The last few weeks have been crazy but what a ride!

After a fantastic three week break it’s back to work and with new ideas, mixed feelings and a whole lot of inspiration there is no doubt that 2010 is gearing up to be quite an interesting year.  The break away from wildlife and lodges was very necessary and it is good to sometimes step back, put things in perspective and make clear decisions on where everything is going from both a professional and personal point of view.  There is an old cliched Chinese curse which goes something like ‘May you live in interesting times’ which pretty much sums it up.  For now.

Having done a lot of non-wildlife photography the last few weeks, which ranged from portrait and hospitality assignments to pretty much anything you can imagine in Bangkok, I am photographically very ready and keen to get back into the wild.  Photography is a continual learning curve and the more you do it the more you learn.  Shooting something that falls outside, way outside, of your comfort zone is one of the best ways in which you can get a whole fresh feeling and approach to your photography.

Portrait photography teaches you different posing techniques.  Exterior photography helps you to look for patterns, lines and shapes while food photography makes you focus on texture and depth of field.  By shooting different subjects and scenes it is almost inevitable that you will improve as a photographer.  And it’s great fun as well.

Now that I am looking forward to getting back to wildlife photography, and trying some new things, it was great to read through David Lloyd’s guest from yesterday. I find David’s images inspirational and his approach to his wildlife photography is quite refreshing.  A big shout out to David for a great post!  If you haven’t yet, make sure to check out David’s website and image galleries.

Now apart from the great images, the last line of David’s post got me thinking.  It never hurts to have a dream.

So, when was the last time you had a dream?  I am not referring to the kind of dream that you half remember during the first cup of coffee the next morning but a dream you can see and feel.  A goal.  Photographic goal?  Personal?  Professional?

A dream might be a little bit more ‘optimistic’ than a concrete goal but the journey can be just as rewarding.  Photographically you will learn a lot along the way and in between a lot of missed shots you will end up with one or two images that will act as stepping stones to take your work to that next level.  I’m sure professional and personal dreams might be the same – if you are willing to deal with a few hiccups along the way.

So with the weekend coming up, why not try something different. Go out, with someone else if you can, and take photographs of something that you have never photographed before.  Go out and shoot something for the first time, learn from it and then go back to your favorite subject and see what new ways you can think of to create images of it.  Good exercise and, hopefully, even better images!

I’ll be back on Monday.  Have a good one!

Gerry

Someone once remarked to me the pointlessness of storing pictures on computers after taking them.  I did this for a long time.  Then I used my other skills to make a website to show them to other people. Then suddenly with that, a Flickr account, and a Facebook fan page I’ve had an unexpected number of requests for publications, including a national newspaper coverage of my white sparrow, some of battling crocodiles, red deer, and one nice one I took in Rwanda for National Geographic Traveler.  I feel so far I’ve not properly tried, all this is on the back of that little snippet of advice.

I’m a New Zealander living in England, married to a Welsh girl who also loves Africa.  Gina and I travel about three times a year, mostly to African countries, but sometimes we’ll try out something different – later this year we’ll visit India and next year Antarctica.  But this year it’s Africa thrice again, Botwsana (I’ve always wanted to paddle the Delta since I was a kid), Kenya in time for the migration like we did last year, and possibly Zambia at the end of it.  In these places, people may buy themselves drums, masks and carvings, but my souvenirs are my photos. Once bitten, then many times so, that is Africa.

I’ve always used Nikon cameras and there’s no reason to change. Normally it’s a D700 and D300 with a 70-200 on one and a 200-400 on the other.  With a 12-24 that covers most things.  I have a 50 f/1.4 and an 85 f/1.4 because you never know.

Everyone has their influences, or should, and mine’s the Shah brothers, and I like what Matt and Will Burrard Lucas are doing.  I can’t leave off Frans Lanting, the late Fritz Polking and I won’t forget Jim Brandenburg’s Arctic wolves.  Andy Rouse, for all he encompasses, is a stand out photographer of wildlife for me.

I don’t look at pictures of my first African trip anymore.  It takes months or years to find your eye, and only after the second and third trips I was beginning to find mine.

If you’re going to take successful pictures of wild things, you need to have in order of importance: knowledge of your subject, preparation, a good sense of picture, a good camera.  I do admit that I need to work more on the first one.

