Wildlife Photography - Photo Safari Tour in Southern Africa

* * *  See the latest photos from my Southern Africa tour, Day 9  * * *

I will be away on a wildlife photo shoot in Botswana and South Africa. My journey takes me to Chobe and Greater Kruger National Parks and several neighboring game reserves. Chobe and Kruger are two of the largest national parks in Africa. They are larger than a few states in the New England region of the U.S. The reserves adjacent to Kruger National Park, Timbavati and especially Sabi Sand and Mala Mala are famous for its populations of Leopards and Cheetahs.

The national parks and surrounding reserves are excellent places to capture 'Big Five' images of Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Rhinos and Cape Buffaloes plus Giraffes, Zebras, Cheetahs,
Hippos and many more. There are also hundreds of species of birds to marvel and photograph for the ornithologist in many of us.

The critically endangered African wild dog is also a regular visitor to some areas of the parks. The larger and rarer antelopes such as Roan, Eland and Tsessebe may also be seen but their numbers are still critically low.

I will again put the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II camera to the test. My readers know I have taken this camera on a few global wildlife photo shoots already, from the Amazon to the high Arctic, Alaska to Canada. You can read my comprehensive review of the camera, see my equipment bag and works on MichaelDanielHo.com

In the last few years, I have been keeping things simple and down sizing the equipment I bring on wildlife photo shoots. In addition to the EOS-1D X Mark II, I am bringing the EOS-5Ds, EF 400mm f/4 DO IS II , EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II , EF 24-105mm f/4L IS , EF Series III Extenders and the usual accessories of filters, spare memory cards and batteries.

I will try and make a few blog posts and keep you abreast of any breaking photography news, time and energy permitting. In the meantime, you can follow my travels on Twitter and Facebook.

Back From My Wildlife Photo Tour in Patagonia

Back from my wildlife photo shoot in Patagonia. Just in time for the official announcement of the Canon EOS-1D X Mark II camera. I am very excited about this new DSLR and have placed my order, waiting for the April delivery date.

My readers know I have picked the current EOS-1D X as the best full frame camera for sports and wildlife photography four years in a row. The new camera is better in every respect and well worth the wait.

Enclosed are a few photos I have processed on my laptop during the trip. The proper processing will take longer on my desktop monitor once I get back to my regular routine. On this trip, I was using the EOS-5Ds a lot since I have retired my EOS-1Ds Mark III after many years of service. At first, I have grave reservation in using the EOS-5Ds as a wildlife camera but the megapixel sensor and versatility (full frame, APS-H and APS-C shots all in one body) of this DSLR more than offset the slow frame rate and I have been won over by its performance. You can see my equipment bag and more of my works on MichaelDanielHo.com

    

The King (Penguin) and I

Llama on Cloud 9

Black-browed Albatross

Chulengo (A Young Guanaco) 

King of the Hill (Male Southern Sealion)

Humpback whale diving in seas off Patagonia

Glacier Alley, Southern Chile

Orsono Volcano, Chile

Somewhere over the Rainbow - Tierra del Fuego

Photos & Quotes - The Wildlife Ho-tographer

You can connect with The Wildlife Ho-tographer on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, see his equipment bag and more of his works on MichaelDanielHo.com 

Two words for the Global Warming doubters - Butt Up

Humpback Airlines - The Only Way To Fly

It's not the same without Goldilocks

Blackfish - Born to be Free. Not to be Trained

Golden Slumbers fill your eyes

Rhinos - Born to be Wild. Not to be 'Medicine'

The face that launched 1,000 ships

Close Encounter of the Best Kind

Will Dive For Food

Elephants - Born to be Wild. Not to be Poached

Ansel Adams - National Park Service Photographer. You Can Be One Too

Tired of your present job? Think you are good enough to make a living as a landscape/nature photographer? Ansel Adams, the 'father' of large format National Parks photography started working for the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1941.

That same type of job has an opening right now. The National Parks Service has a vacant position for a black-and-white large format photographer. The salary range is from $63,722 to $99,296 per year. Some of the job duties involve photographing large-format documentary photos for the Library of Congress. Evaluating , producing and presenting quality prints for exhibitions.

Applications will be accepted until December 15th, 2015. The full details and requirements for the job is at this link on the USAJOBS website. Good luck.

The Eight Levels Of Photographers, by DigitalRev

The World of Photographers and its levels, according to DigitalRev. I'd rather consider myself as a level-headed wildlife photographer. You can see my works on MichaelDanielHo.com 

Wildlife Photography - Wildlife Photo Tour in South Africa, Day 6

* * *  Read the latest post on my South Africa Wildlife Tour  * * *

I am on the 6th day of my South Africa Wildlife Photo Tour. It took 2 days to get to Johannesburg but I flew on one of the best Jumbo planes flying these days. It's The Magic Bus, the Airbus A380, a double decker flying behemoth. Quieter than the Boeing 747-8 Jumbo jet and very well design in passenger comfort and ergonomics.

The Magic Bus - Airbus A380

I am slowly recovering from jet lag. The first few days was very tiring for me because I had little sleep and the weather is very hot, even though it is only early spring, down here in the Southern Hemisphere. So far, wildlife sightings are very good with an encounter of 4 big male lions who coalesce into a Band of Brothers, defending their territory fiercely against other male lions who have eyes on their lioness and space.

Leopard cub resting in a tree

Additional encounters with Leopards and cubs, Wild dogs and puppies, Elephants, Rhinos, Cape Buffaloes, Hippos, various species of antelopes, zebras and bird species round out the sightings for the first few days. I expect some of the future safaris to be less spectacular. Such is the law of averages when it comes to wildlife tours.

The Three Musketeers

I have little time to really look over the photos but managed to put together a few for this post. I am anxious to see some Cheetahs if possible because this is one big cat missing from my tour right now. Visit MichaelDanielHo.com to see additional wildlife photos from my past tours and keep checking back for more updates. 

Sometimes, Things Can Go Awry On Photo Shoots

My readers know I have been in wildlife photography for a long time. When I am on a photo shoot anywhere in the world, the best laid plans of mice and photographers sometimes go awry. Airplanes, boats, jeeps or other vehicles can get delayed or run into engine problem. Photographic gear and computers can malfunction and put out indecipherable error codes.

Like the wise man say, 'Feces Occurs'. For me, the best defense against expected and unexpected problems is - Back Up. I usually pack duplicates of everything in my equipment bag that is crucial to the photo shoot - cameras, lenses, batteries, memory cards, etc. and especially credit and ATM cards for overseas trips. 

The video from DigitalRev below shows some of their photography bloopers, some genuine, others probably manufactured. Nonetheless, a bit of levity and entertainment rarely hurts.