The low-light capabilities of modern cameras allow us to photograph wildlife in ways that would previously have been impossible. Over the last year or so, I have pushed my cameras to the limits in order to take striking images of nocturnal African animals.

To this end, I teamed up with African Parks and Norman Carr Safaris to undertake two expeditions to Liuwa Plain, a remote national park in the west of Zambia.

I planned to use a variety of techniques to photograph animals at night but not all of my set-ups were complicated. Simply by pushing the ISO up on my Canon 1DX and using a fast 400mm f/2.8 lens, I was able to photograph a pair of striped polecats (also known as zorillas) by the light of a dim spotlight and a group of reedbuck as they were backlit by flames of a bushfire.

Capturing the Stars

My first aim was to take images showings animals under the beautiful, starry sky — the night sky in Africa is simply spectacular! To achieve these shots, I would need a wide-angle lens and a ground-level perspective so that I could look up at the subject and have the sky as a backdrop. BeetleCam, my remote control camera buggy, would be the perfect tool for this.

I was going to achieve these shots in a single exposure, in-camera. To expose the stars, I would need to use a high ISO and a shutter speed of around 10 to 15 seconds. The animal would be exposed by a flash at the beginning of the exposure. No animal would stay still for the duration of the exposure but, as long as there was no moonlight, it wouldn’t matter; if the animal moved after the flash the animal would just block out light from the stars but it wouldn’t otherwise show up. I had to use manual focus and judge the distance between the camera and subject by eye as there wasn’t enough light to rely on autofocus.

On my first night in Liuwa I had the opportunity to use this technique to photograph the resident pride of lions. The resulting picture is one of my favourite from the entire project!

Later, I used this same technique to photographs lions at twilight. The only difference here is that I reduced the exposure time to balance the brightness of the sky with the flash.

Hyenas greatly outnumber the lions and are the dominant predators in Liuwa Plain. They are mainly nocturnal so they made ideal subjects for this project.

The shot below is another of my favourites. The “ghosts” appeared because the moon was up and it brightened the sky. Some of the hyenas moved after the flash and shadows formed when they paused to look at the camera.

I think these shots capture the spirit of these nocturnal animals in a way that isn’t possible when photographing them during the day.

Camera Traps

I also wanted to photograph some of the shyer nocturnal species. My Camtraptions camera traps were a perfect tool for this. I set one up at a waterhole and captured the image below of a porcupine drinking. To my surprise, it also snapped a zebra drinking in the middle of the night!

The Rains

I was in Liuwa for the end of the long dry season and the start of the rains. With the rain came large herds of wildebeest (Liuwa Plain is home to the second-largest wildebeest migration after the Serengeti).

Photographing animals in the rain at night gave me the opportunity to use another technique. I positioned an off-camera flash behind my subject and pointed it back towards the camera to backlight the raindrops. These shots were challenging because I had to place the flash and line up the shot without spooking the animals. I also had to compose and focus in complete darkness, while trying to keep the driving rain off my gear! Needless to say, I got very very wet!

The rains were accompanied by some epic lightning storms so I set myself the challenge of photographing an animal in front of a bolt of lightning. One evening I noticed a huge storm approaching so I went in search of a suitable subject.

I found a hyena and lined it up with the storm. I then took back-to-back long exposures hoping that a lightning bolt would eventually strike in the right spot and silhouette the animal. The hyena was moving so keeping it lined-up with the storm (again in the pitch darkness) was challenging but my perseverance was rewarded with the shot below.

So what next? Well there are many other creative ways that remote cameras and camera traps can be used to photograph wildlife at night! I will be exploring some of these in future projects.

If you are interested in learning more about these techniques then you can download my free guide to remote and camera trap photography at Camtraptions.

You can see more of my wildlife at night shots in this collection. You may also be interested in reading my WWF camera trap post and my supermoon eclipse post.

I’m excited to announce that my new book is now available online and in bookstores around the world! It is titled “Top Wildlife Sites of the World” and features 32 of my favourite wildlife destinations.

This is a hardcover, coffee table book with 240 pages, featuring 360 beautiful images. It has been almost 10 years in the making, starting with my visit to Peru’s Manú National Park in 2006, right up to my Yellowstone and Grand Teton trip last year.

My wife, Natalie, is a brilliant writer and has joined me on many of my trips. She wrote the text for this book during her maternity leave – more on that in my 2015 in Review post!

Around 85% of the photographs in the book are mine. I have filled the holes in my image library with some fantastic shots from my friends. In particular, I would like to thank my brother, Matt, and fellow wildlife photographers Richard Peters and Elliott Neep. My friend Rebecca Jackrel (from the Ethiopian Wolf Project) also contributed a selection of beautiful images to the book. Sadly, Rebecca passed away before the book went to press but her passion and spirit live on through her images. You can read my tribute to Rebecca here.

In the book, I have included a variety of destinations across every continent, from the most famous wildlife hotspots such as the Serengeti, to off the beaten track locations such as Kalimantan in Borneo. I hope the book inspires people to visit some of these incredible places; many of them are threatened and tourism revenue is often a critical component of the conservation efforts.

Top Wildlife Sites of the World is now available to buy via Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com. If you buy from Amazon, we would be really grateful if you can leave an honest review! Signed copies of the book can be purchased from my online store, although I’m afraid they are a bit more expensive due to the extra logistics involved.

Win a Free Copy!

To celebrate the launch of “Top Wildlife Sites of the World”, I am giving away a free signed copy of the book every day for a week! Enter here »

More information about the book can also be found at www.topwildlifesites.com.

Last September I was in Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park. One morning, I was photographing lions on a kill when I noticed a giraffe over to my left. It was framed nicely by trees so I swung my lens round and took a few shots of it. Before long, the lions also noticed the giraffe and one of them chased it away. I continued photographing the lions and soon forgot about the giraffe.

Last week I finally got around to sorting through my photos from the trip. As I was scrolling through them on my big computer screen, I got to my shot of the giraffe and stopped in my tracks!

Can you see what I noticed?

I was completely stunned that I had managed to photograph a leopard without realising it! Leopards are usually very elusive and hard to see, so to photograph one by accident is quite incredible!

You may wonder how managed to not see the leopard at the time. Well, I was using a long telephoto lens, so the leopard is further away than it may appear. I only took a few images of the giraffe before turning my attention back to the lions, and in that time I obviously didn’t look carefully at the corner of the frame!

I am now wondering how many other leopards are hiding in images I’ve taken over the years!

You can see more leopard photographs in my Leopard Collection.

In August last year I undertook an assignment for WWF in the Zambezi Region of Namibia. Our aim was to obtain high-quality images of elusive animals, some of which had only ever been photographed on research cameras before.

The Zambezi Region is a narrow strip of land, formerly known as the Caprivi Strip, that runs between Botswana and Angola, all the way to the Zambezi river in the East. It is the heart of the Kavango – Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, otherwise known as KAZA, which links wildlife populations in Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. WWF works with the governments, local communities and species conservation programmes throughout the KAZA region.

For many years, Lise Hanssen has been studying wildlife populations in the region, with a particular focus on the carnivores. Her research utilised over 100 research camera traps to build up a picture of predator populations for the first time. She was able to identify the ranges of leopards, lions, hyenas and African wild dogs. Her findings prove how vital this area is to carnivore populations and movements throughout the KAZA region.

I teamed up with WWF and Lise to try and get high-quality photographs of her study subjects. However, it quickly became apparent that this was not going to be easy, as the carnivores are extremely elusive and hard to see. I spent two weeks in Namibia trying to find and photograph them but didn’t catch a glimpse of a single one!

Fortunately, we had foreseen this challenge and I had come prepared with five Camtraptions camera trap systems. These are similar to the Lise’s research cameras but incorporate a high-quality DSLR camera instead. You can watch my short video blog showing one of my camera trap set-ups below.

I relied on Lise’s research and expertise to identify several promising sites for my traps. These included locations both inside and outside the national parks. At the end of my trip, I left my cameras in place so they could continue working for a further ten weeks.

Lise’s predictions were spot on and over the following weeks my camera traps started capturing images of the key species we were after including leopards, hyenas, African wild dogs and even a serval cat.

Of course, my traps also photographed many other creatures. One trap in particular, positioned near a waterhole in the Mashi Conservancy, captured an incredible number of animals including elephants, giraffes, eland, wildebeest and bushpigs. It also took thousands of photos of guineafowls. In fact, I estimate that I had ten images of guineafowls for every other animal photographed. Sorting through them all took a quite a while!

The greatest challenge of all was photographing the lions. These cats spend much of their time outside the national parks and are extremely shy. Even Lise has never seen them other than on her research cameras. I set up two camera traps near waterholes that the lions sometimes visit. In the three months that my traps were operating, the lions passed by twice, resulting in some very rare shots of these secretive big cats.

