There is a wide gulf between an amateur and professional photographer. Aside from the equipment, there’s also the factor of time. This was illustrated to me when we went on safari.
On safari: I wish I had a 300mm lens during this close encounter
At the Skukuza rest camp in
My interest piqued, I timidly approached them looking a bit awkward with my Nikon D8 (with its puny 18-135mm) which, at that moment, looked like a throw-away point-and-shoot. I found out that they were Belgian and were on assignment shooting wildlife for a stock photography company. So how long have you guys been here, I asked. Three weeks – with two more to go, came the reply. They went out everyday with their own guide and tracker who set up their gear in areas where the animals were anticipated to be then hid in improvised hideouts. The cameras were attached with motion sensors that automatically fired when triggered by sudden movement. Or sometimes they used long release cables. Most of the time, they said, was spent waiting, waiting and waiting. Patience was a virtue, great-looking shots were the reward.
They showed me a couple of the previous day’s shoot and they were all stunning. One particular frame caught a fisheagle feeding its young inside a nest at the top of an acacia tree. I could clearly see the thin feathers that had sprouted out of the young bird’s head illuminated by the faint rays of the sun that filtered through the canopy. It couldn’t have been staged better. How they did it? Well, one of them built a temporary house (hide) covered with grass on the branches of the adjacent tree and waited for days just to get that shot. Wow!
Well, when traveling, you are forced to shoot whatever the situation is at hand. Lucky for you if the weather is always good with the sun shining brightly to give you a better-than-average lighting. But this isn’t always the case. What if it was overcast or worse, raining or snowing? I remember once driving up Pike’s Peak in
When we got to the top of Pike's Peak, there was nothing to see!
I’ve had so many shots ruined by less fortuitious circumstances and so many of them just remain in my memory - they were the ones that got away. So when you see a lovely postcard, don’t think you can have the same exact results with your own pictures. Remember that these were done by pros who painstakingly reconnoitered the place and staked the best angles in preparation for the best optimal weather conditions.
The consolation though that you get as an amateur photographer is that, well, you can say I was there and this is what I saw. It’s a slice of time spent at a certain place and it becomes quite a personal testament. Really.
