South Coast Storm......!

Just a few images from our December holiday down at Ramsgate, on the South Coast of South Africa. I unfortunately did not have to much time to set up correctly and just hoped and prayed for at least some images.
Not 100% what I was looking for but I think a good result!

Enjoy!!!

One Times Earth Pig...... Awesome Sighting

3 hour game of Cat and Mouse.........Em..Buffalo ! ! !

The pride had been hanging around the camp for a few days, as it had not rained since April and the camp has a well stocked watering hole, where animals have congregated every afternoon for months to quench their thirst. Large herds of Impala, Zebra and Wildebeest arrive at the water-hole throughout the day, very nervous and ready to take flight at the slightest desturbance. Old Elephant bulls and herds of 50 to 100 Buffalo amble their way to the water in the morning and generally leave around lunch-time, having wallowed in the mud to cool themselves off.

The pride of 5 lioness and coalition of 3 large males know this and have been biding their time waiting for the rite oppertunity. On this day a small group of Buffalo bulls came down for the daily beauty treatment sometime during the afternoon. Because of the heat of the day, the lions lay up under shaded trees, watching these old grumpy male buff, picking their target! A lone bull which had lagged behind due to a broken rear-left leg became their source of interest and the battle began!

Through the next sequence of images, it is noted that the males were the only lions trying to hunt, with the females in the background none to interested. The Buffalo would turn tail with the male lions close behind and then the buffalo would turn to face them, scatering the male into differant directions through the bush.

This cat and mouse (buffalo) game carried on for about an hour and a half, and the lions started getting tired and eventually lay down to take a rest.

3 hours after the lions had started their hunt they eventually took down the crippled Buffalo and were awarded with a hard, but well earned meal!

 

Slowly getting it rite. . . . . . . . . Gotto love Macro!

In the last month I have been busy purchasing equipment dedicated to Macro Photography. It's been an education regarding the equipment most often used to get up close and personal to your subject, and equipment not so commanly used. I went with the latter, which tends to be a little less expensive compared with the more common equipment. The following images were shot with my trusty Canon 7D and my 100-400mm EF lens with x5 diopter fitting. The Diopter allows the photographer to get alot closer to the subject.
The general shooting distance for 100-400mm lens is about 1,8m. With the Diopter I am able to get within 15cm of what I want to shoot.

To give you an idea of the differance's between shooting without a Diopter and shooting with the Diopter, I have uploaded to pictures as examples. The first image will be shot without the Diopter on the 100-400mm, at a distance of 1,8m. The second image was shot using the Diopter on the 100-400mm at a distance of
22 cm. This little Jumping Spider was less then 4mm in length!

Without the use of the x5 Diopter attachment.



Using the x5 Diopter brings the subject in nice and close.



A little thought put into the equipment that you may purchase and it might very well pay off with very little expense! I have added afew more for your veiwing pleasure.



Sac Spider





1st Inster Gorgeous Grasshopper



Still trying to get a hang of the process in Macro, but definately loving the differant aspect in this type of photography! Keep an eye out for future posts and let me know what you think!

The Lowvwld never disappoints . . . . . . !

During the last week I was up in the kruger National Park to take care of some business for 2 days. I didn't have to much time for site-seeing and once I was done I needed to press on back to Johannesburg and try make the Kruger gate by 18h00. I had around 100km to make in the 3 hours if I was to make it safetly. I eventually made it through at 17h20, and after 6 or 7 hours sitting in the car, I stopped on the Sabie river bridge just out side the Kruger Park to stretch my legs. This bridge is an awesome spot for birders and some of the larger animals can often be seen in or on the river banks. I grabbed my camera to see what I could get before I lost the early evening light and a few REALLY nice suprises. Immediately to the south of my possition there were Pied Kingfishers and a pair of Saddle Billed Storks. These were my targets, because, as common as they are in Africa, there are only around 100 Saddle Billed Storks in South Africa and a little over 60 with in the Kruger Park and only 22 known nesting couples. There is a running photographic competition that the Parks Board has initiated whereby any images taken of these birds can be sent in along with information about numbers seen, possible lare nests in the area and where the images where taken. These next images I have already sent to the Parks Board to hopefully help with their initiative on the conservation of these birds............................

....................then after afew shots of distant Elephants I walked across to the otherside of the bridge to see what was going to catch my eye. Looking into the distance to the north I brought my eye down with the flow of the river and caught some movement about 20 metres away..........................check this out for luck!!!!!

It's moments like these that make working in the African bush so appealing and fasinating to me and my colleagues. At first she hadn't noticed me, slowly making her way across the river towards the Kruger. I noticed another vehicle making their way to my position and I flagged them down to witness what I had. This must have grabbed her attention, 'cause when i looked back at her she was crouching down and looking in my direction only a matter of 20 mteres or so away. She then slinked off across the rocks and hid behind a small growth of reeds where we watched her for another 10-15 minutes before disapearing into a larger, thicker reed bed. If I had not decided to stop, or atleast check the otherside of the bridge she would have been lost to us with very little evidence that she was there.

I live an AWESOME life and proud to be able to share it with you!

Trying really hard to get this rite!!!!!!!

Jeeeeewizzzzzz!!! it can be infuriating trying to get a blurred motion image correct. not great I know, but will keep trying and posting as it gets better.

bit of Macro!

Picked up my camera  today, after seeing some activity around a Cape Bell Bush. Thought I would try My hand at abit of Macro Photography, which I haven't really dabbled in the past. The following are just afew examples.......