Over the last month, I posted 8 action photographs on social media of birds taken over the last 13 years with 8 very different cameras in my hand. They varied from cutting edge high motor drive for their time full-frame cameras to what would be considered a very slow motor drive- 4 frames a second […]
A three male Cheetah coalition should be a formidable hunting machine but like humans, they need to communicate upfront on the strategy required. Nearly four hours before the hunting attempt they did a 360-degree scan of the Ngorongoro plains littered with vast numbers of White-bearded Wildebeest. As it was midday and very hot they flopped […]
INVENTION OF CUSTOM PHOTOGRAPHIC CHAIR Every man has the birth right to one moment of genius in his life – so I believe. Unfortunately for me mine arrived fairly late in my life. Photographing in the Chobe National Park with 6 photographers for 10 days 10 years ago, alternating between photographing from land based vehicles […]
Some thoughts on feasibility, technicalities, the destination and tigers. Confessions of a sceptic In many ways this Blog Post represents a first for me. It is my first public post based on my own photography on any platform for more than 6 months. Recovering after an unexpected back operation forced me into some neccesary down-time […]
East Africa is without a doubt the lion capital of the world, if one is calculated in one approach and building on the vast CNP experience reservoir in East Africa the type of lion action, inter action and and lion stories available to photographers are astounding. Unfortunately not all of these lion stories are easy […]
It seems that the birth of twin White-bearded wildebeest calves is a special occasion. None of the large number of highly experienced guides that were operating with us in the Ngorogoro conservation area have ever seen it happen before and the unanimous verdict was that at least one calf will not survive. So when the […]
What originally started as “A Photographer’s Hunch” in 2015 has now grown into a dedicated wildlife safari travel product run by CNP Safaris and our East African partners &Beyond. After spending months on back-to-back safaris photographing high season migration crossings, whilst based at Kichwa Tembo in the Mara Triangle, a nagging idea got hold of […]
One of the most important decisions any aspiring wildlife photographer needs to make is the choice of destination. It is actually very simple. It all boils down to the question of productivity.
At CNP safaris we have taken this question and the answer to it very seriously. People work hard to afford their next wildlife photography holiday so how do we make sure that they get bang for their buck. The most obvious answer to this is not only to take photographers to game rich areas but to take them to areas that offer clean back- and foregrounds. I have forever been advocating that the background in a photograph is just as important as the subject. People spend vast amounts of time and money working in game rich areas in southern Africa with very busy backgrounds with a very low top quality yield. Read More
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Come and see Lou Coetzer do a talk on Africa’s Best Photographic Safaris at the Birmingham Photography Show Date: Saturday 21 March 2015 Time: 15:00 to 15:40 Venue: Hall 5, Behind the Lens Theatre, The NEC, Birmingham UK
So what do you get photographically when you have arguably the largest lion pride in the world – I counted 49 individual members – some large open areas with grass heights ranging from very tall to residential lawn height, thousand of resident Burchell Zebras, thousands of Topis and vast numbers of White-bearded Wildebeest that just […]
Click on the images below to enlarge.
Image 1 – Nikon D800/ 400mm 2.8 + 2.0 x Converter/ ISO 400/ISO 400/F5.6 @ 1/2500sec/EV -1.0 On the CNP Safaris blog ( www.cnpsafaris.com) I gave you some information on the Pin-tailed Whydah as a species. Here I want to talk a bit more about the photography of these magnificent birds. Suffice to say […]
On my CNP Safaris (www.cnpsafaris.com) blog entry on our recce trip to Masai Mara in January 2015 I shared my initial concern for the well being of the Mara pride members in the the Kichwa concession area. On our first encounters the pride looked depressed with some of them seriously underfed or ill. What worried […]
There will not be a lot of wildlife photographers arguing that a good opportunity to photograph Africa’s two largest apex predators must rate very high on their all time wish list. Over the years I made a conscious decision not to go out of my way to look for lion and leopard but to linger […]
NHM EVENT On the 28th of November I am part of a three person panel discussion on modern day trends in wildlife photography with specific referance to trip and remote control photography. The event is hosted by the National History Museum London and led by Matt Swainey of the BBC Wildlife Magazine. Partaking in the […]
White-bearded wildebeest decided en masse to make a u-turn while migrating to the Serengeti. It was some sudden bursts of rain in the Mara main that had made them decide to cross back over the Mara river in an easterly direction from the Mara Triangle. These large herds of migrating wildebeest have a chaotic […]
In a demonstration of total self-control and calm while experiencing life-threatening pressure, an adult Kudu bull walked away with both his pride and life unscathed after surviving an attack by as many as 20 Spotted Hyenas. 07h14:00 : The kudu bull stands motionless in very cold winter water surrounded by a pack of hyenas. 08h03:56 […]
. To avoid constant harassment from lions, a herd of Waterbuck crossed a channel in the Chobe river. Their route took them from the mainland to small island where there was enough juicy grass to feed the entire herd for months. In the process they ran the gauntlet of swimming through crocodile infested waters. The […]
Occasionally I experience those “once in a lifetime” wildlife momements that I simply could not script. On many occasions i have seen territorial males from different species interrupt serious succession fights by males of their specie. When two Impala rams that are muture enough fight, a territorial Impala ram will break up the fight. He […]