Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year

I am headed over to London for a 24 hour stay in a few weeks. Why? One of my images has made it into the 2006 Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition (formerly known as the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition), and the unveiling and Awards Ceremony will take place on October 18th and 19th at the Natural History Museum. Since there is an embargo on what image will be showcased, as well as what category, I will update this site after October 21 with the specific image and category information. Needless to say I am flattered to be a part of such a wonderful competition.

A blurb from their web site:

"The Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is organised by the Natural History Museum and BBC Wildlife Magazine. Each year thousands of entries are received and judged by an expert panel. The winners are announced at an awards ceremony that takes place each October at the Natural History Museum, London."

"Now in its forty-second year, the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition aims to find the very best photography worldwide featuring natural subjects. It's open to amateur and professional photographers worldwide and continues to be the most prestigious competition of its kind in the world."

2007 Safaris [update]

Well, my January 22, 2007 is now completely sold out, and I have 1 spot left on my February safari for a single sharing female. My June safari is starting to book up, so if you are interested you should take note that I expect the trip to fill up within the next month or so.

I also have a September 2007 safari that is for returning travelers. I am calling this an 'alumni' safari, as we will be seeking out different safari experiences than what you might expect on a first time safari. I am working on the details and costing right now.

Back home from Africa

Well, after 3 solid weeks of photography, I am back home. I took a tremendous amount of images, and I know I have some images that will put a smile on my face. It will take a while to sort through all of the images, mostly because I am still figuring out how to come up with an efficient workflow on my new MacBook. The new Adobe Lightroom beta 4 looks promising, but I will tackle that on another day.

I learned a few things from this past trip. I learned that I feel most comfortable using 1 series Canon cameras for wildlife, and just about any camera will do for landscapes. In the past 2 safaris I have taken very different approaches from an equipment standpoint, and I learned quite a bit from those experiences. Here are some bullet points:

• It is quite difficult moving back and forth between a 20D/5D and a 1DMkII/1DsMkII from an interface standpoint. I strive for simplicity, and prefer to have all of my cameras setup in a similar manner. Moving between a 1DsMkII and a 5D is challenging in a fast-paced environment.


• The buffer on a 1DsMkII is not adequate for wildlife photography (duh).


• The 1DMkII or 1DMkIIN is still an awesome camera for fast autofocus and high frames per second shooting.


• I love full frame 24x36mm viewfinders.


• The 400mm f/4 DO IS and 500mm f/4 L IS lenses are difficult to choose between. I would take either in a heartbeat.


• Canon needs to incorporate their new anti-dust technology in all EOS cameras. Period.


• I wish I could locate Safari Lager here in the USA.


• Epson P2000 devices are atrociously too slow for 12mp and higher cameras, especially when shooting with 8GB CF cards.

I hope to have my first round of images posted in the next few days. Time to sort through them all, deleting/ranking/processing along the way.

On my second safari, we saw 58 lions, 3 rhino, 1 leopard and 3 cheetah. We had some amazingly close elephant opportunities, as well as hordes of wildebeest and zebra. Giraffe were in abundance, including a number of drinking giraffe.
I am glad to be back home, but I look forward to returning in January.

Tanzania Safari Update

Well, I just finished up a wonderful safari to Tarangire, Ngorongoro and Serengeti. We had some amazing wildlife sightings, including 58 lions, 14 cheetah (including great cub shots), 1 black rhino and 3 leopard. As we were driving to our charter flight this morning we came across a mating pair of leopard, which is an extremely uncommon sighting. Absolutely stunning. We had 10 cheetah sightings in one day alone, and we had a few hundred gigabytes of photos amongst my safari group on one day alone. Sandisk, I need my commission check, please. Insane.

I will post photos when I return after my next safari, which leaves for the bush tomorrow morning. The weather could not be better at the moment, with an average high in the mid 80's and an average low in the low 60's. Perfect-o. Off to photograph more stunning scenery and wildlife.