I hope that my images, in combination with WWF’s efforts and Lise’s valuable research, can help inspire conservation action in this important part of the KAZA region.

You can find out more about the camera traps used in this project at Camtraptions. You can follow Lise Hanssen’s research on the Kwando Carnivore Project Facebook page. You can find out more about WWF’s work in the KAZA region and see more of my images from the project here: Photographing Africa’s Most Elusive Animals.

Well, 2015 has been quite a year! I was fortunate to spend more than ten weeks in Zambia, plus I visited Namibia, Iceland and the USA. My wife, Nat, and I wrote a book – more on that below! Camtraptions and my range of devices for remote and camera trap photography have continued to develop nicely. I quietly set up a new website, www.wildlifephoto.com, which will become the central hub for all of my products, services and resources for photographers. However, all of the above has seemed rather trivial in comparison to the arrival of a certain small human being earlier in the year…

Yes, in February, Nat and I became parents! Our daughter, Primrose (Rosie for short), has just turned 10-months-old. Life as a father is wonderful, and combining that with my life as a wildlife photographer has been an enjoyable challenge!

Photography Projects in 2015

For obvious reasons, I didn’t travel much in the first half of the year and my photography exclusively focused on a small grub-like creature. It turns out that my skillset as a wildlife photographer was well suited to this new subject matter, as babies are impossible to control, unpredictable and most active at dawn and dusk!

In May, I spent a week in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks in the USA (above) and I also briefly visited Liuwa Plain National Park in Zambia for the first time (below). Despite being short trips, both were very productive.

In July, it was time for Rosie’s first holiday! We took her to Iceland and spent 10 days driving around the island in a small 4×4 campervan, courtesy of MK Car Rental. In retrospect, living with a 4-month-old, in a confined space without bathroom facilities, in a country with nearly 24 hours of daylight, was an ambitious plan! However, after switching to a semi-nocturnal existence, we settled into a routine and the three of us had a fantastic time.

My next trip was an assignment for WWF in the KAZA region of Namibia. This was primarily a camera-trapping project focusing on the region’s carnivores. We will be releasing the output from this trip early in the New Year, so stay tuned!

In September, Nat and I returned to South Luangwa for the first time since our year in Zambia in 2012-13, with Rosie in tow for her first introduction to Africa. The three of us spent a week with my friends at Mfuwe Lodge. It was hot (40 degrees at least) but Rosie adapted well and loved watching animals such as Zebras, Giraffes, Elephants and squabbling Baboons. That week happened to coincide with the Supermoon eclipse so I spent a night trying to line up some lions with a small red dot in the sky. After that, I spent a week with my friends at Norman Carr Safaris before returning to The Bushcamp Company to lead a photographic safari for a brilliant group of guests.

In November, Nat, Rosie and I returned to Zambia, to spend five weeks in Liuwa Plain, one of my favourite National Parks in Africa! This project was a collaboration with African Parks and Norman Carr Safaris. Our trip coincided with the change of season as the rains arrived. I also spent lots of quality time with Cheetahs, Lions and Hyenas. I am still sorting and processing the photos from this trip but you can already see a few that I have started to post on Facebook and Instagram.

A New Book!

At the end of last year, a publisher approached me about writing a book. The subject was to be “Top Wildlife Sites of the World”. Nat is a brilliant writer (check out her blog from our year in Zambia) and we naively figured that she would have plenty of time to write the text during her maternity leave (ha ha ha)! We said yes.

Ok, so writing a book turned out to be more work than we expected, and looking after a baby is rather time consuming, but we managed to finish it and I am very proud of the book that we have created. It is a beautiful coffee table book featuring 32 wildlife sites from around the world. 85% of the photographs in the book are mine and I have filled the holes in my image library with some fantastic shots from my friends and colleagues. Best of all, the book is filtering into bookshops around the world at this very moment!

As soon as the book is available to purchase online, I will do an official launch, so stay tuned!

Camtraptions

It has been a busy year for Camtraptions too. We have continued to add new products that make camera trap photography easier and more accessible than ever before. It has also been very rewarding to see people around the world using our devices to create remarkable images. One of the highlights came towards the end of the year when my friend Richard Peters used his Camtraptions PIR sensor to take an image that saw him crowned European Wildlife Photographer of the Year and winner of a category in Wildlife Photographer of the Year – see his winning shot in this blog post!

I am currently working on some exciting new Camtraptions products that I can’t wait to share with you next year!

Happy New Year!

I would like to thank all of you who have followed my work and supported me in 2015. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all of your comments, likes, emails, orders and encouragement. Thank you!

Nat, Rosie and I wish you all the very best for the New Year.

I am currently in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. A month ago I found out I was going to be here during a “supermoon” total lunar eclipse. This would be the last opportunity to photograph such an occurrence for 18 years! I immediately set about planning how I could take a photograph of this phenomenon with an African twist.

My friends at Bushcamp Company kindly helped obtain permission from the Zambian Wildlife Authority to work in the national park at night.

At 2:45am this morning, I set out in search of subjects. I had a number of potential shots planned out but I knew I would need to remain flexible as I couldn’t control the opportunities that would present themselves.

I first went to where I had seen lions the evening before. On arrival, the lions had gone but I could hear their faint roars in the distance. I followed the sound through the African night and eventually found the lions just as the eclipse was starting.

There was only one tool that would allow me to frame the lions with the eclipse behind… my trusty BeetleCam!

I was after a shot of a lion under the blood moon. This was going to be a challenging shot to achieve for so many reasons! Balancing the foreground brightness with the dim red moon was an exercise in guestimation, as was trying to compose the shot in the pitch darkness. And of course, I had to do this while trying to avoid the pride of lions running off with my BeetleCam! However, I persevered and shortly before the moonset, this is the shot I managed to get…

 
A lion cub with the supermoon eclipse behind. Taken with a Canon EOS 5D mk III and 17-40mm f/4 lens on a BeetleCam. f/13, 8 seconds, ISO 3200. Off-camera flash triggered with Camtraptions Wireless Trigger. Plus approximately a month of planning and a spot of good luck

I recently spent a few days in Kidepo Valley National Park, a remote reserve in the North of Uganda that borders South Sudan and Kenya.

I hadn’t been in the Valley long when I met the resident male lion, a handsome chap known as “Spartacus”. It was late in the afternoon and the light was getting good, but he was in long grass and I couldn’t get a clear shot. Over to my right was a beautiful kopje and I was thinking to myself it would be an incredible shot if he would just go and sit on top of it. Well he must have heard my thoughts because the next thing I knew, he was up and heading in that direction.

I willed him to keep going and I was pinching myself as he started to climb. He plonked himself down exactly where I had hoped and then looked at me with his regal gaze. I couldn’t believe my luck! It is so rare that a wild animal actually does what you want it to! In front of me was a scene that looked like it was straight out of the Lion King…

After I had the safe front-lit shot, I moved round to silhouette him as the sun went down behind the distant mountains. It was a thrilling welcome to the Kidepo Valley!

I didn’t see Spartacus again but I did have the opportunity to photograph this younger male with his kill at dusk. I used a slow shutter speed to expose the sky and horizon and a brief flash from an off-camera speedlight to expose the foreground.

At night, I set up a camera trap using my Camtraptions PIR Motion sensor and was able to photograph some of Kidepo’s nocturnal residents, including this side-striped jackal and a white-tailed mongoose.

I also enjoyed photographing some species that I haven’t come across elsewhere in Africa, including this beautiful Abyssinian Roller and Jackson’s Hartebeest.

Kidepo is a beautiful and quiet National Park with much to offer. It is one of those wonderful places that combines abundant wildlife with spectacular scenery. In my opinion, it is one of Africa’s best-kept secrets!

You can view more images from the region here: Kidepo. You can also view more of my lion images in my Lion collection.

During my year in Zambia, I started to use camera traps to photograph nocturnal wildlife. A camera trap is a stationary camera that is trigged automatically when an animal is detected in a predetermined position. I usually positioned my traps on busy animal trails. In order to take high-quality images, I used a DSLR camera with one or more off-camera speedlights for lighting.

I was unable to find a camera trap sensor that gave me the freedom and functionality I needed, so I decided to create my own. Over the course of the year, I developed a device that was simple to use, quick to set up and very reliable.

My device employs a passive infrared (PIR) motion sensor, similar to the sensors used on outdoor security lights. This type of sensor has two key benefits:
1. It is very quick and easy to set-up: just point it at the target area and it is ready to go. The field of view of the detector can be limited to precisely control the trigger zone.
2. Low power consumption: the sensor is powered by 6 x AA batteries, which results in a standby time of 4 weeks or more.

