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?

Back Home From Namibia

Well, after some amazing desert landscapes and wildlife I am back home and in the saddle, so to speak. This past Namibia trip was my longest to date, as I way away from home for four weeks to the day. I co-lead a pair of workshops with good friend Joshua Holko, and after the second workshop was completed we extended our stay for another 5 nights and spent some time in the north of the country.

While I was away I rededicated myself to updating this blog more often than I have done so in the past year or two. Much of my past year or two have been spent updating Facebook or Google+, and I realize that I have ignored many people who are not on either social media platform. My approach going forward will be to update this blog and post links back to this site on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Let’s just call this my 2014 New Year’s Resolution in April.

I have many things to write about, from recent images on safari in Africa to thoughts on camera gear and the ever elusive work / family balance that I never seem to obtain. It all starts by writing down the first letter of the first word of the first paragraph. My approach will be to carve out at least an hour each week to make updates, which is often hard to find in my busy life.