Yesterday I mentioned that I was disappointed when I found that out of two locations, the better one was the one which was harder to get at. Is that really how lazy I am? That I’m disappointed because I have to walk an extra kilometre and climb a bit more? What’s really disappointing is that I was disappointed at all. Like I said, the best things in photography are not free.

If you look at the work of a nature photographer who is consistently producing stunning pictures, you can be sure that they have worked hard to create them. These are the people who are willing to wake up earlier, go to bed later, just simply walk the proverbial (and actual) extra mile to find the best locations. People who can sleep in a cold hide night after night in order to catch that unforgettable moment of animal behaviour. People who can hike for days in the wilderness with both survival and heavy photography gear to find that stunning landscape. And they do this time after time, they study their subject until they know when and how to best present it. You could say that they were lucky to get this and that light, but pure chance will only get you that far – the rest of your luck you have to make yourself.

And here I am, frustrated that I found a nice view but there’s no option to stop the car, but I have park some 500m further off and walk back to the view. How lazy can you get? And how can you ever hope to take your photography to a higher level if you require that you can park your car next to your subject? I’m ashamed.

So I got to thinking. Which picture in my catalogue has required the hardest work – and how hard was it, anyway?

Maybe my fullmoon mountain pictures… individually, they haven’t required that much effort, but collectively, a bit more. So far I’ve made four trips in order to catch the full moon in the mountains, and although I’ve managed to create some nice pictures, the one that I have envisioned is still eluding me. My white whale. I’ve done a lot of planning and scouting and travelling but the hunt is still on.

But an individual picture… hmm. The only one I can think of is that early snowstorm in September 2005 when I nearly got stuck in Storulvån. It had been raining all through my holiday so far and I was desperate to do something creative. Bad weather makes good pictures so I set off on Getryggen despite the wind driving around the snow crystals like small needles. I got higher and higher and the visibility got worse and worse… I don’t know what I was thinking about, there weren’t even any pictures to be taken in those conditions, I could hardly stand up in the wind and all I could see among all the white was the next rock I could run to in between the wind gusts. But stubbornly, I just had to reach 1300m which for whatever random reason was my target (at least I had had the reason to give up on the peak by then). When I got back down a bit, the snowing stopped and revealed the landscape around, the wind remained though and whipped up these whirls of snow. It was tough, it was stupid, but I came back with some memorable pictures, whether they were good or not is not essential anymore!

Still, that’s not a lot of effort. It was crazy and I got lucky. – How many times have I woken up at 3am to catch a sunrise at some beautiful location? Never. Instead, I’ve been happy that the sun rises so late in the winter so I can sleep until 7am and still catch it. – How many times have I been to the Njupeskär waterfall after sunrise in the midsummer to catch it in sunlight? Never, although I found out about it 4 years ago (normally the waterfall is always shaded). – How many times I have a witnessed a sunset from a mountain top? Never. Going down in darkness just freaks me out!

Maybe it’s time I start going the extra mile. Be the first one to arrive, and the last to leave, and have the patience.