The sensor is enclosed in a tough, weatherproof housing, which can be mounted on a small tripod or strapped to a post. Find out more about it here: PIR Motion Sensor

In addition to the sensors, I also developed a strong metal camera housing to protect a DSLR camera from weather and wild animals. This housing can be disassembled and flat packed for easy transportation. The camera can be accessed via a convenient lockable hatch at the back. A sliding peak protects the lens from the sun and rain. Find out more about it here: Camera Housing

Now available in the Camtraptions Store!

I’m excited to announce that my PIR Motion Sensors and protective Camera Housings are now available to buy in the new Camtraptions Camera Trap Store!

These products are now shipping, just in time for Christmas!

BBC Wildlife Camera Trap Photographer of the Year

BBC Wildlife Magazine runs the most prestigious camera-trap photography contest in the world and the winners of this year’s contest have just been announced. I am delighted to announce that my image of a black rhino at night was chosen as winner for the animal portraits category and overall winner of the photography categories!

My image of a hippo and bat was also runner-up in the portraits category and my porcupine image was commended.

All of my images were taken with a prototype PIR Motion Sensor in Zambia. You can view the other winning and commended images in this gallery.

You can view more of my camera trap images in the Showcase on Camtraptions.com.

I’m pleased to announce that our wildebeest time-lapse video has been commended in the new time-lapse category of the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.

I have edited a new version of this footage, which you can view below:

The scenes shown in this footage are among the most awe-inspiring I have ever witnessed! We found that time-lapse was the only medium that allowed us to convey the magnitude of the migration. This footage was shot over five days in Northern Serengeti, Tanzania. It shows the migrating wildebeest crossing the Mara River while moving south into Tanzania from Kenya.

The Serengeti Ecosystem supports 1.5 million wildebeest. These wildebeest are forced to migrate around a 40,000 square kilometre area in order to find fresh grazing pastures. The migration is full of danger and hardship for these resilient creatures. Thirst, hunger, exhaustion, predation and the Mara River are just some of the challenges they must face.

You can read more about this project in my free ebook: My Top Ten Wildlife Experiences.

In October 2015 I will be leading an exclusive 7-day photographic safari in Zambia’s iconic South Luangwa National Park. There are just eight spaces on this trip and two of them are up for grabs in my new giveaway!

Enter the the giveaway here.

Find out more about this safari here or click here to download the brochure. Note, if you book on to this safari and then win the giveaway, your deposit will be refunded.

I have launched a new business and marketing training platform for photographers! It’s called RAW Exposure. For the last couple of months I have been working hard to create content for this new platform.

I remember how hard it was to get my photographs noticed in the early days, and what a struggle it was to generate an income from my work. Subsequently, through persistence, hard work and experimentation, I have figured out the strategies and techniques that work in today’s market. Through RAW Exposure, I will share my learnings with you.

I will regularly update the new website with business and marketing tips, tutorials and resources. For example, this article: “10 Tips for Getting More Instagram Followers.” If you would like to receive these articles in a free email newsletter then you can sign-up by clicking here.

I have also created the following in-depth training products:

50-page Ebook: Build a Profitable Photography Business for Nature and Travel Photographers

This ebook covers all aspects of how to break into the nature photography and travel photography markets. It is illustrated with numerous examples from my own career.

The ebook has been split into 5 sections:

• How to take photos that will get noticed
• Where are the money-making opportunities?
• How to sell different products (for example, prints, stock photography, workshops and virtual products) and the pros and cons of each
• An introduction to marketing
• How to take the leap to becoming a full-time photographer

You can find out more and download a free preview chapter from this ebook here: Business Ebook

40-lesson E-course: Marketing for Photographers

This is a comprehensive 40-lesson e-course on marketing for photographers. It has been created with all photographers in mind, regardless of your speciality or the current position of your business.

The e-course provides step-by-step instructions on how to set-up all aspects of your marketing strategy such as your website, newsletter and social media channels. It will teach you strategies and advanced techniques for gaining exposure, for example, how to get published in newspapers, how to get more website traffic and how to grow your social media following. Where appropriate, video tutorials will be included to illustrate certain lessons. Each lesson will give you tools and clear action points to help you achieve the lesson objectives.

Find out more here: Marketing E-course

One-on-one Training Packages

I am also offering a limited number of one-on-one business and marketing training packages. Options include private email Q&As, personalised strategy reports and consultations calls with myself.

Find out more here: One-on-one Training Packages

I look forward to hearing what you think of RAW Exposure. Remember to subscribe to the new newsletter if you want to receive free tips, giveaways and resources.

I have released a collection of eight new black & white wildlife prints. Each print is limited to just 25 editions. Below are three preview images from this new collection.

Print I: “Lion”

Photographed with BeetleCam in Kenya.

Print III: “Elephants in Rain”

This image was taken during an almighty downpour in the Serengeti. I achieved the charcoal-sketch effect in-camera by focusing in front of the elephants and using a slow shutter speed to blur the raindrops.

Print VIII: “African Wild Dog”

An African wild dog running through the undergrowth. I used a slow shutter-speed and panned with the moving animal to blur the background.

Subscribers to my newsletter may download a document showing all eight images that make up this new collection:

Click here to view the full collection!

In the remote highlands of Ethiopia lives the rarest canid on Earth: the Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis). Today, less than 450 of these elegant animals survive.

Ethiopian wolves may look like foxes or jackals but DNA analysis shows that their closest relatives are actually the grey wolves of Europe. 100,000 years ago, a common ancestor of both the grey wolf and the Ethiopian wolf moved down from Europe into Africa. It came across an Afroalpine habitat that teemed with rodents. Its descendants stopped hunting in packs and became rodent-hunting specialists. The species evolved to become completely dependent on this abundant prey source. Then, at the end of the last ice age, the Afroalpine areas receded and the wolves became marooned in a few isolated mountain highland areas surrounding the Great Rift Valley. Now the wolves’ high-altitude sanctuaries are under siege from an ever-increasing human population and the species has been brought to the edge of extinction…

The people of the Ethiopian highlands are predominately goat and cattle herders. As they encroach on the wolves’ habitat, overgrazing and soil compaction drastically reduces the density of the wolves’ rodent prey. The herders also keep domestic dogs to help protect their animals from leopards and hyenas. These dogs lead semi-feral lives and often come into contact with the wolves. This is a problem because the dogs can easily transmit diseases such as rabies and canine distemper virus (CDV) to the wolves. Two rabies outbreaks in 2008 and 2009 plus a CDV outbreak in 2010 resulted in 26% of the wolves in the Bale Mountains disappearing. If the wolf population doesn’t have time to recover between disease outbreaks then impending extinction becomes a real possibility.

In November 2011, Rebecca Jackrel and I travelled to the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia, home to the largest remaining wolf population. Our aim was to spend five weeks photographing the wolves and documenting the work of the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (EWCP). We raised the funds for this expedition through a Kickstarter campaign – a huge thank you to all the contributors who helped make the project a reality!

Despite the wolves’ solitary hunting habits, they are actually very sociable animals and form packs just like their grey wolf cousins. Our trip coincided with denning season and we were able to see firsthand how all members of the pack worked closely together to feed and care for the alpha female’s pups.

It was a wonderful privilege to witness the pups exploring the outside world for the first time and to watch them grow in strength and confidence each day.

Our trip also coincided with an exciting new initiative by the EWCP. They were trialing a new form of oral rabies vaccine to help protect the wolves against future rabies outbreaks. In order to gauge the effectiveness of the trial, they had to catch wolves that had been administered the vaccine and test to see if antibodies were present. Initial results were very encouraging which means the outlook for the species is a little brighter.

The ultimate aim of our Ethiopian Wolf Project was twofold: to raise public awareness for the plight of this little-known species and to raise funds and support for the EWCP. To this end, we teamed up with writer Jaymi Heimbuch to produce a beautiful and informative coffee table book. This large (360mm x 285mm), 152-page book features many spectacular pictures from our trip and lots of information about the wolves and the work of the EWCP. Best of all, 50% of the profit from sales goes directly to the EWCP! The book is now available to buy here: The Ethiopian Wolf: Hope at the Edge of Extinction.

A big thank you once again to everyone who has supported our project and to the EWCP for working tirelessly to protect the unique and beautiful Ethiopian wolf. You can view more Ethiopia photos here.

Earlier this year, I travelled to the Makgadikgadi Pans region of Botswana to photograph some of the most charismatic (and cutest) creatures in Africa – meerkats!

Meerkats are members of the mongoose family and are found in the desert region of Southern Africa. They are social animals, living in large family groups. They sleep in underground networks and during the day they venture out of their dens in search of for food. A meerkat’s diet consists mainly of scorpions, beetles, lizards, eggs and small mammals.

Meerkats forage in groups with at least one sentry on duty at all times. They need to be extremely vigilant while they are out in the open so that they aren’t surprised by predators such as birds of prey or jackals. Meerkats aren’t very tall so they try to seek out the high ground in order to get a better view of their surroundings. The higher the vantage point the better so they will go to impressive lengths to find that perfect lookout post!

