Helena GeraldesAfter many hours waiting, Gonçalo Rosa got his chance. This Portuguese photographer captured a family of otter, in the wild, near Idanha-a-Nova city, Portugal. A few days ago he learnt that that photo was a finalist in BioPhotoContest 2015, an international nature photo contest.
This photographer, 44, spends much of this time in phototrappping sessions. “In one of those sessions I discovered a otter cub, in a little dam near Idanha-a-Nova”, he told Wilder.
The next weeks were frustrating, as he set out to photograph the entire family with a hidrohide and a telephoto lens but he never saw any of them for 15 days.
Gonçalo Rosa told Wilder that “otters are more active at night, but they can also be active by daytime. I was looking for them in the morning, when I knew the light would be exceptional”.
And then, on the 11th September 2013, at dawn, he finally got his chance.
“It was still very dark when I arrived. I wasn’t even in my hide when I saw the family entering in the water. It was a female with three cubs. For an hour I just watched them, at maybe 10 meters away. This was a rare opportunity”, he said.
Gonçalo Rosa bought this first camera 25 years ago. But he started photographing in a more serious way since 2009. What he likes the most about it is “recording the animals and their behaviours in the wild”.
You can learn more about the contest here and about Gonçalo Rosa’s work here.
