In view of the changing nature of my blog I figured my first non-New Zealand story better be a good one so here is a story from a trip to the Masai Mara with a set of photographs I am pretty pleased with.
An unbelievable and romantically East African scene....... although off to the right there were about 40 matatus (mini buses) with their clusters of tourists popping out of the open roof tops!! Such is life on the great plains in modern day Africa. In attendance was also a decent sized heard of wildebeest and you just felt something was going to happen.
Sure enough after preening and posing for the cameras the cheetah threaded their way through the attendant tourist vehicles and began their appraisal of the heard, looking for a victim. It was so bizarre to watch the wildebeest standing watching the cats, as if paralysed by fear, but I suppose it is better to keep your enemy in sight.
Sure enough though the action exploded and it is quiet something how an intense moment like this can explode into life out of nothing. The cheetah pushed and probed the heard looking for their spot and when they saw it they struck:
This young wildebeest was singled out for breakfast and the daily struggle for life in the wild began to play out in front of the lens. I love how the plover flying along is also in focus, pure coincidence that it was in the same plane as the main subject to come out sharp at a relatively shallow depth of field
As the photographer this whole scene seemed to take place in slow motion for me. Our matatu driver Alfons produced the most skilled manoeuvring in a mini van on rough terrain I have ever, and probably will ever, had the privilege to witness. The entire time I had straight tunnel vision (maybe it was due to the viewfinder) and the only things I could see were the cheetah and the wildebeest. Keeping a steady smooth pan and some how controlling my breath I was reeling off shot after shot:
With the exemplary cross field tackle shown above the cheetah brought the youngster down and part of you felt sad for the wildebeest as you knew what was to come next........ or so I thought!!
Mom suddenly decided now was an opportune time to intervene in the piece and intervene she did!
And right in the middle of the intervention is when my buffer decided it was time to say it was full and that would be all!!! Extremely frustrating but a great incentive to one day upgrade to a better camera body with a higher buffer.
The final shot here is the cheetah that engaged in the chase ruminating on the meal it had lost and wondering what the next move for the day should be.
This was a truly amazing experience and one that will live with me forever. I am so glad that I have a passion for photography as it has allowed me to document these moments and capture them forever; but most importantly it has given me the opportunity to share this wonderful experience with all of you. I think that is the greatest gift photography allows us to give - the ability to capture and share moments with people.
I hope you enjoyed this story, if you are interested in seeing the full sequence of shots from that morning you can see them here on my flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76192039@N05/sets/72157631959535144/
Thanks so much for coming by
2012 saw us heading off to Africa so I could show my partner my roots and we decided that a visit to the great plains of East Africa would be a great way to start off. Our first stop was the Masai Mara in Kenya where we hoped to bear witness to one of the greatest migrations on the planet and all that went with it. With the potential wildlife photography bonanza in mind I treated myself to my first big telephoto zoom lens a Sigma 150-500mm. Armed and ready to go I could not predict what Africa would unveil to us on our second morning there.
About 30 minutes into our morning drive we came across these two chaps:
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| The Brothers - ISO 800; 289mm; f/6.3; 1/400sec |
An unbelievable and romantically East African scene....... although off to the right there were about 40 matatus (mini buses) with their clusters of tourists popping out of the open roof tops!! Such is life on the great plains in modern day Africa. In attendance was also a decent sized heard of wildebeest and you just felt something was going to happen.
Sure enough after preening and posing for the cameras the cheetah threaded their way through the attendant tourist vehicles and began their appraisal of the heard, looking for a victim. It was so bizarre to watch the wildebeest standing watching the cats, as if paralysed by fear, but I suppose it is better to keep your enemy in sight.
Sure enough though the action exploded and it is quiet something how an intense moment like this can explode into life out of nothing. The cheetah pushed and probed the heard looking for their spot and when they saw it they struck:
 |
| The Attack - ISO 800; 500mm; f/6.3; 1/640sec |
This young wildebeest was singled out for breakfast and the daily struggle for life in the wild began to play out in front of the lens. I love how the plover flying along is also in focus, pure coincidence that it was in the same plane as the main subject to come out sharp at a relatively shallow depth of field
As the photographer this whole scene seemed to take place in slow motion for me. Our matatu driver Alfons produced the most skilled manoeuvring in a mini van on rough terrain I have ever, and probably will ever, had the privilege to witness. The entire time I had straight tunnel vision (maybe it was due to the viewfinder) and the only things I could see were the cheetah and the wildebeest. Keeping a steady smooth pan and some how controlling my breath I was reeling off shot after shot:
 |
| Final Impact - ISO 800; 500mm; f/6.3; 1/800sec |
With the exemplary cross field tackle shown above the cheetah brought the youngster down and part of you felt sad for the wildebeest as you knew what was to come next........ or so I thought!!
 |
| The Cavalry Arrives - ISO 800; 500mm; f/6.3; 1/800sec |
Mom suddenly decided now was an opportune time to intervene in the piece and intervene she did!
 |
| Saviour - ISO 800; 500mm; f/6.3; 1/800sec |
And right in the middle of the intervention is when my buffer decided it was time to say it was full and that would be all!!! Extremely frustrating but a great incentive to one day upgrade to a better camera body with a higher buffer.
The final shot here is the cheetah that engaged in the chase ruminating on the meal it had lost and wondering what the next move for the day should be.
 |
| The End - ISO 800; 500mm; f/6.3; 1/800sec |
This was a truly amazing experience and one that will live with me forever. I am so glad that I have a passion for photography as it has allowed me to document these moments and capture them forever; but most importantly it has given me the opportunity to share this wonderful experience with all of you. I think that is the greatest gift photography allows us to give - the ability to capture and share moments with people.
I hope you enjoyed this story, if you are interested in seeing the full sequence of shots from that morning you can see them here on my flickr stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/76192039@N05/sets/72157631959535144/
Thanks so much for coming by
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