These meerkats are completely wild but over time they have become habituated to humans. This means it is possible to gain their trust and get really close to them. When people are around, these clever little creatures take full advantage of the situation and will sometimes climb on top of the nearest person for a better view out over the long grass. Sometimes they just decide that sitting on a warm human is more comfortable that sitting on the coarse sand!

Trying to photograph animals that jumped on me whenever I got too close was certainly a challenge that I wasn’t used to facing… not that I was complaining! For a behind the scenes look at this project including lots of amusing meerkat antics, check out this short 2-minute video.

One of the highlights of my time in Botswana was getting to spend time with some adorable three-week-old baby meerkats. These tiny babies first emerged from the den a day or so into my trip and after that I spent a lot of time with them so they became very comfortable around me. In fact, it wasn’t long before they were treating me like their own personal plaything!

Meekats are charming little creatures and spending time with them is always a privilege. For more photos check out my meerkat image gallery. You can also get more behind the scenes photos and video by following me on Instagram. To get a free high-res Meerkat desktop background, please subscribe to my new monthly newsletter.

Over the years BeetleCam has evolved a fair bit, and today I’m excited to announce the latest version of my remote camera buggy… the BeetleCam Hybrid!

You’ll remember I developed the first BeetleCam back in 2009. BeetleCam allowed me to safely position my camera in front of potentially dangerous African animals, such as lions, elephants and buffalo. In 2011, I retuned to Africa with a new lion-proof version to try and photograph the lions of the Masai Mara.

Last year, I was living in Africa and my goal was to photograph species that I had not yet captured with BeetleCam, such as African wild dogs and leopards. Tracking down these elusive creatures took some perseverance! The images above were taken in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia and these wild dogs were photographed in Hwange NP in Zimbabwe.

For more photographs taken with BeetleCam, visit the Camtraptions BeetleCam Showcase.

When I returned from Africa last August, I released an updated version of the BeetleCam with a strong and lightweight shell to protect the camera and the ability to mount a GoPro under the DSLR so that video could be recorded at the same time as stills. For more details about this version, checkout the product page on Camtraptions.

I recently took BeetleCam to Tanzania and spent a morning filming and photographing a pride of lions. The addition of simultaneous video capture adds a new dimension to the photographs. To see footage shot at the same time as these photographs, please watch the video embedded below.

Now I am announcing a completely new type of BeetleCam, the BeetleCam Hybrid. This is a merger of the traditional BeetleCam base with my latest remote-control copter stabilised camera gimbal. The gimbal means that the camera remains completely level, even if the BeetleCam is moving over uneven surfaces. The operator can also remotely control the camera pan and tilt without moving the base. The pan/tilt motion is very smooth, making this an ideal platform for remote-control filming. See the new BeetleCam Hybrid in action in my new demo video:

The BeetleCam Hybrid is currently a prototype. A final version will be ready in April 2014. If you would like more information please get in touch. You can also subscribe to the Camtraptions newsletter (the new company I’ve set up to develop products for remote and camera trap photography) for up-to-date news.

Win a BeetleCam and a $10k safari!

I have teamed up with Safarious and the Bushcamp Company to bring you another awesome give away! You could win a BeetleCam and a $10k luxury African safari for two! Enter via the giveaway page on Facebook.

Happy New Year everyone!

First of all, sorry for the lack of updates to this blog. Since returning from Zambia in August a couple of projects have been keeping me rather busy: BeetleCopter and Camtraptions.

BeetleCopter is the next instalment of the BeetleCam Project. I have built a remote-control mulirotor copter for my camera (actually, I have built several to accommodate different sized cameras ranging from a GoPro up to Canon 5D Mark III). The camera is attached to a stabilised gimbal mount suspended under the body of copter.

Last month I took my new BeetleCopters to the Serengeti in Tanzania for testing. The following footage is a result of two weeks of experimentation. It was shot on a GoPro Hero 3+ (I could have used a larger camera but the lighter GoPro gave me longer flight times). To get this footage I was sometimes a kilometer away from the copter, operating it via a live video feed. These devices have incredible potential in wildlife filmmaking and photography; they are quieter and more manoeuvrable than a normal helicopter so they can get closer to animals with minimal disturbance. I will soon be returning to Africa with my BeetleCopters so make sure you follow me on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to be the first to see the results!

Now, without further ado, I present BeetleCopter in the Serengeti:

My second announcement of the year is the launch of Camtraptions.

Camtraptions is a company that I have set up to develop products for remote and camera trap photography. The initial product line consists of BeetleCams and Remote Copters. We will soon also be launching new products for camera trap wildlife photography. For news and announcements about new products, please subscribe to the Camtraptions newsletter.

I wish you all the very best for 2014!

Hi everyone! You probably will have noticed that I (Matt) have been pretty quiet for a while, so I thought it would be a good idea to give you an update about some of the things that I’ve been up to recently and also to announce the re-launching of London photo tours.

After graduating from university last summer, around the time that Will went off to Zambia, I moved to London to explore a new form of photography a little closer to home. Being surrounded by so many incredible buildings and urban environments in London, I felt inspired to try and capture some of the scenes that are so easy to take for granted in everyday life.

I’ve spent the last few months building a new portfolio website, www.mbl-photography.com and taking photographs around London to populate it, and I’ll soon be launching a new photography blog featuring video tutorials and city photography tips.

I’m also excited to announce that I am restarting London photo tours. My experience as both a wildlife and architectural photographer means that I am able to offer guidance across a breadth of photographic styles, techniques and subjects. Each tour is tailored to your individual interests and experience, and will help you learn how to take full advantage of your camera. The standard 2-hour photo tour takes place along the South Bank of the River Thames, and features some of London’s most iconic landmarks, such as the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. Bespoke options are also available if you would rather concentrate on different subject matter. If you’re interested in booking a tour, or would like to find out more, then head over to my tours page to get in touch with me.

Whilst my current day-to-day focus is centred on architectural photography, I’ll still be taking wildlife photos in the future – I haven’t quite traded in the 600mm for a suite of tilt-shift lenses yet! If you’d like to stay updated about all of my latest projects and photographs, then you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and 500px.

Read to the end of this post to find out how you could win an incredible Zambian safari for two worth over $12k!

Much has happened since my last South Luangwa post so a follow-up is long overdue! The dry season is now well and truly over. I will never forget 1st November, the day the rains arrived…

That day I awoke to find a veil of cloud had descended over the valley. There was a sense of anticipation as the parched earth and thirsty animals waited for the first raindrops to fall. However, there was also another cause for excitement that day; I had heard rumours that wild dogs had been spotted in the area! Ever since arriving in Zambia I had been searching for African wild dogs, a species that has always managed to evade me on previous trips. I set off in search of them, hoping that I wouldn’t be thwarted by the rain.

I found the pack after a couple of hours and enjoyed spending the rest of the morning with them. It was wonderful to watch them as they played around boisterously. After taking some shots with my long lens, I deployed BeetleCam. The dogs’ curiosity was instantly aroused and they crowded around the camera. I had always dreamed of photographing wild dogs from this perspective and the resulting shots were exactly what I had hoped for…

This was one of my last shots of the dry season… a few hours later, the heavens opened. Over the next 12 hours, 110mm of rain fell (approximately 10% of region’s annual rainfall)!

The bush camps have usually closed by the time the heavy rains arrive as the surrounding roads become completely impassable. However, this year the first deluge caught everyone off guard and as a result we were marooned in the bush for several days whilst we waited for the sodden landscape to dry out.

On the third day it was time to attempt an escape. This was easier said than done as the roads had turned into rivers of mud! Fortunately there was a four-wheel drive tractor on hand to tow me out of the boggiest areas. After several hours of battling mud we eventually made it out of the park. The next challenge was going to be cleaning my car!

Emerald Season

Over the following days and weeks, South Luangwa underwent a radical transformation; the hazy atmosphere and dusty colours of dry season were replaced with beautiful clear light and vibrant greens. Watery lagoons and lush plains appeared in areas that had been dust bowls a few weeks earlier.

Now the “Emerald Season” is here and the valley seems to be bursting with life. The herbivores are fat and healthy and baby impalas have taken over the valley. Times are also good for Luangwa’s leopards as the dense bush and tall grass afford plenty of cover for hunting. The cats stand out beautifully against the verdant backdrop.

Dazzling jewels also stud the greenery as colourful migrant birds arrive and residents flaunt their breeding plumage…

…and there are kingfishers everywhere!

River Safaris

In the last few weeks, the Luangwa River has risen enough to make river safaris possible. This has allowed me to photograph the park from a different perspective. Exploring the river by boat has also bought me face to face with some truly monstrous crocs!

Luangwa is famous for the astonishing density of hippos that it supports and the boat was forever dodging them as we cruised up and down the river.

