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WILDLIFE BLOG
Skills: Choosing from a sequence of images
Whenever I see the chance to photograph an animal jumping over (or going through!) a channel or river, I move quickly to get the best angle possible and prepare my guests for getting the shots. Generally, we try to be side-on (or slightly 'ahead' if possible) so that the animal is jumping perpendicular to us (or slightly towards us) and we can see the obstacle that they are jumping. In this case, being slightly higher is [...]
Trip Report: Emerald Season | Nkwali Camp & Luangwa River Camp | May 2023
During the last couple of years, I really promoted the Emerald Season. Not only is it a pity that this special period of the year had not been busy for me in the past, but I wanted to share it with guests. Many agents are too focused on the supposed "best" time to visit certain areas and it's nice to break the preconceptions. I have now run 3 Emerald Season Safaris in the Luangwa this year, [...]
Trip Report: Uganda | May/June 2023
I have just returned from a tour around the beautiful and welcoming country of Uganda; in a 10 day trip, we visited an incredibly diverse and spectacular range of habitats and experienced wonderful wildlife and scenery throughout. I am running a photo-safari to Uganda & Kenya next year which will follow roughly this Uganda itinerary (and then a week with Laikipia Wilderness in central Kenya) and the tour has space for one guest in single occupancy. [...]
Trip Report: Emerald Season | Track & Trail, River Camp & Nkwali Camps | Apr/May 2023
I always really look forward to my Emerald Season safaris. It's a beautiful time of year, there are lots of great subjects around - including breeding birds as well as all the usual sightings we enjoy in the Luangwa - and the cool temperatures give a long window of safari time in the mornings. My group of 4 had all travelled with me, or met me while in the Luangwa, so it was great to see [...]
Trip Report: Emerald Season | Track & Trail River Camp | Apr 2023
Mike has travelled with me several times before. Many of you will remember his reports from previous trips, and shared in the sightings that we have enjoyed. This time, we changed the arrangements slightly and he visited in the Emerald Season so that he would see a slightly different time of year with change in light, sightings and subjects. We had a lot of fun and were beautifully hosted by Track & Trail River Camp on [...]
Tour Info: Single space on Two Valley Photo Safari in 19-28 Sep 2023
Due to unfortunate illness, I have a last-minute place on a safari to Lion Camp & Anabezi Camp later this year. These camps are sited in two of the best wildlife areas in Zambia. Lion Camp's privileged position on the edge of a grassy dambo in the private and game-rich northern sector of the South Luangwa National Park ensures us 4 days of great viewing of all the headline species of the area. The timing of [...]
Guest Report: Mike White | Track & Trail River Camp | Apr 2023
Mike White has travelled with me many times since 2017. It's really a pleasure to spend time with someone who loves this area as much as I do and is willing to return again and again to reconnect with the wildlife. He's very accomplished as a wildlife and landscape photographer in the UK, so it's fun to help him transfer those skills to the bush. This time, he visited in April, towards the end of the [...]
Photo Training Programme – Mjose Jozie
Alongside the thriving tourism industry of the South Luangwa is a community which is the rightful owner of the assets on which this industry depends. Their revenue stream is significant, in the form of employment, payments for goods and services bought in the area and, if all goes well, protection of that asset for the future. As the community grows and develops, there open up opportunities for new services which had not been offered before. I [...]
Skills: A discussion about the Canon EOS R5
I have been using the Canon EOS R5 for almost a year. I've put it through a safari season, with all the associated travel, knocks, bumps and dust which that entails, and I'm happy to say that it's coped very well. It doesn't have the ruggedness (some might say brick-like) feel of a 1-Series camera, but it doesn't claim to, and I enjoy the lighter weight of the camera in my hand. I added the BG-R10 [...]
Wildlife: One morning in April
Social media is full of high-impact, impressive images and videos which are a curated selection of events from the whole experience that is being promoted. This is true of the feed created by individuals as much as it is of companies hoping to sell their wares. And it's not that surprising; we have become conditioned to amazing images with huge emotional impact so our benchmark is constantly increased. Images which are poorly presented, or depict something [...]
Wildlife: a New Life in Luangwa
November is a challenging time in the Luangwa. It's hot as hell, we are approaching the end of the season, and both people and animals are counting the days until the arrival of rain brings respite to the land. The sun rises early, long before 5 o'clock, and the hot days drag on until the sun finally sets close to 7 o'clock. Early one morning, I entered the park and took the first left to follow [...]
Through the Lens: Ways to Photograph Elephants
Despite being the icon of Africa, savannah elephants are among the most difficult species to photograph well. I think there are four approaches which work effectively: family and group shots; behaviour; close ups and elephant-scapes. There are certainly other techniques which can be used too, but these are tried and tested methods which I know will yield good results. Starting with family and group shots with captions to explain the thinking behind each image. A low [...]
EDWARD SELFE
I organise & run photographic safaris in the finest wildlife areas on Earth.
