Wolves from Kolmården in Sweden

The ALPHA association's educational "wolf weekend" at Kolmården, March 14-16, 2008

By Per Inge Oestmoen, the ALPHA Association, Norway

This time, 20 individuals eager to learn more about wolves had found their way to Kolmården, or rather to a nearby hotel - Vildmarkshotellet (the Wilderness Hotel) - and so they were well prepared for two exciting days with successive visits to wolves in two different enclosures. On Saturday the fifteenth, before the twenty people went to meet the wolves, Runar Næss held his customary wolf lecture replete with much updated information, following which there were questions and extensive discussion on both wolf behavior and wolf biology as well as the principles and characteristics of wolf-human interaction.

All those present met the wolves, and everyone acquainted him- or herself with all the wolves in two enclosures because the participants were split in two groups. Each of these visited first one pack of wolves, and thereafter went to the next pack the second day.

As an extra bonus, we managed to squeeze in a brief encounter with dolphins on Saturday evening - albeit not with the personal touch involved since these sea mammals are susceptible to human disease and therefore need humans to keep a safe distance from them.

Contemporary society is marked by heavy reliance upon communication and an ever wider dissipation of information, and visual communication through the medium of photography has become increasingly important. The ALPHA-association intends to use this situation to the benefit of our beloved canine child of the wilderness, and we want to utilize wolf and wolf/human images for educational purposes. Luckily, doing so has been proven easy. When wolves have been socialized, i.e. grown up together with humans in addition to the members of their own canine species, a harmonious contact is possible between wolf and Man as demonstrated by the pictures here. It is salutary to bear in mind that wolves are not dogs, though. Their physical abilities and above all their intelligence and more powerful instincts make them unsuitable as pets - but in a favorable environment like the one in Kolmården people can meet live "ambassadeur wolves" and observe what this species actually is like. By allowing people to experience wolves it is certain that more people will get to know more about them. We believe that much unnecessary fear is thus allayed, resulting in less negativity and aggression towards wolves. Over time, one may assume that the effect will be more interest in and discussion around this intriguing animal with an accompanying motivation to ensure the protection of wolves - and even more importantly - their habitats in the future.

The images offered here were recorded with digital single reflex (SLR) cameras with interchangeable lenses. The cameras used were the Canon EOS 1D III together with the Canon EOS 40D, and the lenses were three different fixed focal length varieties: The EF 85mm 1.2, the EF 135mm 2.0 and the EF 200mm 2.8 II. Each lens has its specific properties which determine the characteristics of the final images. Beholders with an especially critical eye may be able to discern differences between cameras too.

If you have questions pertaining to pictures, cameras or lenses and their use, please feel free to contact Per Inge. Remove the "[removethis]" part of that address if you do. These image galleries have been logically structured after the cameras used, this was done to make it easier to ask and answer questions about the tools and the pictures made with them. For those interested, data on shutter speed and aperture can be had for every picture. Regarding the pictures themselves, large versions of all images suitable for print are available at request for participants - at no cost apart from the price of a CD/DVD disc with shipping should such a solution be desired.

All images were recorded in RAW and converted into the Adobe RGB color space for optimum color fidelity in high-end printing processes. It is impossible to improve a picture's amount of detail and basic quality after exposure, but adjustment of white balance, color casts and lightness values can be made if necessary.

Let us then go to these ALPHA-photos from March 2008. They are found by clicking on the links below. When in a gallery, you use the arrows to navigate.

Runar lectures with usual fervor (White balance may not be perfect in all shots, we apologize for that)

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