Wise Advanced

Nature Lover Radomir Jakubowski Revisits the Vosges with New EOS cameras on a Familiar Subject

Wildlife Photographer / Owner

Born in Saarland, Germany in 1987, Radomir grew up bilingual since his parents came to Germany from Poland. Radomir started taking photos while he was 15 years old and traveled around Europe for nature landscapes. Since then, his whole life has revolved around photography.

Nature is his playground. His childhood consisted of camera-less trips with his parents to mountains and seas every chance they got. Collecting shells, stones, fishing and skiing were his favorite hobbies. The turning point, which Radomir called it “crazy time”, happened when his godmother showed him some secret places with rare species of animals. He was overwhelmed by the world of photography. Even though there were no digital photography books to learn from as analog photography was the most popular choice during that time, Radomir didn’t give up on pursuing digital photography knowledge. He discovered a German association of nature photographers called GDT, and joined when he was 18, becoming the youngest member. Through the association, he learned digital photography. Now, he is a board member of the GDT.

Radomir never wanted to be a professional photographer. However, he had an opportunity to publish his first book and articles in magazines when he was a student. It was a success. He then won the first photography awards in his lifetime, acquiring recognition and motivating him to put more effort as a full-time photographer.

Radomir has won more than 100 nature photography awards and published 3 photo books. He is extremely proud of the fact that he never retouches any of his photos. His works have been published in magazines and newspapers all over the world.

“Speed and data security are the two of most important things, and Wise memory media accomplished both with a decent price-performance ratio.”

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Equipment

Memory Cards

Wise CFexpress Type B

Wise SDXC UHS-II

Wise CFexpress / SD (Card Reader)

Cameras

Canon EOS R5

Canon EOS R6

Canon EOS-1D X Mark III

Camera Setup

ISO 400-6400, f/2.8 with EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM (preferred)

From lively animals to majestic landscape time-lapse photos, Canon Ambassador Radomir Jakubowski brought his cameras and travelled the length and breadth of Europe capturing nature at its finest.

Please tell us some more about the venture / project in Vosges Mountains.

“The Vosges Mountains are a range of low mountains in eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single geomorphological unit and low mountain range of around 8,000 km². It runs in a north-northeast direction from the Burgundian Gate to the Börrstadt Basin, and forms the western boundary of the Upper Rhine Plain. The Grand Ballon is the highest peak at 4,672 ft, followed by the Storkenkopf 4,482 ft, and the Hohneck 4,475 ft.”

“I started this project in 2011 when I came back from Scandinavia and I was looking for a new photographical subject. In an article about the Vosges, I read that there are living chamois there. This was the starting point for an amazing project about the chamois in the Vosges. The Vosges are located around 2.5 driving hours from my hometown, which gives me the opportunity to come back frequently under different conditions to document the behavior of these animals.”

“When I started to shoot the chamois, I had to do a lot of research to find them. Over the past years tourism in this area grew quickly, which resulted in the animals trusting humans more and more. For me the chamois are perfect mountain animals, perfect climbers, and so graceful. The chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) is a species of goat-antelope native to the mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Cantabrian Mountains, the Pyrenees, the Alps and the Apennines, the Dinarides (Dinaric Alps), the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the Rila - Rhodope massif, Pindus, the northeastern mountains of Turkey, and the Caucasus. Some subspecies of chamois are strictly protected in the EU under the European Habitats Directive. The chamois is a very small bovid. A fully grown chamois reaches a height of 70-80 cm, the males measure 110-140 cm and weigh up to 60 kg; they are slightly larger than females, which weigh up to 45 kg. What is special about the habitat in the Vosges is that it consists of forests and plateaus with grassy areas and not like classic mountain areas.”

What photo setup did you use the most when shooting wildlife photography?

“Most of the time I used the Canon EF 400mm f/2.8L IS III USM, with the 2x Extender sometimes. As I got closer to the animals, I would change to shorter lenses. Camera-wise I chose the EOS-1D X III and the EOS R5. Over the past few weeks the EOS R5 has been doing a great job for wildlife and landscape photography.”

How did Wise’s product and the EOS R5 help your work?

“I was looking for blazing fast CFexpress cards and noticed that a lot of manufactures didn’t meet the standards for my Canon EOS R5.By chance, I found Wise and decided to give it a try. Once I found it worked great on my cameras, I bought a lot more CFexpress and SD cards from them.”

What were your take-away thoughts?

“Speed and data security are the two of most important things, and Wise memory media accomplished both with a decent price-performance ratio. I am satisfied with their CFexpress cards on the EOS R5 as well as SD cards on the EOS R6 for daily usages.”