Why did you choose Hokkaido,
Japan’s northern island, and how
many trips did you make to get the
pictures for the book?
I’ve only been to Hokkaido once, but it
was for more than 30 days! It was by
staying there for a very long time that I
managed to make the images that I’m
very much proud of. The light and snow
conditions are so beautiful there that it
was almost too easy to make beautiful
images. I was like a child amazed by
everything I saw, all those animals in
large white areas. That’s what I love to do,
so I didn’t deprive myself and I took a lot
of pictures, probably too many, but digital
has this advantage. You can keep
shooting all the time for no extra cost
whatsoever! I kept a hundred images of
the trip for the book, the ones I like the
most and those which are the most
successful are for me however.I was like a child
amazed by everything I
saw, all those animals in
large white areas, all
those animals
07The Canon Magazine 77
MICHEL D’OULTREMONT
Dream duel
Michel hid beneath
camouflage netting to capture
this awesome contest...The Ardennes is a region that
Michel knows well, having visited
this thickly forested area of
southern Belgium numerous
times to photograph the wildlife.
This time, he was hidden behind a
tree, hoping to fulfil a standing
ambition to photograph the peak
of the action when two red deerstags lock antlers, roaring in
competition. Michel wanted to
capture such a scene in the light
of dusk and he was fortunate that
as clouds gathered and the light
faded, these two stags eventually
appeared on the line of a ridge.
Through the branches and
working with an effective focal
length of 800mm, he rendered
the two combatants as a
silhouette. This shot formed part
of Michel’s portfolio which won
his second Rising Star Portfolio
Award in the 2018 Wildlife
Photographer of the Year.STORY BEHIND THE SHOT