Backcountry Gallery, Norrhern Tanzania (2026)

22/06/2024

What do you think? Is this the most handsome lion in the Serengeti or what?

07/03/2023

I captured this last year along the Chobe River in Botswana, Africa. These While-Fronted Bee Eaters were coming back to this little perch time and again so I kept an eye on it hoping to catch something nice. I was mostly thinking of just a nice portrait, but sometimes nature gives us way more than we had hoped!

28/02/2023

We were fortunate to come across a pair of cooperative giraffes last year while running one of our Africa workshops. We spotted them early and weren't sure if they would stay until sunset. Still, we stayed to find out just because we knew the payoff would be huge if they did - nothing like a giraffe silhouette at sunset! Sometimes patience pays off :)

30/03/2022

Nikon 800PF Sneak Peek!

So, a few weeks back Nikon contacted me and asked if I wanted to take their new 800PF for a test drive - of course I agreed! I can't tell you too much at this point, but I am allowed to share a 'teaser" video for my upcoming first look video that's coming out on release day.

Note that I can't answer any questions beyond what you see in the video. However, if you have questions you would like to see addressed in my upcoming - and very comprehensive - "first look" review video, feel free to submit those requests to this thread at the BCG Forums:

https://bcgforums.com/index.php?threads/my-800mm-pf-preview.14541/

09/02/2022

Southern Lapwing - I finally made it to my 100th instagram post! And it’s on the same day I’m launching my new Sony A1 setup guide for wildlife photographers! (www.bcgwebstore.com) Since I’m launching the new guide, I thought the 100th post should be one of my favorite shots from the a1. I captured this image on one of our days off in Costa Rica. You often spot lapwings in open, short grass areas (i.e., grazing fields) and we were driving past one when we spotted some activity.

I grabbed the a1 and 600mm and switched to Zone AF. I pre-focused the lens to about their distance BUT I didn’t keep focus locked. Since they were on the grass, Zone would pick up the foreground if I wasn’t careful. So, I set focus slightly in front of where I think they’ll fly and then wait until they are in the air - completely clear of the grass - before I press the AF button (pre-focusing like that helps keep the camera from jumping to the background). Once airborne, I engaged AF, the camera grabbed on, and I tracked them as I shot. 20FPS helped here too - only ONE shot had the beak perfectly open! Sony A1, 600mm, 1/4000th, F/4, ISO 1600

29/01/2022

Peeking Zebra Foal - This image is a good example of why sticking with an animal - or group of animals - can pay huge photographic dividends. We came upon a large herd of zebras within moments of leaving our camp in the Okavango Delta. The unique thing with this herd was that they weren’t just eating - they were interacting and playing with each other and the foals were especially busy. Sure beats the typical situation with the zebras simply grazing!

There were three trucks in our group and the other two moved on looking for other targets, but I wanted to stay. With all the fun interaction I was seeing, I knew something cool would happen - and this is just one example of it (I actually captured quite a few nice interaction shots from this herd). I had a feeling this shot would come together when I spotted this little foal moving between the adults and keeping his eye on the truck. I quickly slapped on my 1.4 TC for a close-up and switched to a spot AF point that I placed right on his eye when he popped back up from between the adults to check on us. Sony A1, 600mm + 1.4TC, 1/1250th, F/5.6 ISO 250.

22/01/2022

OK, technically this guy isn’t out for his morning jog, he was coming in for a landing and they sort of “run” across the water as they decelerate. It’s actually really fun to watch.

The trick with this one was that flight shots weren’t very frequent so you have to be ready to go from flamingo portraits to flamingo flight shots pretty quick. In this case, I had my memory settings on my a1 ready for just such a scenario. I have my “mode 1” settings on my top dial set for action, so when I saw this guy coming in, I just twisted to “1” and instantly had all my default action settings ready to go. Sony A1, 600mm, 1/3200th, F/4 ISO 160, Zone Tracking.