On one occasion, we came round a corner to find a newborn baby hippo and its mother on a sandbank. We cut the engine so that we could drift past quietly. I had my lens focussed on the adorable baby when I became aware of a frantic pattering noise emanating from my right. I swung my lens round and was greeted by a terrifying sight… an angry mother hippo in full charge. We had no time to start the engine and escape. Fortunately she stopped a few metres away and we were able to beat a hasty retreat!

Win a Safari!

I have partnered with Norman Carr Safaris, Chongwe Safaris and Proflight Zambia to bring you an incredible new holiday giveaway! This is your chance to win a luxury 8-day safari for two in Zambia worth over $12k! You will start by spending 4 nights with Norman Carr Safaris in South Luangwa National Park and then fly down to Lower Zambezi National Park for 4 nights with Chongwe Safaris! Whether it’s tracking lion on foot, catching (and releasing) a tiger fish, photographing the elusive leopard, or sipping a cool gin and tonic overlooking the river, you’re guaranteed to create lasting memories as you switch off from the rest of the world.

» Click here to enter! «

Here are the results of the 2012 Travel Photo Competition. Thank you to everyone who entered and well done to the talented photographers whose images appear in the final selection below.

Thank you to Committed Photography for providing the following prizes:

• Winner: 16×24 framed print of your winning shot (estimated value of $250)
• Runners up x 2: 16×24 prints unframed (value of $50 each)

Winner

Our travel photo contest winner is Felix Hug with his atmospheric image of a balloon over temples in Myanmar. Congratulations Felix!

Balloon over Bagan by Felix Huge

Balloon over Bagan by Felix Hug

“Early morning Balloon flight over Bagan, Myanmar.”

Equipment: Canon 5DM2 DSLR

Felix Hug was born in Switzerland at the beginning of the carneval (Fasnacht) season in 1964, the 11th day of the 11th month, at almost at 11.11 am to be precise.

How much that indicated, what would become, an unconventional lifestyle is unknown, but heavily influenced by his late father (who was passionate about painting) he followed his passion for design and the arts.

In the 1980s he started a career in design and architecture, only to be interrupted when an offer to shoot hoops in a basketball team in Europe was too interesting to turn down.

Felix then began his journey as a professional basketball player, and with basketball came lots of traveling. Armed with the Konica he had inherited from his beloved father his first travel images were born.

However, it took Felix until 2003 to turn his back completely on his attempt at a traditional career in Project Management to decide that travel photography is what he loved and would be doing for a living.

Since then he has tirelessly worked on a career in travel & destination photography that has brought him worldwide recognition in the field. He has won Best Image Awards in the following competitions: The Asian Geographic Grand Prize, Singapore; The International Photography Awards, USA; American Photo, Image of the Year, USA; Travel Photographer Of The Year, GB; The New York Photography Awards, USA

In 2007 he founded together with Jamie Boyd Eyes on Asia in Singapore. Jamie brought to the team experience in production and representation, as well as experience in the modeling business. Their clients include Singapore Airlines (Silk Air), Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts and others. His images have been published in countless magazines, Including GEO, GEO Saison, PHOTOGRAPHIE, Nat Geo Traveler, Australian Traveler, Conde Nast, Travel & Leisure.

Jamie and Felix now run travel photography workshops in Singapore and travel photography Getaways the region. The aim: Inspire people through positive travel images to have an alternative view on life.

Website: www.eyesonasia.net

Runners-up

Congratulations to our runners-up, Luke Popwell and Francesco Riccardo Iacomin!

Snell’s Window with Diver by Luke Popwell

Snell’s window with Diver by Luke Popwell

“A diver inside of a bubble ring with sun flare shining through the water. Also, showing a visual representation of a Snell’s Window”

Equipment: 5d mark ii

Luke Popwell – I am a photographer in the florida keys. I shoot event and underwater photography.

Website: www.offaxisproduction.com

Toscana by Francesco Riccardo Iacomino

Toscana by Francesco Riccardo Iacomino

“A beautiful farmhouse in Tuscany, Italy, surrounded by cypress trees and the golden hills of Val d’Orcia, photographed on early morning with the very first, warm light.”

Equipment: Canon eos 550d – Canon 55-250mm IS

Francesco Riccardo Iacomino – I’m a 26 years old photographer from Modena, Italy.
I started taking pictures after a great journey in the Southwest USA when I was 18…and since then I’ve never stopped.

When I shoot I’m not trying to reproduce just what I see.
The challenge for me is to photograph what I’ll remember having seen… so strongly evocative images.

My pictures are on sale on the most important stock photo sites, like Shutterstock, Dreamstime, Istockphoto, Fotolia, etc.

Hope you’ll enjoy my work!

Website: www.francescoriccardoiacomino.com

Highly Commended Images

Our highly commended images are fantastic shots that illustrate the amazing variety of entries we received. Well done to everyone who made it onto this list!

Netting Fish by Steve Harrison

“Netting Fish, HoiAn Vietnam”

Equipment: Canon 5D Mk 2

Steve Harrison – Camera happy light chaser with gorgeous young children.

Website: www.sleepygeckohoian.com

Three Fishermen on Inle Lake by David Lazar

“Three fishermen on Inle Lake, Myanmar. The fisherman of this region have a unique rowing technique, where they stand on the stern on one leg and wrap the other leg around the oar allowing for fine paddle control.”

Equipment: Nikon D700

David Lazar – David Lazar is a travel photographer and musician from Brisbane, Australia, who loves to capture moments of life, beauty and culture through photography. He is drawn to locations which have a rich cultural background and he is especially interested in portrait and landscape photography.

Website: www.davidlazarphoto.com

Reflection by Partha Roy

“Blue Hour Reflection, Singapore”

Equipment: Olympus OMD EM-5, Samyang 8mm Fisheye Lens

Partha Roy – By profession I am an I.T engineer and working as a Software Analyst in a Bank. I have a passion towards photography from my childhood and I like to capture each and every moment of life and beauty of nature by the help of a small hole. The passion and the hobby towards photography gradually make me a photographer and I always like to spend my free time with my camera and photography. My wife knows that photography is my second wife in my life. But in spite of that she always support and appreciate my work with a big smile on her face which inspires me and give lots of motivation. I believe each life and every element and object has its own capability to create a magical moment. The moments that you want to keep forever and you want to treasure in your heart and mind. You should prepare and keep your eyes open to capture those moments. Basically I’m a picture-taker, fun-lover and fun-maker photographer who like to capture and freeze the moment of each and every aspect of life to make it unforgettable with help of my black box. I do like to take landscape, cityscape, architecture and street shots mainly.

Website: 500px.com/mypixelmagic

Thule Eskimo by Justin Lewis

“Thomas Martika Qujaukitsoq was born in Qaanaaq, Greenland. He wears a reindeer jacket his grandmother hand-stitched when he was a young man. He travels with his nine sled dogs across the sea ice during April’s midnight sun.”

Equipment: Canon 5D markII

Justin Lewis – Mendocino, California native Justin Lewis was nurtured in the raw and rustic Pacific Northwest, where he honed a keen eye for capturing images that instill wonder and inspire action. At age 16, Lewis set off on the first of many solo international photo excursions, igniting a lifelong passion for adventure and cross-cultural exploration through photography. Having traveled to over forty five countries, Justin has woven photography seamlessly into his lifestyle of exploration and conservation. After graduating from Brooks Institute of Photography Justin made San Francisco his home base and began shooting commercial and editorial assignments for clients including; Islands, Sport Diver, AsianDiver, Trans-World Surf, Scuba Diver Australasia, The Undersea Journal and Caribbean Travel & Life magazineâ’s, PADI, Body Glove, The Ritz Carlton, Stanford University, Smithsonian, and The New Yorker. Justinâ’s imagery sells world wide through Getty Images and has been seen on billboards in Time Square, Seattle and Bangkok, on the side of buses, in national ad campaigns, magazine covers, and on television.

Website: www.justinlewis.com

Kirkjufell Panorama by Christopher Waddell

“Taken during my first night in Iceland, in very strong winds. This panorama is made up of 6 vertical images (3 for the land, 3 for the sky). On the left the sun is setting and on the right I managed to capture the moon rising.”

Equipment: Canon 5D Mark III, 24-70mm 2.8L, Lee Grad ND Filters

Norway’s beauty by Matthias Stoll

“The Panorama is composed out of 4 pictures, taken after a day of rain in Alesund. The dramatic sky and the long exposure light pollution in the city combined to a breathtaking atmosphere.
The shots were taken with the following parameters:
ISO 100, 30sec exposure @ f11″

Equipment: Canon 600D + Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC (@35mm)

Matthias Stoll – Student of Business Administration & Engineering with an obsession to travel and a passion for photography

Askari by Mario Pereda

“A masai boy carrying a lamp at dusk. Near Masai Mara National Park (Kenya).”

