folklore Photographic Association, CFPA, to talk about several ways to cooperate along the way forward. https://wildwondersofchina.com/en/
Ekologigruppen has organized an evening of Wild Wonders in Stockholm Tuesday September 17, where Staffan Widstrand will give an inspirational talk and show images, followed by a guided tour of the Wild Wonders of Europe outdoor exhibition on Raoul Wallenbergs Torg. More information of place, time and registration to the event on Ekologigruppens website https://www.ekologigruppen.se/omoss/wildwonders.html
”Nordic Light”
– an art photography exhibition at the heart of beautiful Österlen in Skåne, Sweden
at the Bränneriet Art gallery, Södra Björstorps säteri
Opening/Vernissage Saturday May 11 at 13.00
Staffan Widstrand will be opening his exhibition ”Nordic Light” at Kuskahusen in Österlen, Sweden 11-12 May. There will be a weekend of events including a dinner at the private view where Staffan will give a lecture and a photo safari which Staffan will lead.
More information and tickets here https://www.kuskahusen.se/sv/
Staffan Widstrand will be in the nature section jury of the Baltic Photo Contest which is taking place at I am Photographer festival in Tallinn, Estonia 28-31 March. Staffan will also be holding a workshop there on 31 March.https://www.iamphotographer.eu/EN/36423/?kid=36414
The WPP judging continues, among oceans of coffee, mint tea and Dutch delicacies. Good discussions, laughs and right after that many very disturbing images from all the places in the world where the human rights are abused the hardest – Congo, Syria and the like. An emotional roller-coaster for sure.
Nature section is now down to 4 stories
Sports Action is down to 4 stories
Sports features is down to 4 stories
Portraits observed down to 5 stories
Portraits staged is down to 5 stories
Daily life is down to 11 stories
Contemporary issues to 14 stories
General news to 15 stories and
Spot news down to 6 stories
Out of 102 000 images entered….
Hats off to all our photographer colleagues out there, who persistently work to show us the world, even the parts of it many people would have liked not to see maybe. And some of those colleagues not only work hard, but also risk their lives for it. Yes, some even lose theirs in that process. Respect to you all! It is a true honour to try to give your ambitions the justice that you all deserve!
Staffan Widstrand https://www.worldpressphoto.org/content/interviews-2013-photo-contest-jury
A TV program from Tianjin TV in China about Staffan Widstrand, Tim Laman and Jed Weingarten – three photographers who have worked on showing some of the natural heritage of China to the Chinese and the world.
Coming up, on the same channel, is a full one-hour story about each one of them.
This is part of a series of documentaries about foreigners looking at and exploring China. Others featured in the series have been George Schaller, Djengiz Khan, Marco Polo and Sven Hedin! Don’t worry if you don’t speak Chinese, a lot of it is in English so please follow the link to watch the program. https://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDM2ODg1MjYw.html?f=4384827
Staffan will be chair of the specialized jury in the nature section of World Press Photo 2013.
As jury chair of the nature category he will be judging in the contest, together with other professionals from the field, some of the world’s leading photojournalism and documentary photography. The results will be announced on 15 February 2013 and the prize-winning pictures will be part of an exhibition touring more than a hundred cities all over the world.
Staffans image of the great bustard has been commended in The World in Our Hands category of the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year at Wildphotos 2012, where he was also giving a speech.
Staffan is interviewed about Rewilding Europe and wildlife tourism in Europe in an article in Svenska Dagbladet. Follow the link to read the article: Article in SvD
During a visit in Varanger, Norway in March Staffan was interviewed by NRK about the potential of growing birdwatching tourism for the area. To see the interview follow the link: Interview on nrk.no
Widstrand just started using his new backpack, a black Lestra Expedition, from the creative, small-scale producer Lestra AB in Sweden. A specially designed, real field work backpack, tailor-made to fit the big-lens using photographer’s needs, with not only space for the camera gear mounted and ready to shoot, but also for some food and clothes. And it even has a foldable chair included! -”It even doubles as a picnic table! The only thing one misses is a pair of extra legs that could carry the whole thing around with me… and a comfortable bed…” says Widstrand.
”Europe Goes Wild” in GEO January 2012 is out now in Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Bulgaria, India, Latvia, Spain, Italy, Brazil and Russia.
Widstrand has been nominated to appear on the list of ”Swedens 100 most Environmentally influential people”. News from the brand new web page of the ”Naturfotograferna” – The Swedish Nature Photographers’ Association. Staffan Widstrand, Mattias Klum and two other nature photographers are on the list of nominees. Read the article at Naturfotograferna: https://www.naturfotograferna.se/151-2011-12-13-n-fotografer-kan-bli-miljomaktigaste
Dont miss Wild Wonders of Europe´s ”Wild Friends” our 1st free App for iOS devices!! Perfect for families, nature lovers, photographers or explorers. Wild Friends is an exciting blend of cool stories and info about species, habitats and conservation, spiced up with great photography and behind-the-lens views from our photographers. Enjoy the journey! 🙂 Read more on Wild Wonders of Europe´s page: https://www.wild-wonders.com/products_app.asp
Staffan Widstrand leads ambitious photography workshops together with Better Moments in 2012. Visiting the Sea Eagles in Norway 9-16 June, the Bears and Wolves in Finland 4-11 August, and the Jaguars, Giant otters and Harpy eagles in Pantanal, Brazil in cooperation with the agency ”Better Moments”, which specialises in top-level photo workshops all over the world. www.better-moments.com The arrangements are made in cooperation also with Wild Wonders of Europe.
