Photo of the Day - Sparring Elephants

Sparring Elephants

Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

Canon 1DsMk3, 500mm f/4, 1/800 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 500

Photo of the Day - Shooting in Antarctica

Shooting from a Zodiac

Somewhere in the southern Ocean around Antarctica, December 2011

Leica S2, Summarit-S 35mm, 1/4000 @ f/4, ISO 320

Leopard Jumping Through The Talek River

On last year’s September safari, which combined the mountain gorillas of Rwanda with the wildebeest migration in Kenya’s Masai Mara, we had great success with tracking and photographing leopards, lions and cheetahs. On this particular day we tracked down one of the more famous leopards of the Mara, who is simply known as ‘Olive’, and anticipated her moving across the Talek River.

We set up with our vehicles in one of the only places where we could have a clear shot of her, and luckily the light was in the best location possible. When I am photographing with water, rain, smog, fog or anything that fills the atmosphere I want to shot it off. The best way to do this is to place the light source, the sun, at an angle that puts the light coming towards the camera. This illuminates it in such a way that helps show it off, as opposed to hides it. I do prefer shooting into the sun anyway, as this helps define the edges of whatever I am shooting. Remember the adage “light illuminates and shadows define”. You don’t have definition without shadows, and without shadows you lose any sense of 3D to a scene.

We had just a few moments to set up, choose our best lens and camera settings and get the shot sequence. I set the camera to manual mode and selected a shutter speed that would freeze the splashing water and leopard, and whatever aperture did that would be fine with me. I took a quick exposure, looked at the histogram and made a quick change. I was more interested in getting the shape of the leopard than worries aboout blown highlights or ‘shadow detail’. Shadow detail is a term that drives me nuts, because it doesn’t reall mean anything and I hear about it all of the time in images that lack any contrast or soul. It all started when Photoshop introduced the Shadows & Highlights tool. But I digress. All shots taken with a Nikon D3x, 200-400mm f/4, 1/800 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 500.

Photo of the Day - Drinking Elephants

Drinking Elephants

Near Lake Ndutu, southern Serengeti Plains, Tanzania. February 2012

Pentax 645D + 400mm f/5.6, 1/250 @ f/5.6, ISO 400

Photo of the Day - Cheetah and Her Cubs

Cheetah and Her Cubs

Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania. March 2012

Pentax 645D + 400mm f/5.6, 1/100 @ f/5.6, ISO 800

Photo of the Day - Sunrise and the Lion

Sunrise and the Lion

Masai Mara Game Reserve, Kenya. March 2012

Pentax 645D + 300mm f/4, 1/125 sec @ f/8, ISO 200

Photo of the Day - Lion in the Sabi Sands

Lion Stare

Sabi Sands, South Africa

Nikon D3x, 70-200mm f/2.8 VR1, 1/200 @ f/4.5, ISO 800

This is one of the members of the famed Mapogo group of male lions. The Mapogo can adequately be described as one of the most badass group of male lions, and have enjoyed photographing them when I am in the Sabi Sands. With this image we sat next to him off to the side of our Land Rover, as he was relaxed but alert. You can tell he has been in many altercations, due to the amount of scars on his face. I used a 70-200mm lens on a D3x to capture this image, which indicates just how close we were to each other. His stare just went right through me, which is an envigorating feeling. Do a Google search on the Mapogo Lions or Mapogo Males if you get a chance. Some fascinating reading, to say the least.

I will be running two back-to-back safaris to Singita Sabi Sands in June, which is part of the historical territory of the Mapogo males. For more information on these South Africa Photo Safaris, here are two links:

Singita Sabi Sands Photo Safari, June 2-11, 2012 (only 2 spaces available)

Singita Sabi Sands Photo Safari, June 10-19, 2012 with Marc Muench and Andy Williams (only 4 spaces available)

Photo of the Day - Botswana Safari Group

Our Safari Group - July 2011

I love to take group photographs from each safari, and this one was no exception. It’s great to look back at so many happy faces after some amazing experiences out in the bush. On this particular safari we visited 2 camps in northern Botswana, Chitabe and Savuti, and came home with some stellar photographs.