squiver

This image was shot in Kenya, and I chose it for the cover of my newbook Wild Romance, a large format coffee table-style photo bookfeaturing Africa's most romantic safari lodges. The book contains 300pages with 1,700 full color photographs of 48 lodges in six Africancountries: Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and SouthAfrica. For each lodge I photographed the rooms inside and outside,the food, activities, wildlife and landscapes. My wife wrote the textsand shot and edited all 48 video clips on the enclosed DVD.

This image was shot at sunrise from the deck of our room. I used a 2stop NDG to tame the highlights and to darken the sky. There's quite alot of sky in this shot because I wanted to have enough room for type.

If you're looking for a great book featuring the best safariaccommodation in Africa, or simply want to surprise your partner witha book full of romantic getaways, look no further. ;-)

Nikon D2x, AF-S 12-24/4.0, 1/2s @ f/16, ISO 100, tripod, 2 stopNDG, tripod

Interesting shot of a country I hope to visit sometime. I see a lot of potential here, but I think I'd prefer a vertical shot, closer on those rocks; one of the rocks big in the foreground and the rest leading the eye into the shot towards the mountains in the background. Hope that makes sense.

Nice angle and composition, but I'd prefer a more shallow depth of field to get a softer background.

My first feeling is not so much retro, more papparazzi or peeping tom...

These birds usually look so small when they're on top of a buffalo, rhino or giraffe - now it looks huge. :-) Very nice shot, but focus seems to be on the grass in front of the subject, making the oxpecker and impala look rather soft.

Beautiful shot - perfect scene for b&w. The position of the swans nicely lead the eye into the frame and I like the circles around the front swan. My only nits are the dark treetops (filter?) and the fact that the swan furthest away is touching the horizon.

I'm proud to announce that this image has been awarded 3rd Prize inthe Nature category of the 2009 International Photography Awards(IPA). This year's competition received nearly 18,000 submissions from104 countries across the globe and is considered one of the mostprestigious photography competitions in the world.

The winning image was shot in Botswana, Africa, and features a meerkatsilhouetted against the setting sun.

The meerkat or suricate (Suricata suricatta) is a small mammal and amember of the mongoose family. It inhabits all parts of the KalahariDesert in Botswana and South Africa. Meerkats forage in a group withone "sentry" on guard watching for predators while the others searchfor food. Sentry duty is usually approximately an hour long. Themeerkat standing guard makes peeping sounds when all is well. If themeerkat spots danger, it barks loudly or whistles.

Some of you may recall a similar shot I posted here a while ago (stillin my Botswana gallery), featuring a meerkat positioned next to asetting sun, but that was not the shot I had in mind when I startedthe project. What I really wanted to photograph, was a meerkatsilhouetted against a big ball of fire in the background, because myresearch had shown that no such image existed yet. In order to getthis result I needed specific weather conditions (i.e. dust and haze)to get the highly saturated colors of the sun. I therefore had to trymy luck several days in a row before everything finally came together.The image I posted earlier shows a bright white sun with no color, asthe sky on that day was fresh and clear and the sun remained verybright and powerful even when it was touching the horizon.

In order to be at the right spot at the right time, I had to followthese little fellows on foot, constantly trying to anticipate wherethey would stand. During the day they stay for longer periods in onespot, but around sunset they're in a hurry to get back to theirburrows and they only occasionally stop for a few seconds to check outthe surroundings for potential danger. After a few misses, Ieventually managed to pick the right spot to set up my tripod and ameerkat appeared in my frame.

Hope you like it!

D2Xs, AF-S VR 200-400 @ 400mm, 1/500 @ f/4, ISO 800, tripod

This shot was taken during the Japan tour from last year and featuresa male Japanese macaque, aka snow monkey. It had just been snowing fora little while, which explains the icy bits on the fur. I wanted toget a tight portrait of this male to show the confident, dominantlook. I like the low contrast and the monochromatic tones - the almostsilvery shine off the fur - but I'm curious what you think.