Mario Pereda – Mario Pereda was born in Bilbao (Spain) in 1973. In 1996 he started his studies in the ‘Escuela Superior de Tenicos de la Imagen’ (EFTI) of Madrid, where he attended General, Professional and Master in Photography courses. Currently he works as a freelance photographer. His pictures have been published in several tour guides and press magazines like ‘Revista Osaca’ and ‘AZ. Revista del Empresario’. Moreover, he develops several personal photo projects. His work has been distinguished with more than 30 awards in several photo competitions and he has made two solo exhibitions in Madrid and Burgos.

Website: mpereda.photoshelter.com

Lesotho Cow Herder by David Lazar

“A boy from Semonkong, Lesotho, herds his cows across mountainous terrain, and past the highest waterfall in southern Africa, the Maletsunyane Falls.”

Equipment: Nikon D700

David Lazar – David Lazar is a travel photographer and musician from Brisbane, Australia, who loves to capture moments of life, beauty and culture through photography. He is drawn to locations which have a rich cultural background and he is especially interested in portrait and landscape photography.

Website: www.davidlazarphoto.com

Black Flamingos by Bhavya

“On Christmas Day 2011, I decided to meet flamingos. so I gear up my Car and Went To Khadir Island in Kutch district, about 410 kilometres (256 miles) India. Every year tens of thousands of Greater flamingos arrive to breed in the marshes of the Rann of Kutch region of Gujarat state. Its a wonderful place for birds and we can seen in image.. totally heavens for birds.
It was late Morning, Harsh opposite Light. so i decided to make this image Creative.. something Unique.
Just basic PP work (Lighting- Highlights, darken ) in Picasa.
I don’t have large telephoto lens for Birding, but Still I am Satisfied with this small lens. I believe that if we cannot reach the Subject than make subject creative, use your Imagination and than that looks more Unique.”

Equipment: Canon 550D-Tamron 70-300mm Macro

Bhavya – I am Passionate Wild life photographer

Website: www.flickr.com/photos/bhavya_joshi/

Venetian contrasts by Andre Viegas

“Small gondolas, huge cruises, that’s Venice! Italy.”

Equipment: D300s

Andre Viegas – amateur photographer from Portugal

Rainbow Falls Of Watkins Glen by Mark Papke

“Winding up the glen, the trail leads visitors through an assortment of cliffs and abutments that can best be described as natural sculptures. Each breathtaking scene after another is unique in sight and sound, and seemingly isolated from the rest of the gorge. The trail presents each scene perfectly, as if displaying landscape paintings lined up in a row. The aptly-named Glen Cathedral widens like a gothic church, with a natural pool, dubbed the Baptismal Font, facing the “cathedral’s” pulpit: a beautiful stone arch bridge and 60 ft Central Cascade. There’s no surprise that over the last hundred years or so, each segment of the glen, vista, rock feature, and waterfall has been nicknamed. Continue on to the Glen of Pools, and what many consider to be the “main attraction”: Rainbow Falls and Triple Cascade. Such a generic name does little justice to this majestic dreamscape. It has to be seen to be appreciated. “

Equipment: Nikon D7000, Nikon 17-55mm dx lens, Sijngh-ray vari-n-duo

Mark Papke – I am an amateur photographer trying to learn as many new things as possible hoping to someday maybe going beyond amateur status.

Website: mark-papke.artistwebsites.com/

Summer 2009 by Abhineet Seth

“This was shot at “Meerzapur” in Uttar Pradesh, India. I got the shot in the drought summers of 2009.”

Equipment: Fuji film fine pix s5700

Abhineet Seth – I am a free lance photographer,loves to do photography on NATURE, PLACES…etc

Congratulations once again to all the finalists!

We look forward to seeing more of your wonderful photographs in the next photo contest. To ensure you are notified when future contests open for entries, you can subscribe to my free email newsletter (or via rss).

Read to the bottom of this post to find out how you can win a luxury holiday for two to see the wildlife of the Cayman Islands!

To receive notification of future giveaways please Like my Facebook page, Follow me on Twitter or Subscribe to my newsletter.

Earlier this year I visited the Cayman Islands and spent just over a week photographing the islands’ varied wildlife. These small specks of land in the northwest Caribbean formed millions of years ago and were gradually populated by castaways. Over huge periods of time, these animals and plants evolved into a host of unique species, perhaps the most iconic being the Grand Cayman blue iguana…

Blue iguanas could be the most charismatic reptiles I’ve ever come across! Big males grow up to five-feet long and can be implausibly blue. They have evolved in a world without predatory mammals and as a result have no natural fear of man. If you approach one, it will usually regard you suspiciously with a knowing red eye and if you get too close it will give you a bout or two of vigorous head-nodding to let you know who’s boss!

Unfortunately, the blue iguanas’ nonchalance has played a significant role in the species’ downfall. The iguanas have no fear of the feral rats, cats and dogs that appeared alongside man, and as a result the young are easily picked off. Combine this with a propensity for basking on warm roads and ongoing habitat destruction, and you can see why the Grand Cayman blue iguana was once one of the most endangered creatures on Earth (a census in 2003 estimated that the total wild population was in the range of just 5 to 15 individuals).

However, the outlook for the iguanas is positive; the Blue Iguana Recovery Program is an inspirational conservation initiative. The program is centered around an ambitious captive breeding program which ensures genetic diversity is maintained and that young iguanas are raised in safety until they are large enough to deal with rats and cats. The program is also working to ensure that adequate iguana habitat is protected, so that the young iguanas can be released back into the wild. The Program is now only a few years away from reaching its initial target of 1,000 iguanas living in the wild. If you would like to find out more about the iguanas and the conservation efforts, I thoroughly recommend The Little Blue Book written by Fred Burton, founder and director of the Recovery Program.

In addition to the iguanas, I found myself photographing many other interesting creatures during my time on the islands. High on the intinerary for many tourists is a trip to “Stingray City”. This is a shallow sandbar where southern stingrays congregate. In the past, fishermen used to clean their catch here and this is what initially encouraged the stingrays to congregate. Now the tourists have taken over, feeding the stingrays chunks of chopped-up squid by hand. On jumping into the water, I was instantly mobbed by a dozen gigantic stingrays… it was a bizarre experience!

The Cayman Islands also make for a good birding destination. The islands attract many nesting seabirds and are a stop-off point for birds migrating between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The islands are also home to several interesting permanent residents including two unique sub-species of Cuban Amazon parrot. Photographing these parrots proved to be rather infuriating! On Grand Cayman they are not hard to see as they often fly overhead or sit on top of high trees squawking noisily. However, finding one low enough for a good shot took some perseverance and certainly tested my patience! Eventually I managed to get the shot above on the Mastic Trail, a beautiful forest walk that cuts straight through the wild heart of Grand Cayman Island.

No visit to Grand Cayman is complete without a stop at the beautiful Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park. Here I enjoyed wandering down peaceful walkways shaded by palms, keeping an eye-out for the resident iguanas and focusing my macro lens on rare Grand Cayman Ghost Orchids.

Having explored Grand Cayman, I moved on to the two “Sister Islands” – first a night on Cayman Brac and then a couple of nights on Little Cayman.

Cayman Brac is very different from the other two islands; its spine consists of a prominent limestone bluff which runs the length of the island and terminates in some impressive 43m-high cliffs on the East coast. Naturally, these cliffs made a tempting target for my only sunrise on the island. On top of the cliffs is a colony of brown boobies. Much to my delight, I found a couple of nesting pairs and enjoyed photographing the big, fluffy, white chicks!

Little Cayman is the quietest of the three islands – it has a population of just 150 people. Here another iguana can be found, the Sister Isles Rock Iguana. On this island, iguanas rule – they outnumber humans by more than 10 to 1! The island is also home to a large breeding colony of red-footed boobies. Piratical frigatebirds patrol the coastline between the colony and the open ocean, waiting to steal food from the boobies as they return to their nests. Watching the wheeling antics of these birds as they engaged in aerial battles provided me with a good excuse to spend a few moments sitting on the beach!

To see more photographs of the islands’ wildlife, please check out my Cayman Islands gallery.

Win a Luxury Wildlife Holiday for Two in the Cayman Islands!

I have partnered with the Cayman Islands, Wildlife Worldwide and responsibletravel.com to bring you another awesome holiday giveaway! This is your chance to win an amazing 7-day trip for two to experience the wildlife of the Cayman Islands for yourself!

Here’s what’s included in the prize:

• International flights from London
• 7 nights accommodation – 5 nights on Grand Cayman and 2 nights Little Cayman
• Domestic flights to and from Little Cayman
• 5-day car hire on Grand Cayman
• Visit to the Botanic Park
• Guided Mastic Trail walk
• Your choice of a kayak tour or visit to Stingray City

The competition deadline is 28th February 2013. Please note that this giveaway is open to participants worldwide but only flights from London are included (therefore, if you live outside the UK, you will need to make your own arrangements for getting to London or the Cayman Islands).

