It takes me less than an hour of drive to the north to pass the so-called pororaja (the reindeer-border) and depending on time of year more and more reindeers are appearing all over the place. Usually in front of the car.

Daring ( ) animals as they are and bred by humans they show no fear and seem to have the habit to happily feed next to the road or more commonly, to simply walk right in the middle of it.

Surely, not always, but often enough.

The Project

Inspired by a similar image I have had the idea for an image like this for now two years, and even though I pass reindeer ever so often, I never had the time to take a picture like this. During my trip to Ukonjärvi though I had finally the chance with the right conditions, the backdrop being right and even more important: I remembered!

Working with the panning technique I aimed to blur not only the background but the animals as well. It wasn’t my intention to keep the animals more or less sharp. I am more interested in the tones and shapes for this project. More like a sketch, or abstract painting.

Sounds much easier than it actually is, but some of the images turned out satisfying.

This is an ongoing project and I hope to add new images to it in the future.