Story Behind the Picture: Macaws at Clay Lick
Nikon D5, Nikon 600mm, f8, 1/1000th second I first became aware of the mind-boggling biodiversity of Manu and Tambopata in the Peruvian Amazon during my undergraduate years at Nottingham University. It sowed a seed. This was further reinforced, when Andre Bartschi won the overall title in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year of 1992 with…
Read MoreStory Behind the Picture: Polar Bear Glow
Nikon D2x, Nikon 200-400mm @400mm, f4, 1600th second It’s intuitive to think of polar bears walking across vast snow fields or swimming through ice flows. Seeing the Arctic’s apex predator on dry land in the warm glow of late evening sunshine is not an image than immediately springs to mind. And yet there is a…
Read MoreStory Behind the Picture: Beach Bum Chameleon
Nikon D3, Nikon 14mm, f11, 125th second Chameleons are one of the animal groups that help define Madagascar (the other major one being lemurs of course). But they are masters of concealment so finding them during the day is tough. It is actually easier to find them when they’re sleeping at night, but they are…
Read MoreStory Behind the Picture: Tiger Blur
Nikon D2x, Nikon 70-200mm @ 100mm, f11, 1/4 second I envisaged this picture ten years before I was able to take it. It remains one of my favourite tiger images. Motion blur is a technique that divides photography: in common with Marmite, you either love it or hate it. I’m partial to both. The technique…
Read MoreNorthern Serengeti 2019: the Alternative Serengeti
Along with Kenya’s neighbouring Masai Mara, the Serengeti in Tanzania must be one of the most visited wildlife locations there is. The park’s popularity is rightly justified: it remains one of the very best safari destinations in Africa. Most might assume that this popularity comes at a price and that it is virtually impossible to…
Read MoreKomodo & Sulawesi 2019: Into the Dragon’s Den
In common with so many, my introduction to Komodo came courtesy of David Attenborough. Zoo Quest for a Dragon was first broadcast in 1956 (well before I was born) and it took Sir David and the film crew some four months to reach the Indonesian island from the UK. Today, the journey is easily manageable…
Read MoreSingalila 2018 Recce Trip Report: Worth Pandering Too?
A young red panda in Singalila Forest We are very fortunate to be around at this time. OK we have to put up with bloody Brexit, buffoons like Boris and Trump and hideous, vacuous TV like Love Island (thank goodness for the off switch), but like no other generation we have the opportunity to indulge…
Read MorePatagonia 2018 Trip Report: The Best Big Cat Experience in the World? Probably.
A female puma (foreground) with two of her near-adult cubs My vote for the most exciting, spine tingling animal to see in the wild will always go to the tiger. The ultimate big cat. But I’d also be the first to admit that the circumstances and situation in many national parks in India can, at…
Read MoreBorneo 2018 Trip Report: Head in the Clouds, Feet in the Mud
Tropical rainforests are my favourite habitat and those that remain in Sabah, Borneo (the ones that have thus far avoided being felled to make way for oil palm) are amongst the very best there are anywhere in the world. I’ve been visiting Borneo now for 30 years and it remains one of my favourite haunts,…
Read MoreLadakh 2018 Trip Report: Searching for Snow Leopards turns out to be a Game of Two Halves
A magnificent adult lammergeier or bearded vulture After a successful first venture to Ladakh in 2017 to look for snow leopards, I returned in March 2018 to spend a month in the mountains hoping to improve and expand up on my modest portfolio of images. The month was split very neatly into two halves: for…
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