Nikon D2X, AF-S VR 70-200/2.8 @ 200mm, 1/200 @ f/4.5, ISO 100, fillflash, handheld

I like the lights and the sky here, but my eye keeps searching for a more outspoken subject in the foreground. I'm more interested in that sky with just a little bit of sand and grasses in the foreground than vice versa. There is some heavy vignetting in the corners as well. Hope that makes sense.

Great colors and detail. I would have preferred the butterfly not to be turned away from the viewer but towards the viewer.

Artistic and minimalistic shot - I like it a lot. Well done.

Your images consistently look like Dutch Masters paintings - and since I'm from Holland, I can not help but be a big fan of your work. Great stuff!

Nicely done - almost like waves of stone.

I like this a lot Mark - the composition is great. There is however a lot of noise in the image - not sure if that is caused by jpeg compression, processing or high iso.

Young animals are always fun to photograph because they behave sodifferently compared to adults - more active, more inquisitive, moreexpressive. Photographing young monkeys is particularly nice as theyhave so many anthropomorphic qualities to add to this.

This was shot during last year's White & Wild workshop in Japan. Ayoung Japanese macaque (or snow monkey) was enjoying the warm water ofone of the natural hotsprings, holding on to a large rock. You canstill see some snow flakes from a little earlier.

I decided to move away to get a more unusual composition, and when Idid, the little monkey followed my every move. It's the funky hair,those huge eyes and the tiny fingers that make me chuckle every time Ilook at it. They're truly adorable creatures and I can't wait toreturn next February.

Nikon D2X, AF-S VR 70-200/2.8, 1/100 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, SB800-1.7EV, handheld

Very nice scene, but I'm not too crazy about the harsh light and the blue cast. I think converting this to BW is a good alternative, but you should take great care to keep good detail in those foreground rocks. This would be a good place to return to someday - if at all possible - with better light. Highlights in the clouds look blown out?

Great timing. The only thing that could have improved this is better light and to have the beak outside the outline of the bird. Well done!

Wonderful shot, great choice to go for BW. Personally, I'd prefer a little bit less color in here, but it's great as it is. Well done.

My favorite animals. :-) Nice light here! Overall the shot feels slightly oversaturated, in particular the foreground.

Great use of foreground here - very dynamic. I'd prefer a slightly lower viewpoint though, so that the horizon doesn't show above the rocks.

Great shot Ian - lots of depth in here. Foreground doesn't look as sharp as it should be though - maybe you focused a bit too far into the scene?

That's pretty spectacular! I've never tried to shoot lightning, but this definitely makes me want to try it.

Great reflection here Harry and nice contrast in the sky - looks like a great place to go canoeing. My guess is that this would have looked better when the light was less harsh.

This was shot on this year's Namibia Untamed workshop. One ofthe participants is searching for a good composition near this naturalrock arch.

Nikon D3. AF-S 17-35/2.8, 1/160 @ f/16, handheld

This was shot on this year's Namibia Untamed workshop. We spentthe afternoon shooting quivertrees and natural rock sculptures, thesky was clear, new moon, no wind, so I decided leave my setup at thelocation and pick it up the next morning (yes, I admit, that was a bitscary).

On the northern hemisphere it's easy: find Polaris and you knowwhere's north and where the stars will circle. On the southernhemisphere it's more complicated as there is no such thing as a'southern star'. I used my GPS to determine south and made acomposition with the tree on the left side of the frame, leaving spaceon the right for the star circle.

During the first exposure I used a small flashlight to paint theforeground from the direction where the sun had set earlier. I thenused a programmable cable release to take 4 minute exposures as longas the battery would last. My D3 managed to take 40 exposures (160minutes) on a fresh battery, more than enough to get some good trails.

Thanks to all participants for making this such a fun trip!

Nikon D3, AF-S 17-35/2.8, 40x4min @ f/4, MC-36, tripod