Off for Tanzania

Well, I am off to Tanzania for another 2 back-to-back safaris. These should be amazing safaris, as we are headed to three amazing wildlife destinations in northern Tanzani: Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park. This is the peak of the dry season, and many elephants migrate over to Tarangire for more permanent water. For you elephant lovers out there, this is the time to view elephants. Then we are off to Ngorongoro for an all-around excellent experience in the crater. Virtually all wildlife can be found in the crater, with the exception of impala and giraffe. Then we travel to the extreme northern Serengeti to a location we call Kogatende, where we will have a private camp setup for us in a remote part of the park. I expect excellent wildlife and photography.

I have been trying to figure out a way for my blog to have automatic postings that originate from SMS messages from my Iridium satellite phone. I ran out of time, but I hope to be able to post daily safari reports from the bush on my next round of safaris in January of next year.

So what equipment am I taking this time? Keep in mind that I am always switching my equipment around, and every safari has a new equipment configuration. So here goes:

• Canon 1DsMkII


• Canon 1DMkII


• 500mm f/4 L IS (rented to travelers on both safaris, so I won't use it at all)


• 400mm f/4 DO IS


• 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS


• 24-105mm f/4 L IS


• 1.4x and 2x teleconverters


• Apple MacBook with 120GB hard drive and 2GB RAM


• Epson P2000 (2x, 100GB and 80GB upgrades)


• Sony HC3 HD video camera

So that's it for this trip. I have a ton of gear to carry, and it will be split between my MP-1 camera bag and a daypack. On my next safari in January, I hope to have my own camera bag out in the marketplace to replace my MP-1. The MP-1 has been an interesting bag for me, as I appreciate the low weight of the bag, but I cannot help feeling ripped off from the poor quality and lack of attention to detail. Oh, and the atrocious high price. I don't want to say much about my bag, but I am working hard to make it extremely lightweight. It will be made of very expensive materials, it will made extremely well, and it will be durable. And it will be comfortable to wear on your back.

New 2007 Safaris Announced

I have two more safaris on the books for 2007, after my January and February safaris are pretty much full with travelers. The dates are:

June 12 - June 23, 2007

October 9 - October 20, 2007

We will be visiting three wonderful wildlife parks; Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park. My groups are small, so space is limited. If either of these exciting trips has your name on it and if you're excited by the thought of becoming a member of this trip, then now is the time to register. Remember, there will be limited space available for these African safaris. When they're spoken for, that's it. If you have any questions before registering, send us an e-mail with any inquiries to info@andybiggs.com.

Baggage challenges for Photographers....

Well, this has been a challenging 24 hours since the world found out about the terrorist plot that would have originated from the United Kingdom. With this event, security has been heightended all around the world, and the stress related to traveling by air is certain to go through the roof. Especially if you are flying through/from/to the UK, as at the moment carry-on baggage is not allowed. This is a huge challenge for traveling photographers. Especially wildlife photographers with a ton of gear and at least one large prime lens.

I will be writing down my reflections on how to pack photographic gear that has to be checked. There are many paths to go down, but my gut reaction is to use a Pelican case for all photographic equipment, packed inside of a nondescript duffle bag. Here is some information from the TSA in the USA:

Media have also reported that laptops, cell phones and electronic items are no longer allowed. Is that true?

No. TSA continues to allow laptop computers, cell phones and other electronic items.

What can people expect at the checkpoints?

Passengers may experience longer lines at airports and should plan to arrive early. Check with your specific airline and airport before flight departure time to determine how much time is needed for your flight. Passengers should pack their patience and ensure that that they do not bring any liquids to the security checkpoint in carry-on luggage. These items are no longer permitted on board the aircraft. To expedite the process, avoid having clutter in your bags and minimize the number carry-on items.
More on my thoughts later.

Alaska Coastal Brown Bear Photos Posted

I finally dug through my images and processed a few of them. I now have a few online:

http://www.andybiggs.com/Alaska2006/