Photo of the Day - Peacock, Bandhavgarh, India

Peacock

Bandhavgarh, India

Back Home From Tanzania

The 2015 year has been off to a busy start, as I guided a private group to Botswana’s Okavango Delta in January, and recently I was in Tanzania’s Serengeti for my first open signup safari for the year. Both were amazing safari experiences, and this is my first image to share in the new year. Enjoy!

Lion On A Rock

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

February 2015

Phase One DF+ camera, IQ250 digital back, Schneider 240mm lens

Photo of the Day - Sea Lions

Rise Above The Rest

Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Phase One DF+ camera, IQ280 80mp digital back, 75-150mm lens @ 80mm. 1/400 sec @ f/8, ISO 100

After many trips to the Galápagos Islands over the past decade, I have had great difficulty trying to anticipate and identify those unique moments that transcend anything more than a grab shot. I have to admit that it is a difficult place to photograph for me, as my visual storytelling ‘look’ or ‘style’ tends to be with wider angle lenses in an attempt to include the environment as much as the subject itself. On this day we spent our entire afternoon outing on a soft sand beach, and on this beach were about 75 individual sea lions. Sea lions primarily feed at night, and during the day they are typically inactive and usually sleeping. These sea lions were lying in a row, and I took some time to sit there and observe and enjoy the amazing light. This large male woke up, stretched his body and neck, and eventually found a new place to relax. Boom. Time to take a quick frame.

Photo of the Day - Lion Greeting

Lion Greeting

Okavango Delta, Botswana. December 2013

One of the challenges with wildlife photography is the capturing of a special moment that transcends something that might be static or uninteresting. In another post I am going to describe what I call the ‘adjective-driven approach’, but the short description is that I am always in pursuit of photographs that I can create a long list of adjectives to describe it. It’s simple, really. The longer the list, the more I feel like I have done my job to create an image that is interesting and worthy of looking at for longer than a short glance.

When lions greet each other after a short or long absence, especially if there are cubs, is one of those moments when you know you are going to get a long list of adjectives: love, affection, adoration, power, excitement, regal-ness (is that an actual word?), happiness. I could go on and on, but you get the point.

Photo of the Day - Lion Cubs

Lion Cubs

Olare Motorogi Conservancy, greater Masai Mara, Kenya

January 2014

Photo of the Day - Lion On The Plains

Lion On The Plains

Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya. January 2014

There is something so regal, so majestic, so beautiful about a male lion in his prime when his mane is waving in the wind. I have found that the angle at which one photographs big cats as the lie in the grass is extremely important. If the subject is showing too much belly you have to move the vehicle around to eliminate that view, and other angles may show an awkwardness to the way the animal is sitting or lying down. I didn’t have much of a choice with this subject, primarily because the background in this view was the best with the above angle of view. A well-positioned background is that extra step that a photographer needs to think about, as you do not want to have your background (or foreground) compete with the overall purposes of what the photograph is all about.

I did attempt to get a head-on shot of this male, however the sitted position and the background just didn’t work for me.

This is just my $.02 and how I tend to like to frame my photographs. What do you think?

Photo of the Day - Leopard In The Rain

Leopard In The Rain

Okavango Delta, Botwana. December 2013

Nikon D800E, 300mm f/2.8, 1/500 @ f/4.5, ISO 800

Photo of the Day - Stretching Leopard

Stretching Leopard

Okavango Delta, Botswana. November 2013

Phase One DF+, IQ280 80mp digital back, Schneider 240mm lens

As many of you know I have been working with digital medium format for a couple of years, and even though medium format digital equipment isn’t the most appropriate for much of my wildlife work it definitely has its place in my bag on those trips. Why? If you could see this image printed in person you would have that answer. The detail and crispness stand out in a way that no other capture device can do so.

I recently upgraded from a 60 megapixel digital back to an 80 megapixel back and I am very glad that I did so. The new dimensions are 10,300 x 7,760 pixels. Whoa. Yup. That’s a big file to deal with, but the results are astounding. My longest lens is a 240mm, which equates to around 155mm on a full frame 35mm camera. Since I photograph many subjects and not just wildlife, the new Phase One IQ280 on a Phase One DF+ camera will be in my bag on all of my trips going forward. For my wildlife trips I augment either Nikon or Canon gear, however for landscape trips I am 100% medium format.

I am heading back out to the bush tomorrow, and I hope to come home with another image or two from this new camera system.