I have two eyes, one’s for color, the other’s for black and white, because I like each equally.  Sometimes when a color picture doesn’t work well, I find it can surprise me in black and white.  There is an element of black and white that I cannot explain, and that is why it evokes more emotion than a color one would, particularly of sympathetic subjects.

I don’t like the rat-a-tat style of motor-photography.  It’s good to observe and anticipate.  It means you get to look at things with your own eyes too which is important.  And it also means less picture editing once you’re home.  You can rat-a-tat sometimes, but surely not all day for goodness sake.

I rarely review pictures after a day’s photography, often leaving it to a later day, bar a cursory glance.  Early viewing at the height of expectation can deflate your spirit.  After a time, like the next day when memory, excitement and expectation has slightly dimmed, your pictures surprise more and you’re ok.  I dismissed my fox pictures last year only to return to them three months later and realise they’re among my best pictures.  I still don’t travel with a laptop, they’re a nuisance anyway.

I tend to previsualise a lot.  Weeks before we’d arrived in Rwanda to visit mountain gorillas last year, my imagination saw a picture of a gorilla squared up to me.  I also wanted it to rain.  The rain would bring in some texture to his fur and brighten up the colors as water can do.  Sure enough, on nearing the group after a two hour hike, it began to rain lightly.  At a minute short of the hour, we found a silverback some four metres in front, and all I needed was to move a little way to my right, and found myself with the picture I’d envisioned a few weeks earlier.  It’s one of my favorite pictures.

I’ve prebaked scenes in my mind which I’d like to create a photograph of.  When a situation emerges where the possibility of one of these scenes might work,  I try to make it so.  It’s like a bank of preparedness to draw from. For the most part it doesn’t work, but when it does, you’re glad that it does.  Sometimes luck pans out well if you work for it.

Every picture tells a story but not always the whole story.  One day in Amboseli, Kenya, we watched an elephant family with a young calf approach from our left while a lioness lay down just to our right.  Once the family were near the lioness and ourselves, the single file formation became an ambling group where the adults surrounded and enclosed the youngster.  Then they passed, and out of danger, the family reformed to their previous formation of a single file.  The picture stands alone well, but a story can add more.  Someone may tell me that a good picture needs no story or caption.  Well, I will go along with that as well.

Currently we’re in London and we get away three or four times a year.  We’ve also a bush camp in the middle of the African bush where we plan to live and be closer to the wildlife and action.  It has a varandah on all four sides, and it’s less than two hours from the Masai Mara.  I’ve not mentioned it before because at the moment it’s another previsualised image of my imagination.

Well, who knows, it never hurts to have a dream!

David Lloyd

David’s Links

• Website & Blog: David Lloyd Wildlife & Travel Photography
• Facebook Group: David Lloyd’s Wildlife Photography
• Twitter: Follow David on Twitter
• Flickr: David Lloyd’s Flickr Photostream

I originally discovered David Lloyd’s site after ‘meeting’ him on Twitter and I am very glad I did.

David is a New Zealand born photographer living in the UK and after traveling to Africa, and other countries, has been able to put together a fantastic portfolio of wildlife & nature images.

When visiting David’s blog you will  not only be able to check out some amazing wildlife images which range from gorillas and lions to birds and scottish wildcats.  His images are well thought out and makes the viewer connect with the subject or scene instantly.  David’s color images are strikingly realistic but but I reckon that it is with his monochrome work where he raises it to another level.  It takes something special to see, capture and ultimately present a wildlife image in black & white while at the same time still keeping image real and natural and David does this very well as you can seen from the image above.

When arriving at David Lloyd’s Wildlife & Travel Photography blog you will see the latest post on the top of the page.  From here on the blog is very easy to navigate with menus on both side of the screen with which you can link to various galleries and post archives.   You can also link to a collection of images that David has for sale which I have no doubt make amazing prints.

To visit David Lloyd’s blog you can click here or on any of the images in this post.  You can also follow David on Twitter by clicking here or join his page on Facebook by clicking here. For an interesting read check out one of David’s recent posts, Altered States, where he shares his thoughts on digital photography, digital artists and how the two do, or don’t, speak the same language.  Great article.

If you have any blogs that you think people need to know about let me know!

More soon.

Gerry