Who doesn’t like a good story? And who doesn’t like seeing photographs that motivate and inspire? That is what my 42nd book “Photo Pursuit: Stories Behind the Photographs – A Travel Photographer’s Memoir” is all about.
In this post, I’m going to share with you one of the stories and the lessons I learned along the way. As with all the 38 stories in my book, you’ll read about important photographic techniques that you can apply to your own process—whether you’re traveling to faraway places or shooting close to home.
Also woven into my stories are camera settings and gear choices. I’ve included links so you can easily learn more about the products as well.
I hope you enjoy.
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Luck Favors the Prepared Photographer
Botswana
The year is 2016. It’s about an hour before sunrise. A member of the safari camp’s staff is standing outside our tent. “Good morning, good morning,” he says in a soft voice, “It’s time to begin your day.” The gentleman has brought hot tea and coffee, along with some warm cookies, to our tent as our wake-up call.
“Good morning and thank you,” I say as I unzip the opening to our tent for the handover of our mini breakfast. “We’ll see you soon.”
Susan and I have been awake for a while. We are filled with anticipation to know what we, and our photo workshop participants, might see on this first day of a two-week Botswana safari.
Prepping
While sipping my tea and snacking on a cookie, I check my camera gear to make sure my camera batteries are fully charged and that I have extra batteries. I also check that I have Delkin Devices 32 GB memory cards in each camera and extra cards to record my images.
The night before, after downloading the day’s images onto two different Delkin Devices Juggler hard drives, I cleaned my cameras and lenses. I stowed them in my backpack for easy access while shooting from my window seat in the safari vehicle.
The cleaning process is very important on safari as dust is a main enemy of photography gear.
As usual, I have two cameras packed and ready for action: one with a telephoto zoom for close-up shots and one with a wide-to medium zoom for environmental shots and portraits. With those two lenses, I can tell the whole story of my African adventure.
I have back-ups of each lens, as well as a Canon 16-35mm lens for landscapes, which I keep in our tent. I learned a long time ago that it’s always possible to drop a lens or for a lens to get knocked out on a bumpy drive. This is especially dangerous when you’re in a remote area with no camera store in sight.
It’s time to go after breakfast. It is still completely dark outside. After putting on our Pelican headlamps, we unzip our tent to meet one of the camp’s wildlife security guards. The guard, with a powerful flashlight, is there to guide us on the path to our safari vehicle. We need to be watching for lions and other animals that might be looking for a breakfast of their own. We are in an open camp where wild animals can freely visit—evident by the lion and leopard tracks that are seen on the gravel paths.
The photo workshop participants meet at our two safari vehicles. Everyone is sharing their enthusiasm for the adventure that lay ahead.
There is a faint glow to sky as we hop into the two open-top vehicles. We turn off our headlamps. Our guides start the open-top vehicles for maximum photography flexibility and we are on our way.
On the Path
We were leaving at dawn for a very important reason: most action on a safari happens in the early morning and late afternoon. These are hours when the nocturnal and diurnal animals change positions. This creates opportunities for wildlife movement in beautiful light. From mid-morning to mid-afternoon, the light is often hard and inconvenient for wildlife photography. Also, it’s often too hot for the animals to move around so they are usually found resting in the shade.
After about an hour, we encounter a mommy cheetah and her three cute cubs in perfect light. They were all standing under a bush, staring off into the distance, looking for breakfast.
Both of our vehicles stop so we can evaluate the scene for the best photographic angle. Our guides, who saw these cheetahs in this location the day before, tell us that the cheetahs have not eaten for three days. They are on the hunt and we will probably see some cool action soon.
Waiting for the Moment
We wait…and wait.
After about an hour of watching the cheetahs, I—as the leader of my safari vehicle—think we should move on. My group agrees while the other vehicle decides to wait for a magic moment. Our group says goodbye to the others and drives off in search of other animals.
We have some good wildlife encounters. It’s a slow morning on safari so we drive back to the camp. We download images, eat, take a nap, have a photo processing session, and then head back to our vehicles for our late-afternoon game drive.
Shortly into our drive, our driver calls the other vehicle on the radio. We learn that the vehicle and the cheetahs have not moved. After driving for about an hour, we pull up to the other vehicle. The cheetahs are still under the same bush.
We are back in the location for less than a minute when something unexpected happens. All the cubs jump up and surround the mom, who opens her mouth wide as if to say, “Leave me alone.”
I raise my camera with the 100-400mm IS lens, zoom in tight on the scene and take a shot.
Because I am ready for the unexpected and always have my “photo radar” turned on, I am the only one of the 12 photographers who captures the magic moment. It’s over within a few seconds.
Coincidently, I was also in the exact right position to help me get the shot. You could call this dumb luck shot—but luck does favor the prepared and experienced photographer.
The perfect afternoon light is fading and it is time to drive back to our camp where we will have more fun as a group. One of our guides has an electric guitar and I led the group in a sing-along of The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
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Lessons of the Story:
- Always have your camera handy and set-up – with your best guess for lens selection and exposure settings – so you are prepared for unexpected shots.
- Before you go on a shoot, check and double check all your gear so you don’t forget an important piece of equipment.
- Pack backup gear when traveling to distant lands.
- Clean your cameras in dusty conditions.
You can purchase Rick Sammon’s most recent book “Photo Pursuit: Stories Behind the Photographs – A Travel Photographer’s Memoir” on his website www.ricksammon.com.
