Smooth newt. Picardie, France.

After an eight-hour drive I arrived in France this afternoon, where my friend Jeremy Upsal has joined me to get some cool photos of newts. The thing with newt photos is they always seem to be set up in an aquarium or on land, so my mission this weekend is to capture several species underwater in their natural environment.

We spent the rest of the day location scouting. The newts in this area generally inhabit drinking pools for cattle, so this comes down to driving around meadows, climbing barbed wire fences, and trying not to get scared out by herds of curious cows (with farmer’s consent, of course).

I did a couple of test shots to figure out how I need to set up my equipment for tomorrow; above is a quick one of a male smooth newt (Lissotriton vulgaris), just to give you a taste…