Kenya various

I'm sitting on the shore of Lake Baringo, a world famous birding location. It's my last night in Kenya, so I'm bracing myself for the return to cold and snow! I've been having trouble posting to the blog during the trip due to poor cellular internet connections. It's been easier to post to facebook, so click on the link to the right to check out a few more updates from the past couple of weeks. 

Here's a few random shots for the trip....

Photo 1 is a Hamerkop attempting to choke back a large toad in Lake Nakuru National Park.
Photo 2 is a Giraffe feeding on acacia trees on Crescent Island.
Photo 3 is a Hippo with flamingos in the background, Lake Nakuru National Park.
More details and photos once I get back home to my desktop computer and speedy internet!

Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya



Photo 1 (above): Lions playing before the evening hunt, Masai Mara, Kenya. Canon EOS 1Ds mark III, EF 500mm f/4 lens & 1.4x teleconvertor

We departed from Masai Mara National Reserve this morning after several days of shooting in the park. To say that it was awesome is an understatement. There were lions and giraffes and hippos and wildebeast and so much more!! If you dream of photographing wildlife in plentiful quantities, of many species, and very close, then book yourself a trip to Kenya right now and go to the Mara.

There are three of us photographing together - myself, Craig Blair aka "the Canon Rumors guy" and friend Mike Gaudaur who lives in Kenya and is most generously hosting us. In the Mara you have to stay in your vehicle (there are lions to eat you and cape buffalo to charge you), so we had Mike's Toyota Prado SUV jam packed with camera gear.... there were big lenses bouncing all over on the bumpy roads.


Photo 2 (above): Lions relaxing before the evening hunt, Masai Mara, Kenya. Canon EOS 1Ds mark III, EF 500mm f/4 lens & 2x teleconvertor. We saw lions every day in the Mara; I likely have hundreds of photos of them to edit.


Photo 3 (above): Vervet Monkey, Masai Mara, Kenya. Canon EOS 1Ds mark III, EF 500mm f/4 lens & 1.4x teleconvertor. We ate a boxed lunch at the Mara River after photographing hippos for a couple of hours. A group of Vervet Monkeys quickly swarmed us and picked through the remains of our lunch boxes.


Photo 4 (above): Caracal, Masai Mara, Kenya. Canon EOS 1Ds mark III, EF 500mm f/4 lens & 1.4x teleconvertor. We lucked into this cat, an elusive and rarely seen species. We each managed to fire a handful of photos before it took off to start hunting for the evening.


Photo 5 (above): Giraffe and Zebra, Masai Mara, Kenya. Canon EOS 1Ds mark III, EF 500mm f/4 lens & 1.4x teleconvertor. The Mara has magnificent vistas of the African savannah ecosystem, all the better when there are animals posing in the frame!

Amboseli National Park, Kenya - part 1

I just spent two awesome days shooting in Amboseli National Park. There were so many different species of mammals and birds that it was completely overwhelming, especially since it's my first trip to Africa. I probably shot a hundred gigabytes of photos and video and I've barely had a chance to review the images, let alone edit any. I'm completely exhausted but couldn't resist posting a couple early favorites. Tomorrow we're off to Masai Mara National Park for four days... really looking forward to it!


Photo 1 (above): Yellow (Chacma) Baboon, Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Canon EOS 1Ds mark III; EF 500/4 lens. This baboon sat next to our van for about a half hour and stared at me (apparently wanting a handout of food). I nicknamed it "Bob-boon" and came to the realisation that I'm a baboonatic. Sorry, the lack of sleep causes me to make bad puns.


Photo 2 (above): Crowned Cranes, Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Canon EOS 1Ds mark III; EF 500/4 lens. Crowned Cranes were all over Amboseli and we had great chances to shoot a range of photos of them, but my favorites were of pairs together.

Kenya bound...

My bags are packed and off to the airport in a half hour en route to Kenya for a couple weeks of photography. Here's what I travel with (above).... 

Bag 1 (left) Carry-on is a Gura Kiboko bag with all the really expensive, fragile stuff (bodies, lenses, filters). Gura is the best bag for traveling with a ton of gear! I've got a 500/4, 300/2.8, 70-200/4, 24-70/2.8, 24TSE, 17-40/4, 1DS mark III and 5D mark II in there... amazing that it all fits! 

2) Personal item (second carry-on) has laptop, documents, point and shoot, etc.

3) Checked bag is a large MEC duffle bag (very little weight in the bag iteself) with tripods, heads, reflectors, chargers all padded with underwear, t-shirts, pants, etc!

Dust is always a problem for me on photo shoots and I expect it to be bad in the dry African savannah ecosystems. Dust is especially problematic for shooting video with tee 5D mark II.... it's a serious pain to remove dust spots from HD video! To save me the agony, I'm now using a product called Dust-Shield, which is an optical quality thin plastic film that seals the camera chamber and prevents dust from getting on the sensor. I just had my camera cleaned and put a fresh dust shield on... see next two photos. It works great and makes life so much easier! 


The next photo is the most important item I'll be traveling... Imodium! In foreign countries, you're exposed to a range of 'bugs' that will inevitably result in gastro-intestinal distress. Imodium has saved me on many trips, so I could keep photographing and spent less time in agony in third-world washrooms! 

Be sure to follow the blog and my facebook page over the next couple weeks to see the photos and hear the stories from the trip!