-> Lots of Spots (Leopards, Cheetahs, Hyenas)
-> Lots of Spots
Cheetahs, leopards, and, yes, hyenas …
Lots of Spots
Tag: Wildlife Photography
Just Lions
-> Just Lions
Lions are fascinating – and we were lucky enough to get a glimpse of them every time we went on safari. The result is that over the years we have had many interesting encounters with lions: some were scary, others just plain cute.
Among other things, we “stalked” a dominant male for hours into the night after watching him wake up at the side of his brother and witnessing how they groomed each other at length in an almost tenderly fashion. On another occasion we observed how a fairly aggressive lioness charged at a jeep full of safari guests, probably in an attempt to protect both her young and her kill. Thankfully, our jeep was parked a bit further away. Still, that very moment, I was so scared that I automatically stopped taking pictures. In hindsight, not the best reaction- but, I could not help it. The jeeps at that game reserve are open; that is, they don’t have a roof or windows …. Watching a couple of lion cubs popping out of the thicket to play in the wet grass is a sighting that makes your day. The same goes for tracking a huge pride on their way to a recent kill and witnessing from 4m away how they devour an enormous warthog in less than half an hour. Similarly cool is to see an apparently sleepy lioness erupt into action upon observing a clueless impala approaching the pride’s waterhole? Or what about a majestic lion stalking a cheetah female who uses her incredible speed to guide the big guy away from her three cubs.
African Wildlife in black and white (2009-2015) – Part 2
This is now the second (and for the time being final) lot of the black&white pictures. Again, they were taken on various occasions between 2009 and 2015, mostly in South Africa (Phinda, Ngala) and Tanzania.
African Wildlife in Black and White (2009-2015) – part 1
-> Wildlife Photography in Black & White (2009 – 2015) – Part 1
AFRICAN WILDLIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE (PART 1)
Some pictures are simply better in black and white. Colour can distract from shape, pattern, texture and composition or may not be particularly attractive to start with (e.g. when photographing rhinos, elephants or hippos). Thus, usually a small portion of my pictures gets converted into black and whites. I simply love the resulting ‘artsy’ and timeless look.
Birds Large and Small (2015)
I always consider myself extremely lucky when capturing a cool bird shot. While my family played soccer at picnic site in the Crater, I saw a pair of yellow-billed kites approaching and executing the most stunning flight manoeuvres right above my head. Never before I had seen them that close in flight. I grabbed the camera and started shooting.
While in Phinda, I tried to capture village weavers as they busily built their precariously fragile nests when seemingly out of nowhere the jewel of all birds – a malachite kingfisher – landed on a branch right in front of my camera.
On the opposite end of the bird kingdom’s beauty continuum, we find the marabous. But even these fairly unsightly birds make for fascinating shots when caught doing some interesting stuff. We watched them hunting for fish in an almost dried out waterhole which was close to our lodge in Phinda. Not surprisingly, within days – and ‘assisted’ by a group of equally eager saddle-billed storks – they managed to kill off almost every creature that was still alive in the super shallow waters. The stench was overwhelming since the birds were getting picky and did not eat all they killed. Thankfully, this is one feature that can’t (yet?) be captured ‘on film’. The white-faced whistling ducks were simply silent witnesses to the massacre.
The fish eagles made my day when we saw them at a different dam. And, of course, the flamingoes did the same when they came close to the shore so that I could take a few pictures that showed more than simply thousands of black dots moving about in the middle of the lake.
General game taking the limelight (2015)
These are pictures I have taken at Lake Manyara, the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti (all Tanzania) and Phinda (South Africa) earlier this year. The shots are as much about the beautiful animals as they are about the overall mood prevailing during those precious moments. Enjoy!
Cats 2015
The Hirt Portfolios 