david_lake_clayton

This female cheetah had three cubs with her and a nasty wound on her right-rear leg. Above the knee, just out of the frame here, was about a five-inch long area where all of the skin was gone, all of the way around the leg (or at least as far as I could see. She was tending to it, keeping it clean. The wound did not appear to affect her ability to hunt, which is of course key not only for her survival but also for her cubs. She had just taken down an impala, which she left for her cubs while she rested.

The cubs, however, were only about half-interested in their meal, and half interested in playing. They were still learning how to eat; it took them a good 20 minutes to penetrate the impala's skin to get to the meat. So they would pull on the tail for a while, then go bother their mother, then go back.

An interesting thing about cheetah cubs; they have a stripe of white fur down their backs, from head to tail. This marking is similar to that of the honey badger, which is a quite formidable little animal. The first time I saw a cheetah cub with these markings out of the corner of my eye, I thought it was a honey badger. This marking gives the cub natural protection from predators which would have no trouble with the cub, but which stays away from the badgers.

If you're interested in wildlife photography, please take a look at the rest of this folder.

I find it difficult to be productive during mid-days in Africa (and other places). Chasing the great light at the beginning and end of long days makes hot noon times ideal for napping and moving from one place to another.

On this day we were going south on the road that's furthest west, and had just come back to the plain from one of the highest points in the park where we saw klipspringers, too distant for much shooting. We came upon this single bull elephant, moving along the read grazing by itself. Elephants are quite common in the Kruger (actually, overpopulation is a serious problem), so seeing an elephant is not a big event and many cars passed while we were there. But I saw the circumstances of this sighting, and realized that it was a perfect opportunity to create an image of an elephant in its environment. The lighting wasn't ideal, but the rest was; single elephant, close enough to use a wide angle, with a wide sparsely vegetated plain behind him, and a shooting location (the raised road) high enough to give some persepective to the landscape.

I turned the van around so that I was on the same side as the elephant. I parked ahead of its path a few times, letting it come slowly across my path. Then I would back up and get in front of it again.

I put the 20mm lens on the F5. The clouds were very nice, but the sky was significantly brighter than the grounds, and I was converned about holding detail. I considered a polarizer, but opted for a two-stop split neutral density filter instead. On reflection, it was too much, and has caused me to crop more off the top and bottom than I otherwise would like. Live and learn.

After moving thevan a few times to reposition, the big elephant had gotten to within 10 or 15 yeards or so of the van. This is pretty dangerous territory, as elephants are very fast, and a 4,000 pound van is no match for a 10,000 point elephant. However, we had been observing the elephant for some time and it had exhibited no behavior to indicate that it was agitated or stressed. When he turned his head and shook it at us, vocalizing, we knew that the shoot was over, and that he was ready to cross the road.

This is the last image I took before we got out of the way.

If you're interested in wildlife photography, please take a look at the rest of this folder.

Sunset Dam, near the Lower Sabie camp, is a haven for a large variety of bird species, with the largest being the Marabou Stork, the Saddlebilled Stork, and the Grey Heron. This heron was perched on an old dead hardwood on the edge of the lake, and I wanted to capture it taking off. I put the TC-14B onto the 400/2.8 and waited, framing the bird very tightly, but still keeping it all in the frame. Of course, when it flapped its wings to take flight, the top of the wing left the frame. There are several shots in the series, but this one is the best despite the flaw, as it gives more context to the situation than if the bird were by itself in flight.

This is the same bird that is in 'Out Of The Blue.'

Sorry for the intrusion. Just tired of looking at the blue background.

One of the images I had envisioned from a previous trip to Africa was one of the eyes of a lion peering intently through brush, somewhat camoflaged. On this trip, one of the things I did consistently was to try to isolate only a part of an animal, attempting to create portraits that were non-standard, but which captured the essence or spirit of the subject. It was only after I returned that I discovered Frans Lanting's excellent book Eye to Eye: Intimate Encounters With The Animal World, which so wonderfully achieves what I set out to do.

My father and I were out one morning at Sunset Dam, close by the Lower Sabie camp, when we heard of lions near the road up towards Skukuza. We headed that way and found that two young adult male lions had killed a bushbuck only 15 yards or so off the paved road. They had filled their bellies, and were now hanging around the carcass and starting their daily naps. We waited our turn as cars and tours took their few minutes, and I got the van up so that the front end was even with one of the lions.

These lions were not fully matured, and their manes were not fully grown in. They really were not too handsome; they looked like they had mohawks and overgrown sideburns. They were about 25 feet away, not close enough for me to get the tight image I wanted, even with a doubler on my 400mm lens.

That is, until the lion nearest me got up. It took about three steps towards me. I quickly pulled in my lens and beanbag and rolled up my window a bit. My dad was ready to slam the sliding rear window shut. But the lion was only moving because the rising sun had moved the shade in which it was snoozing a bit closer to our van. It took a few steps and then lay down again, with its head pointing straight at me, not more than 10 or 12 feet away.