19/01/2022

This was captured just moments before we completely ran out of light. I really love the composition these two helped create - you have the little guy in front looking right at ya while the one in the back is checking out is sibling.

The real trick here was the light - it’s no exaggeration to say that this was taken with the last bits of light that day had to offer I had dropped my shutter speed to just 1/60th of a second and was still at ISO 800 - even wide open at F/4. Movement was my biggest enemy here - between myself, the cubs, and the safari vehicle, it was tough to keep everything still. In situations like this, I always just lay on the shutter and usually come out with a few that are razor sharp - thankfully, that was the case here. Sony A1, 600mm F/4.

15/01/2022

This Lesser Violetear was captured in the cloud forests of Costa Rica. There are a lot of feeding stations in the area and this one happened to have an incredibly colorful bush with orange flowers behind it. You just couldn’t ask for a better backdrop! The hummer was checking us out and hovering with his face towards the camera. The trick here is using a small AF area and doing everything you can to keep the AF area on the head. I often use Single point or D9 on the D5/6 for this kind of work.

You can actually have some fun with shutter speeds here. The thing is, the shutter speed is more about wing blur than stopping the bird's motion when they hover (unless you drop to less than 1/500 or so, then it gets tricker). For this one, I was trying to freeze the wing enough to see some rough detail but still show little blur - so 1/2000th worked well. The thing is, you never know what poses they’re gonna give you as you fire away, so what I do is use at various shutter speeds during the shoot so I have a nice selection of images with different amounts “wing blur”. Nikon D5, 600mm, 1/2000th, F/5.6, ISO 9000 (the D5 handles those high ISOs with ease if you fill the frame).

12/01/2022

Lamb-In-Flight! This was captured in Badlands National Park in SD. I was kneeling down shooting some portraits of the bighorn lambs when I noticed that one of the ewes (the little guy’s mom) was leisurely trotting towards another part of the herd farther back in the field. The lambs weren’t paying attention – at first. However, the second they realized mom had wandered off, they decided the appropriate course of action was to sprint after her.

For this shot, I positioned myself so I could get a good view of the lambs running and quickly knelt down as the opportunity sprinted towards me. Standard-issue Group AF was my AF area of choice (moved a little left of center) and thanks to increasing light levels, 1/2500th and F/4.5. As the little guy sprinted past, I captured about 20 images – trying my best to keep on his neck and head. Most of the shots were pretty cool, but this one of him leaping over the purple flower was the obvious pick. That 14FPS gives you a LOT of choices in an action scenario! Nikon D6, 180-400 @ 400mm, 1/2500th, F/4.5, ISO 3200.

08/01/2022

Yellow-Billed Stork Slow Pan - I really enjoy slow shutter speed panning shots and the yellow-billed stork rookery on the Chobe River in Botswana provide a wonderful opportunity. The key with these kinds of shots is to get the subject moving parallel to the camera position. If they are coming in at an angle, it’s nearly impossible to get an acceptably sharp eye and head. For this shot, we positioned ourselves between the rookery and an area where the birds were flying back and forth from, putting them parallel to our position and we enjoyed multiple opportunities to get the shot. While the failure rate with panning shots is sometimes painfully high, it’s fun when they work out :) Sony A1, 600mm, 1/15th, F/22, ISO 160. (F/22 was use because it was getting brighter - this was one of the last slow-pans I took that morning).

04/01/2022

Elephant Silhouette At Sunset - This was captured toward the end of our last trip to Botswana from our photo boat, just moments before the sun slipped below the horizon for the night. This is one of those unexpected times a fast 20FPS frame rate makes a difference on a slower animal. The only shot in the series where the foot was perfect was this one. The one just before this and just after were both slightly off. Sony A1, 600mm, 1/1250th, F/4, ISO 1000 (I would have used a slower shutter speed for a lower ISO, but wanted to be safe since I was hand-holing the 600mm from a rocking boat)

Backcountry Gallery