The last few weeks have been wet. Very wet.
All the water is fantastic for the bush and it is amazing to see how thick and green the bush is, especially for this time of year, but it tends to make wildlife photography slightly more challenging then under normal circumstance. Does not make it impossible, just a little more challenging. The animals tend to behave differently, your equipment gets wet and you generally feel cold and miserable but if you keep your eyes open there will still be photographic opportunities everywhere.
After a few requests I will be doing a post specifically on wildlife photography in the rain so will hopefully get around to that next week when I get to JHB for a few off days. To jump the gun a but I thought I would post two images I shot yesterday morning. We were just leaving the lodge when we bumped into a group of 5 spotter hyena walking along the road. These often misunderstood creatures tend to be overlooked but with a slight drizzle and heavy mist hanging over Madikwe they seemed very much in place. Almost like something from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. (Damn that goes way back!)
As we follow them on the road we came around a corner, they stopped and the shot pretty much made itself. The tree, the curving road, heavy mist and two hyenas. Click.
Gotta love it when a scene comes together. We followed them for another 5 minutes or so when one of the scavengers stopped in a puddle and turned around to look at us. Again, subject in the foreground, curving road, objects in the background to complete the story. Click.
Follow. Look. Click. I wish it was always that easy to create moody, story telling type images.
Right, I have gotten this far in the post without using the ‘hyenas in the mist’ phrase so gonna leave it there for now. Also had to resist the urge to make that the title of this post! ;) More on wildlife photography in the rain and mist next week.
Tomorrow is Thursday so make sure to join Paul McDougall, tomorrow’s guest blogger, for Living the Dream. I met Paul, a 30 year old photographer from the UK now living in Kenya, on Facebook and am very pleased that he agreed to do a post on Photo-Africa. In his post Paul writes about wildlife photography, setting up his business, safaris in Kenya, his future and some amazing wildlife images. Great read so make sure to pop in tomorrow!
One more thing before I go. If you are in Johannesburg on 22 May, why not come and join me and Kerry de Bruyn for a fun and interactive full day photography workshop at the Inanda Country Club? Places are filling up so check here for more info or just email me!
I’ll see ya again on Friday! 
Gerry
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Misty mornings and gnarled old trees are two of my favorite things. Combine that with African wildlife and this is one of my favorites of yours, easily!