One of the joys of working so close the famous Kruger National Park, is that on the odd occasion, I get to pop in and see what is going on. A couple days ago, I went in to see some friends who were staying over, and took my camera with, just in case!
I didn’t manage to get pics of any of the bigger animals, but did get some nice shots of the trsuty impala, and a couple birds!
I am going out tonight to try a little something different, so lets hope there is a new post tomorrow!
January has been a tricky month. I was in JHB for 2 weeks, and it left little time to accumulate some real winners. Added to that, is the rather quiet game viewing that we have been having. I have put together some of the better pics from last month for you to sift through and enjoy, and hope to be beating that performance come the end of February!
The year seemingly got off to a cracking start, as the wild dogs, one of my favorite’s, came onto the property, and gave us 4 days of madness! It is always chaotic trying to keep up with the dogs, never mind photographing them!
It slowed down dramatically from there…
Towards the end of the month however, a pride of lions that we don’t often get to see, started spending more and more time on the property. This was made extra special by the fact that they have a little 3 month old cub! He has relaxed up to the vehicles nicely, and is allowing us some great photographic opportunities! The pride also has 3 dark maned males, which is a photographers dream! The bush is still so green, and the contrast between the dark mane, and the green grass is great!
I have had a idea for a picture for a while, and got very close to it in January. One of the lioness’ walked right next to my door, and I managed to squeeze myself into the pic! It is somewhere in the gallery, so if you want a cheap laugh, have a look and you can see what I look like when I am trying to concentrate!
So there we go. I hope you enjoyed what January had to offer, and I will certainly be posting the results of February at the end of the month.
I have been working on a new project as well, which is slowly starting to take shape. As soon as it is fully ready, I will post it on the blog for you all to have a look at!
Also, competition season is once again here, so keep an eye on the blog for this years entries into all the different comps!
2009 has come and gone, and has taken with it some pretty interesting times! It has also left us with some great images to remember it by!
It was very much a year of, ’so close, yet so far’, as in all the big competitions, I very nearly made the cut, but just missed out! The biggest sting was reaching the finals of the BBC/Wildlife photographer of the year as well as the Fotolia photographer of the year, and the semi finals of the Natures Best Photographer of the year, and not finishing placed! Fingers crossed for next year!
On a slightly more successful note, I did manage to win the Animals Behaviour category in the Fuji Wildlife photographer of the year, only just missing out on the overall winner, and right at the end of the year, got placed third overall in the annual Getaway Gallery competition, as well as sneaking in a highly commended image.
I am still waiting for the hard drive to be fixed, and until it is, (hopefully within the next two weeks), I won’t be able to show you all of the winning images.
I do however have a small snippet of what was happening during December.
The month started deathly slowly, with the animals very reluctant to strike their usual poses for the camera, but picked up in the last week of the year!
I wish you all a fantastic 2010! I will be posting some more images up as soon as I get the hard drive back, so keep an eye on this space!
There is some more exciting news in the pipeline, but can’t give too much away right now, so again, watch this space!
I have finally had a look at the photographs I took in Botswana, and grabbed a few for you guys to have a look at!
The entire trip was fantastic, (as I said in an earlier post, it was my first time to really get stuck into Bots), and I am really happy with the results!
We started off with a couple days in the Makgadigadi Pans National Park, which was great for me, because I had never seen the pans. They are as flat as I imagined… It is a great sight to see, to be surrounded by literally nothing, but photographically, it was quite a challange, because there is literally nothing to contrast the vast expanse against! The pans were not all that close to the camp site we were at, so we didn’t have too much time to play around. On the way back to the camp however, we found the 40 000 zebra we went there to see! They were very spead out, so there was not too much action on the go, but still great to see!
We moved further north for the next few days, to the Khwai river. This little gem is a very well kept secret! The camp site is simple, and I mean simple, but adds to the flavour of the area!
It really is wild up there! We had elephants, hyaena’s, and hippos, as well as an array of other animals through the camp on a daily basis! The lions ended up sleeping about 500 meters from the camp for the final 2 days, which was pretty sweet! Keeping in mind that the camp is unfenced, and we were all in tents, it left a few members of the party a little more than nervous!
I am still short some of the picutres I took, due to technical difficulties, and I will add those as soon as I get them back, (hopefully I get them back…)
In the group of images that I don’t have, are some of the best of the trip! I finally got to see Pump Pan, in Savuti, which is the setting of one my favourite shots by Nigel Dennis. The famous elephant eating lions were not at the pan when I was there, but the elphants certainly were! There was a continus stream of the grey giants, coming from far and wide, to and from the waterhole! Great to see! As I say, I will try get those pictures up asap! Coupled with the Savuti photographs, are the images I took in Chobe – another dream destination! There are some above average pictures from that collection as well, but none to see today!
So there you have a small selection of the images from Botswana.
I must pass on a huge thank you to Hilton Kotze, for taking me with on the trip! It was fantastic!
I start regular game drives again tomorrow evening, so with a bit of luck, I will be able to pop up some goodies in a few days!
Well, well…every now and again a good bit of news comes my way!
The results of the Fuji/Getaway wildlife photographer of the year have been released, and I am thrilled to say I managed a catagory win, in the animals behaviour catagory! I have had mixed success with the competition, but am chuffed none the less!
The winner is a picture that all the regulars will be familiar with, as it came from a rather productive day on the trap!
This little ele was sticking close to mum, as the herd ran through the trap on their way down to the water.