I had what I wanted. With the doubler on the 400mm, I rotated the camera a bit to frame the image the way I wanted (you can see that the horizon in the reflection is not parallel with the edge of the frame), and fired away. I was close enough so that just the noise of the camera was enough for the lion to keep an eye on me, and I came away with one of my favorite images.

If you're interested in wildlife photography, please take a look at the rest of this folder.

10 for originality because, well, I don't really believe that the originality rating matters much so everybody gets a 10. Seven for aesthetics because it's a well shot image, but really not that special, at least to me. Certainly above average, but nines and 10's?

Cheers.

In the Kruger, it was often interesting for me to observe other people's reactions when I was shooting something less than extraordinary. Chacma baboons are just about everywhere in the Kruger, and one morning when leaving Skukuza and heading south, a large troop was hanging out by the high bridge over the Sabie, slowly moving south along the road to Lower Sabie. I'd been looking for 'animal babies,' and in a troop of more than 100 baboons, there are bound to be all ages. I stopped to see what I could find.

Usually, the mothers were a little wary of the cars, as well as other baboons, and would move off before I could get close enough for the images I had in mind. I decided to move to the south end of the troop and wait for them to pass by me. I got into position, stopped the van, put my 400/2.8 on the beanbag on the windowsill. As the troop moved past, I identified a mother with young that appeared more at ease with the vehicle than most, so I zeroed in on her. I started the van and slowly backed up with her until she stopped.

The light was outstanding. The sun was filtered through a light line of clouds and the foliage on the other side of the road.

While I was making this picture, many many vehicles pulled up behind me, often turning off their engines, to see what it was that I was shooting. When you see a big lens sticking out of a vehicle, you are naturally more interested in what subject matter may be near. All of these folks were disappointed to see 'just baboons.' All of them continued on to find something more interesting.

If you're interested in wildlife photography, please take a look at the rest of this folder.

When the gates open in Etosha (which is not necessarily at sunrise - very annoying), there's a limited amount of time before the sun gets too high in the sky, and the lighting gets very flat. Everybody drives like maniacs on the dry dirt roads, which is relatively safe because you can be pretty sure that nobody's coming the other way (at least for the first hour or so). Many if not most people are looking for lions and whatever they may have killed overnight; if you're lucky, you'll guess right and find lions right on the road. But guess wrong, and have the 'lions lions lions' mindset, and you're likely to miss opportunities that are more readily available.

This giraffe was by itself near a waterhole not far from the Namutoni camp. It was a large waterhole and not a single other animal was there. Both the air and the water were perfectly still, so I knew I had an opportunity for a nice reflection. I knew the giraffe would eventually come to the water to drink, and I visualized an image of the giraffe just starting to drink, with a perfect reflection in the water. Several other vehicles drove up to the waterhole and quickly left, seeing only a giraffe, and not the more exotic game they were seeking.

When the giraffe finally, slowly, gingerly approached the waterhole, always careful of the vulnerable position it must assume to get a drink, the reflection came into view. It could not have been better, as the slope of the far side almost exactly matched the angle of reflection I had from my vehicle. The scene became a very close match to the 'ideal' image I held in my mind. I was the only photographer there.

If you're interested in wildlife photography, please take a look at the rest of this folder.

The Saddlebilled Stork is one of the largest, and most spectacular birds in southern Africa. Its bright yellow eyes and deep red beak and chest are irresistable to photographers, or at least to this photographer.

This stork was slowly stalking fish in a small manmade lake near the Lower Sabie camp in the Kruger National Park.

Coming Soon...

If you're interested in wildlife photography, please take a look at the rest of this folder.

How about this: flip the image, crop off most of the green on the top (bottom) and most of the rocks and stuff off the bottom (top). Then you get a very distorted simple image that is very difficult to interpret - especially the ripple in the water.

Just a thought.

In the Kruger, it was often interesting for me to observe other people's reactions when I was shooting something less than extraordinary. Chacma baboons are just about everywhere in the Kruger, and one morning when leaving Skukuza and heading south, a large troop was hanging out by the high bridge over the Sabie, slowly moving south along the road to Lower Sabie. I'd been looking for 'animal babies,' and in a troop of more than 100 baboons, there are bound to be all ages. I stopped to see what I could find.

Usually, the mothers were a little wary of the cars, as well as other baboons, and would move off before I could get close enough for the images I had in mind. I decided to move to the south end of the troop and wait for them to pass by me. I got into position, stopped the van, put my 400/2.8 on the beanbag on the windowsill. As the troop moved past, I identified a mother with young that appeared more at ease with the vehicle than most, so I zeroed in on her. I started the van and slowly backed up with her until she stopped.

The light was outstanding. The sun was filtered through a light line of clouds and the foliage on the other side of the road.

While I was making this picture, many many vehicles pulled up behind me, often turning off their engines, to see what it was that I was shooting. When you see a big lens sticking out of a vehicle, you are naturally more interested in what subject matter may be near. All of these folks were disappointed to see 'just baboons.' All of them continued on to find something more interesting.