» Click here to register for this giveaway »

To receive notification of future giveaways please Like my Facebook page, Follow me on Twitter or Subscribe to my newsletter.

Here are the results of my 2012 Wildlife Photo Competition. Thank you to everyone who entered and well done to the talented photographers whose images appear in the final selection below.

Thank you to Committed Photography for providing the following prizes:

• Winner: 16×24 framed print of your winning shot (estimated value of $250)
• Runners up x 2: 16×24 prints unframed (value of $50 each)

Winner

Our wildlife photo contest winner is Chris Minihane with his atmospheric image of a rhino in Kenya. Congratulations Chris!

The Rhino by Chris Minihane

The Rhino by Chris Minihane

“A lone rhino stands on the dusty shores of Lake Naivasha at dusk, Kenya.”

Equipment: Nikon D300 12MM lens

Chris Minihane originally hails from the Bay Area in California, eventually spending 14 years in North and East Africa photographing the Maasai in Kenya and delving wholeheartedly into photojournalism for the United Nations.
An award-winning photographer, Chris is represented by Getty, Alamy and National Geographic and has been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries and juried exhibits in Paris, New York, London, Washington DC, Hong Kong, Sydney, San Francisco and more.
Chris’ work has graced the pages of several books and magazines and most recently was awarded a coveted honor for outstanding achievement in high dynamic range photography.

Website: chrisminihanephotography.wordpress.com

Runners-up

Congratulations to our runners-up, Mark Bridger and Paul Cowell!

Dusk by Mark Bridger

Dusk by Mark Bridger

“A wild barn owl hunting over the Norfolk Marshes at dusk.”

Equipment: Canon 1Dmk4 Canon 500f4 IS L + 1.4TC

Mark Bridger – I am 43 years old and live in the UK. I have been taking mainly wildlife photos for about three years now, I love to photograph all animals from the smallest of bugs to the largest of beasts.

Website: www.bridgephotography.co.uk

Breaking a Ball by Paul Cowell

Breaking a Ball by Paul Cowell

“White tip reef shark breaking into a sardine ball – South Africa”

Equipment: Canon Eos 5D mk 1

Paul Cowell – Keen amateur photographer and scuba diver

Website: www.flickr.com/photos/paulcowell/

Highly Commended Images

Our highly commended images are fantastic shots that illustrate the amazing variety of entries we received. Well done to everyone who made it onto this list!

Deep Drink and a Blue Sky by Mike Dexter

“Cloud and water are rare commodities in the dry season on Mashatu Game Reserve. An elephant quenches its thirst at a small waterhole while cloud overhead provides a seldom seen backdrop in this part of the world.”

Equipment: Canon 7D, Canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS

Mike Dexter – I’m a professional wildlife photographer based in Botswana. For the last year much of my photography has been from an underground hide just meters from a very productive waterhole in the dry and remote north eastern corner of the country.

Website: www.mikedexter.com

Snorting Hippo by Kurt Jay Bertels

“When hippos want to protect their water form perceived intruders, they put on a great display, usually culminating in the classic yawn. I wanted to show a different stage of the display, and captured the start of the display – the snort that precedes the yawn.”

Kurt Jay Bertels – I started photography at the age of 9, and have focused mainly on wildlife. I have spent the last 8 years working in the game parks of Africa, and now lead photographic safaris throughout the world.

Website: www.50safaris.com

Night Butterfly by Arseniy

“Young butterfly”

Equipment: Nikon D3s + Nikkor 105 2,8 VR

Arseniy – Student, make photos since 2006.

Hoopoe by Giovanni Frescura

“Canon 1D Mark IV
Canon 300 f.2.8, iso 800, 1/2500, f.3.2″

Giovanni Frescura – Wildlife, silent, nature ..what more could you want?

Chameleon Lunch by Simone Sbaraglia

“Panther Chameleon in the Andasibe rainforest of Madagascar”

Equipment: Nikon D300, Nikon 70-200 VR

Simone Sbaraglia – Simone Sbaraglia is a professional nature and wildlife photographer based in Rome. His work aims at highlighting the beauty, harmony and uniqueness of our planet, in the hope that it can be preserved for the future generations.

Website: www.simonesbaraglia.com

Maldina and her Spiderlings by Olivier Roland

“A 15mm female Amaurobius spider protecting her recently hatched spiderlings.”

Equipment: Pentax K5 with a reversed 50mm lens on extension tubes

Olivier Roland – I am a belgian graphic designer and photographer, I take photos of everything but the spiders are my favourite subjects, it’s probably their bad reputation that made me want to look into it, for finally realizing how ridiculous and disproportionate is the phobia they can generate in us.

Website: www.riprod.net

Stormy Romance by Kurt Jay Bertels

“Mating lions have been photographed over and over again, so when I found a mating pair, I went for something a little different. I used a polecam, and hours of patiently edging close enough until the lions filled the frame, and changed the angle on a ‘tired shot’, which gave a great new perspective.”

Kurt Jay Bertels – I started photography at the age of 9, and have focused mainly on wildlife. I have spent the last 8 years working in the game parks of Africa, and now lead photographic safaris throughout the world.

Website: www.50safaris.com

Blesbok Silhouette by Phil Perry

“Group of Blesbok silhouetted against the Malolotja mountains.”

Equipment: Canon EOS 40D + Canon 100-400mm @ 100mm

Phil Perry – A lifelong naturalist, I have taken wildlife photographs for many years. I currently live in Swaziland in Southern Africa.

Website: www.pperrywildlifephotos.org.sz

Skimming a Wave by Bill Klipp

“The seas of the Southern Ocean suddenly flattened and became smooth as glass. I positioned myself on the side of the ship to photograph the Petrels and other sea bids as they glided alongside us. After an hour plus and hundreds of shots this one of a Pintado Petrel’s wing tip skimming the surface was my favorite.”

Equipment: Nikon D300 with nikkor 70-200mm f2.8

Bill Klipp – Hi my name is Bill Klipp and after spending what felt like a life time in the Financial Services Industry my wife Linda and I were able to retire and turn our life long interests into a passions and obsessions. Our intense interest in the natural world couples well with our passion for photography and our love of exotic travel. Our hope is to create compelling images to promote an appreciation of the Natural World to help safeguard the biodiversity of the planet and the integrity of its natural ecosystems.
As you wander through our online photo galleries you will quickly see that we focus on Nature and Travel images. Our website highlights some of our favorite images taken over the last several years. Our photo galleries will take you to places like Namibia and other Southern African countries, Cuba, the Amazon, The Galapagos Islands, East Africa, The Baja, Machu Pichu, Brazil’s Pantanal, Alaska, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America, Europe the Arctic and Antarctica as well as local images from near our homes in Key West Florida and Discovery Bay California.

Website: www.wkimages.net

Whale Sharks Passing by Steve De Neef

“Two whale sharks pass by in the Visayan region of the Philippines. This area is an important place for migrating whale sharks as in the right season, food is abundant. “

Equipment: Canon 5D markIII, Canon 16-35mm f2.8, Nauticam Housing

Steve De Neef – I’m an aspiring underwater/documentary photographer trying to share the beauty of our blue planet. Currently I’m working around Asia as a freelance photographer.

Website: www.stevedeneef.com

Congratulations once again to all the finalists!

We look forward to seeing more of your wonderful wildlife photographs in next year’s wildlife photo contest. To ensure you are notified when future contests open for entries, you can subscribe to my free email newsletter (or via rss).

Enter the current photo contest: Travel Photo Competition

Since moving to Zambia I have been fortunate to meet some generous and visionary people in the safari industry. In particular, I have started working closely with the team behind Safarious, a new social network for those with a sense of adventure, and The Bushcamp Company, a luxury safari operator based in South Luangwa National Park. I have teamed up with these companies to bring to you a truly awesome opportunity… the chance to win a week’s luxury safari for two worth over $10,500! Read on to find out more…

Safarious

Safarious is a social network aimed at both curious adventurers and serious wilderness professionals. It is a place where you can share the natural world, explore exotic locations and connect with like minded individuals. The community is committed to sustainable use and discovery of the world’s wild places. The best way to get a feel for the site is to sign up and start exploring. You can also share your own experiences by publishing journals and uploading photos and videos. You can check out my Safarious profile here.

The Prize

We have an incredible prize for you: a 7-day safari for two courtesy of The Bushcamp Company with a total value exceeding US $10,500! The Bushcamp Company operates Mfuwe Lodge and also six small luxury bushcamps in a remote region of South Luangwa National Park. As part of the prize, you will be able to pick a combination of these camps to stay in! You will find yourself immersed in a remote, unspoilt African wilderness and have the opportunity to see some stunning wildlife (many of my photographs were taken in the area around these camps). All internal flights and transfers within Zambia are included in the prize. To find out more, visit The Bushcamp Company’s website or like their facebook page.