The dust had been kicked up by the rest of the herd, and adds quite a pleasing effect to the image. I love the angle of the shot, and the fact that the mum has been chopped in half – this really accentuates the size of these magnificent beasts!
This was one of the luckier shots that the trap hit, because the time of day was perfect for the settings, and the faulty flash!
It is always great to have my images recognized by other photographers, and this provides alot more motivation to try and improve!
I will certainly be doing my best, and will keep you all updated as to any progress I make!
(I have returned safely from Botswana, and will be putting together a story of the trip – with pics of course – as soon as I can sort my PC out. Apparently, dust and PC’s don’t go well together?!)
I have been away for a short while, but am back, and I bring gifts! I got to spend a week in Cape Town, and did my best to make the most of it.
We timed our trip well, as we caught the Hermanus whale festival, and the Boulders bay penguin festival, neither of which dissapointed!
Lets start with the whales. I went down to the Cape hoping to see one or two, and if I got really lucky, I desperately wanted to see one breaching, (an act of thowing all 40 tonnes of it out of the water), but didn’t ever expect to get decent pitures of one breaching! Literally, the first thing we saw at the whale festival, was a mother and calf Southern Right whale, and the mother was breaching regularly! So regularly, that I managed a few good sequences! (I have been to try photograph whales breaching before, and have come up short a few times!)
The penguins were a little harder to work with, as they were all busy moulting! (They are one of only 2 birds that fully moult – lose all thier feathers at once). After a couple visits to the famous Boulders colony, we found another entrance, and snuck (legally, of course) between some rocks, where we found a handfull of penguins that were more than willing to be photographed! I was pleased with the results, as I have also never managed a good image of the African penguin.
I tried diving with the great white shark, and was slightly successful, but never got any good action above water – so no pics there! (I suppose I did need a good reason to go back!
When you browse through the gallery below, you may spot some unusual images! I have popped a couple scenic shots in, as well as an opportunistic shot of a cheeky starling, that joined us for breakfast on the top of table mountain!
I do have some good news coming your way soon…so keep checking the blog!
Outside of the good news, i am also heading slighly north, to Botswana! I am thrilled! I have never done any photography in Bots, but have only heard good things, so I can’t wait!
Keep well until then.
You may have noticed that I have been a little quiet lately. This is because I have been living it up at one of my favourite places!
The vulture hide, (or Lammegeier hide), is situated in the central Drakensburg mountains, and is operated by Giants Castle.
It is a fabulously designed gem, literally tucked away into the mountain top. It overlooks one of the many ridges, and through years of operation, has attracted every raptor in the region, including the much sought after Bearded Vulture!
I booked the hide for 3 days of photographing fun, and got more than I expected! The weather played on my emotions for the first 2 hours, but cleared enough to let the cameras do what they went there to do! The following 3 hours were non stop action, with 4 different raptors, (Bearded vulture, Jackal buzzard, Yellow-billed kite, Cape vulture), hovering around the hide at the same time! The only problem I had on the first morning, was dumping the images quickly enough to clear space on the cards! Not the worst issue I have ever had to deal with!
The second day was just as productive, with the sun getting a chance to light some of the images. On the first 2 days, I had a total of 14 different Jackal buzzard sightings – which was ample opportunity to snap some goodies! There was an unusual abscence of the Cape vultures, which over the years, have been my staple diet at the hide.
This all got put to rest, when on the third, and final morning, over 30 of these enourmous vultures got in a scrap over the bones that had been left out to attract them! It didn’t take them long to work through all the meat available, and soon took to the skies, kindly offering me the chance to get some in flight shots. At the same time as the Cape cultures took off, 7 bearded vultures, (mostly juviniles), flew into the same thermal, creating a tornado of close to 40 vultures! Keeping in mind that the termal swirls not more than 20 meters from the hide, it was heaven in the hide!
I have had a quick look through the near 4000 images, and chosen some of the best for you to enjoy.
I will certainly be booking trips for next year, and will be taking photographic safaris – so book early to avoid dissapointment!
Keep an eye on the blog for further details!
I am off to the fairest Cape for a week on Monday, and hope to hit some of the regular spots, and snap some shots. I will get the shots posted ASAP!
Untill then, keep well.
Well, today started terribly slowly, but picked just as the light got good!
Some of the lads found a small pride of lions – that had just killed a honey badger! Obviously, I raced across to see what was going on, and found the male still busy with the badger.
The badgers are notoriously tough, and often get out of trouble with the large cats, but this chap looks like a youngster, and probably didn’t have the confidence of an adult!
Either way, I have popped up some of the resulting pics for you all to enjoy, (well, the honey badger probably won’t enjoy them!)
So, we are still waiting for the outcome of the second proposal regarding the trap, which has remained on the wrong side of quiet for way too long! In the meantime though, I have put together an August quickie, (a random pick of some of the images I took during August), for you to enjoy!
I am still waiting to find out the results of the Natures Best Photography, and will keep you all updated as to the progress there. (I think the next round of judging is only complete in a month or so).
Ok, so not really! In fact, not at all! I have resubmitted the project proposal, in a desperate hope that the trap can once again see the light of day. It is now just a waiting game for us, as we sit in sweat, waiting for the outcome. Let’s hope it’s good news!
I have, aside from the trap, been having some good(ish) luck on game drive, which has yielded some descent shots! I will try get them up ASAP! (I am just lagging a bit behind on the processing, but will get there soon!)