One of the behaviours we saw was the tendency of female baboons without young to try to pull away the offspring of others in the troop. It happened constantly, and didn't seem to be seen as much of a threat, as the mothers never did much except prevent the theft from occurring. Quite often, the mother wouldn't notice that the snatching was occuring until the baby screamed as its grasp on its mother was tested.

At this moment, another baboon was approaching for an attempt at baby snatching, and the youngster screamed its disapproval. I saw through the viewfinder that the baboon's expression was remarkably human, and squeezed off the last two frames of the roll before the mother started off down the road again.

If you're interested in wildlife photography, please take a look at the rest of this folder.

When the gates open in Etosha (which is not necessarily at sunrise - very annoying), there's a limited amount of time before the sun gets too high in the sky, and the lighting gets very flat. Everybody drives like maniacs on the dry dirt roads, which is relatively safe because you can be pretty sure that nobody's coming the other way (at least for the first hour or so). Many if not most people are looking for lions and whatever they may have killed overnight; if you're lucky, you'll guess right and find lions right on the road. But guess wrong, and have the 'lions lions lions' mindset, and you're likely to miss opportunities that are more readily available.

This giraffe was by itself near a waterhole not far from the Namutoni camp. It was a large waterhole and not a single other animal was there. Both the air and the water was perfectly still, so I knew I had an opportunity for a nice reflection. I knew the giraffe would eventually come to the water to drink, and I visualized an image of the giraffe just starting to drink, with a perfect reflection in the water. Several other vehicles drove up to the waterhole and quickly left, seeing only a giraffe, and not the more exotic game they were seeking.

When the giraffe finally, slowly, gingerly approached the waterhole, always careful of the vulnerable position it must assume to get a drink, the reflection came into view. It could not have been better, as the slope of the far side almost exactly matched the angle of reflection I had from my vehicle. The scene became a very close match to the 'ideal' image I held in my mind. I was the only photographer there.

This image is before the giraffe settled in to drink - there's another in my folder of it taking the first sips.

If you're interested in wildlife photography, please take a look at the rest of this folder.

The sun was just over the horizon and falling fast when we came across this small group of buffalo which were moving rather than grazing. Unfortunately, our guide was a little overanxious and moved the Rover a bit close for me, and I was hard pressed to get what I wanted; an image reflecting the rather mysterious nature of the buffalo, along with the color that was coming from the dust that they kicked up into the sun as they walked. This is one of (I believe) two frames I took before they were too close for what I had in mind, and in another few seconds they had passed us by.

If you're interested in wildlife photography, please take a look at the rest of this folder.

I was going to duck and cover, because those are fightin' words, but I guess I'm in the mood for a rumble.

Who gets to decide what's moral and what's not?

Is the Delacroix painting 'Liberty Leading the People' pornographic? How about Michelangelo's technical drawing-like figure study of a man in a circle? What about Steiglitz' images of Georgia O'Keefe? How about O'Keefe's flower paintings? Rolston's (I think) image of a nude Cindy Crawford, knees up in front of her, posed and lit from above so that her 'privates' are not visible? Botticelli's 'The Birth of Venus'? What about Nick Ut's photograph of a naked girl running down the road after having been burned by napalm? Side view of Giselle naked on a horse (bikini bottom digitally removed)?

There is one image in the group that is certainly more disturbing than the rest, and it has very little to do with exposed breasts and/or genetalia.

Who gets to decide what's moral and what's not?

Coming soon...

If you're interested in wildlife photography, please take a look at the rest of this folder.

Overall the image is a little dark - I'd like to see you use a reflector to bounce some of the ambient light to the underside of the butterflies. There is a loss of saturation and sharpness which may be attributable to your scan.

Next time try this - take a friend and a big piece of matte black posterboard and have the friend provide a black background for your image.

It's a nice image though.

Cheers.

Mala Mala is a wonderful place for photographing animals in the wild. It is one of the private game reserves that share an unfenced border with the Kruger National Park, allowing game to move freely over a larger area. The animals are accustomed to the distinctive sound of the diesel Range Rovers, and typically pay no mind to the vehicles.

Unlike at least one of its neighbor reserves, Mala Mala does not guarantee any particular animal will be seen, so each time out is a new adventure. This particular female leopard had already taken to the tree for the day, or at least the morning, when we got to her. The tree was just inside the 10' high bank of the Sabi River, which was near its October low following the first short rainstorms of the season. The guide maneuvered the vehicle onto the top of the bank, with the branch the leopard was snoozing on running down at an angle toward us. I found a gap in the green leaves, which were just starting to come out, making for nice framing.

She was well into her nap and didn't seem willing to give me an eyes open look. I asked the tracker on the vehicle to turn on and direct the spotlight at the leopard, as I'd seen before the nice catchlight this produces in the eyes. The guide tried breaking branches and rustling grass to get her attention, but the leopard was having none of it. Eventually I asked the guide to try making the call vervet monkeys make when they spot a leopard. It's quite distinctive, and did the trick; well enough, anyway, to get the leopard to open her eyes.

If you're interested in wildlife photography, please take a look at the rest of this folder.