How to Enter

To enter this giveaway, all you need to do is:

1) Join Safarious through this sign-up page, and complete your profile by entering your name, a brief bio and uploading a profile picture. Make sure you also click on the email verification link in the welcome email.

2) Please then click here and enter your details so that I can track your entry. I will pick a winner at random from those who have entered their details.

Terms and Conditions

• The deadline for entering is 24th November 2012.
• Winner will be selected at random in a blind draw and will be notified by email by 30th November 2012. The winner will also be announced in an update to this post.
• The prize is non-transferable, non-refundable and cannot be exchanged for cash or any other alternative. The prize cannot be sold, auctioned or given away (i.e. one of the people that attends the safari must be the person drawn).
• At least one of the attendees of the safari must be aged 18 or over.
• The prize-winners choice of dates and camps is subject to availability.
• The prize for two people must be booked together. If the winner does not choose an accompanying travel partner then the other place will be forfeited.
• The prize includes internal flights from Lusaka (the capital of Zambia) to Mfuwe. You will be responsible for getting to Lusaka. There are direct flights to Lusaka from Johannesburg, London and several other convenient international hubs.
• The prize includes meals while staying with the Bushcamp Company. The prize-winner will be responsible for drinks and other costs of a personal nature such as travel insurance.
• The prize must be claimed within one year of the winner being notified.
• Once the prize is booked and confirmed, any costs incurred due to alterations or cancellations made by the prize winner will be at the prize winner’s expense.
• It is the responsibility of the prize winner to ascertain if a Zambian visa is required for travel and if so, it is their responsibility to obtain and pay for it.
• This giveaway is not open to relatives or employees of Will Burrard-Lucas, The Bushcamp Company or Safarious.

Future Giveaways

I have a number of other giveaways lined-up. If you would like to be notified when these are launched, please subscribe to my free email newsletter.

So this is my first proper post from Africa! I have been in Zambia for two months and I’ve been keeping myself busy! August was taken up with buying a capable 4×4 and moving into our new house in Katete. Once set-up I was then able to get on with the important task of photographing some wildlife!

In September I was able to make several trips up to South Luangwa National Park, courtesy of two of Zambia’s leading safari operators – The Bushcamp Company and Norman Carr Safaris. My aim for this year is to document the changing face of the park through the seasons. September is the height of the dry season. Animals are forced to congregate near the permanent water sources such as the Luangwa River and the few remaining waterholes. As a result, the pickings for the predators are plentiful.

The Luangwa Valley is well known as one of the best places in Africa to see the elusive leopard and it wasn’t long before it had lived up to its reputation; on my first visit to the park, I came across a mother with two 9-month-old cubs in daylight. This was the first time I’d had the opportunity to photograph a leopard with BeetleCam so I immediately deployed it.

The leopard cubs responded rather like the lion cubs from previous encounters – they were bold and inquisitive. Fortunately, they were slightly more respectful than their lion counterparts and I was spared the sight of my BeetleCam being carried off into the bush or up a tree!

On my next visit to the park, I headed further north. There I found some incredible old ebony groves. The towering black trunks, green canopy and carpet of fallen leaves reminded me of an enchanted forest rather than a habitat I expected to find in Africa. By a stroke of good fortune, I came across a pride of lions in one such grove and used BeetleCam to take the image above of a lioness in this unusual habitat.

Next, I ventured further into the interior of the park, to a camp on the seasonal Luwi River. Here there is a permanent lagoon, which is the only source of water for many miles. This lagoon is stuffed full of crocodiles and hippos. During the day, the crocs haul themselves out of the water to bask in the sun. I decided to try and get a BeetleCam perspective of a croc emerging from the water. This turned out to be more difficult than expected… the crocs were very wary of BeetleCam and refused to come anywhere near it. Eventually, after several days of perseverance, I managed to the shot I wanted using a camouflaged remote camera.

September is the month that thousands of carmine bee-eaters arrive in the valley to start building their nests in the banks of the Luangwa River. They form large, vibrant colonies, which add a dazzling splash of colour to the muted tones of the dry season.

Over the final weekend of the month, I headed down to a remote camp on the banks of the Kapamba River. Here the local pride of lions consists of two lionesses and five large cubs. At this time of year herds of buffalo, puku and impala have no choice but to congregate near the river and the lions take full advantage of the situation. In one afternoon I watched them take down two impala in the space of a minute. It all happened less than 50m away and it wasn’t long before BeetleCam was on the scene, inching towards five ravenous cubs and the rapidly disappearing antelope.

September flew by and was full of excitement and photographic opportunities. I have really been enjoying the freedom that comes from having my own vehicle and exploring the vast African wilderness on my own. It is also very refreshing to have the luxury of time to really become familiar with an area and its wildlife.

As September progressed, the days grew hotter and hotter, a trend that will continue through October until the first rains bring some relief at the end of the month. After the first downpour, the valley will change completely, almost overnight; the air will clear, dramatic skies start building up overhead and everything will turn green. The impalas will all give birth in the space of a few days and migratory birds will start to arrive from far and wide. I can’t wait to document the transition into wet-season. If you would like to follow my year in Zambia, please subscribe to my email newsletter. I am also regularly posting my latest photos on Facebook, if you would like to receive my updates, please “like” my page.

The final competition in our 2012 photo contest series is now open for entries! The theme is “Travel”. We are looking for striking, original and beautiful travel photographs that reveal the wonders of our planet. You are not limited to any subject matter in particular; travel photography can portray many things including an area’s people, cultures, customs, history or landscape. For some inspiration, check out the results of previous years’ contests: 2009, 2010 & 2011. The deadline for this contest is 31st December 2012.

We have some fantastic prizes on offer including the chance to win a Canon EOS 60D Digital SLR camera (more info).

Prizes

The Canon EOS 60D is designed for photographers who want to take their skills to the next level, offering high performance, a series of creative features, a Vari-angle LCD screen and enhanced ergonomics, this camera empowers photography enthusiasts to capture outstanding stills and Full High Definition (HD) video for unique, creative results. The EOS 60D has an incredible feature set including an 18 MP APS-C CMOS sensor, a Vari-angle 7.7cm 3:2 ratio LCD, Full HD movies, ISO 100-6400 (H:12800), 5.3fps shooting for up to 58 JPEGs, 9-point cross type AF System and more!

We also have the following additional prizes kindly donated by Committed Photography:

• Winner: 16×24 framed print of your winning shot (estimated value of $250)
• Runners up x 2: 16×24 prints unframed (value of $50 each)

Committed Photography is an easy way for semi-pro and pro photographers to promote and sell their work. You receive unlimited uploads, full control on pricing your work, and an 80% commission on sales. Click here for more information and to create your free account.

Rules

• The contest theme is Travel.
• This competition is open to participants worldwide.
• There is no entry fee.
• You must be the photographer and owner of the copyright for any image entered.
• Entrants can submit a maximum of three images to this contest.
• Please keep digital manipulation such as cloning and compositing to a minimum; your photograph should faithfully represent the scene as you saw it. HDR images and stitched panoramas are allowed.
• Submitted images should be 1024 pixels along the long edge and less than 800kb in size.
• Please do not include a border.
• A subtle watermark may be included but it must not detract from the image.
• You will retain copyright of your entries at all times and will always be credited alongside your picture.
• By entering this competition, you grant us a non-exclusive license to display your photograph in connection with this contest. Photographers will always be credited alongside their image.
• We may allow other websites to display a selection of the winning/highly commended images in order to publicise the results of this contest. Photographers will always be credited alongside their image.
• Under no-circumstance will we use submitted images for commercial gain unless it has been agreed on a case by case basis with the photographer.
• Please note that entries are kept private (i.e. you cannot browse the other submissions).
• The deadline for entry is 31st December 2012.
• Winners will be announced by 1st January 2013.

» Click here to Enter this Contest «

To receive notification when the winners are announced, and to find out about future contests, please subscribe to our free newsletter. You can either subscribe by email or via RSS.

I have some exciting news… I am moving to Zambia!

I am going to be spending the next year travelling around Zambia and some of the neighbouring countries. I am looking forward to getting stuck in to some serious, in-depth photography projects!

While I’m away I will be updating my blog with my latest adventures. You can subscribe to my newsletter to receive my posts via email. I will also be keeping a video journal which you can subscribe to on YouTube.

Join me in Africa!

While I’m in Africa, I will be available to hire as a freelance photography guide. If you would like to experience remote Africa, improve your photography and return home with some fantastic photographs, then please get in touch. Together we can design a trip that is 100% bespoke and private.

My wife, Nat, is a doctor and is going to be spending the year working in a remote rural hospital. For more insights into our life in Africa, please subscribe to Nat’s blog.

Finally, remember you can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Google+ for updates from the field!