The Global Photographer

My new web site was launched yesterday, and hopefully my updated DNS entries have made it around the globe by now. My old web site was all hand coded by me, and let me tell you how difficult it was to maintain. It wasn't easy, because every page was hand coded, and when I started using Dreamweaver a few years ago it started inserting all sorts of bloated clode into my web pages. Wanting to get away from that type of maintenance headache, I decided to work with Jack Brauer of Widerange Galleries, and he has an amazing content management system designed specifically for photographers.

My new system is now php based, and has a great admin utility where I can manage all aspects of the site. Here is a quick rundown of the new features, both visible to the public and not:

• Slideshow on home page
• Optimized for search engines
• Easy creation, modification and deletion of galleries
• Easy management of print prices, sizes and finishes such as framing
• Direct photo uploading
  
• New way of presenting images in galleries: frames, drop shadows, and meta data
• Shopping cart for better and easier print sales
• Discounts for print sales
• Integrated mailing list, although I am not using this feature.
  
• Web page templates for quick publishing

These are only some of the benefits that I am seeing. I removed my Articles section that I had on my old web site, and in the following days I will migrate the old content into this blog.

I hope you enjoy the new web site. The overall design hasn't changed that much, but the entire plumbing behind the scenes is all brand new. A huge thank you to Widerange Galleries and Jack Brauer for doing all of the heavy lifting. You are the greatest. Seriously. My past experiences with oursource web development hasn't been so rosy, and you have changed my attitude from this experience.

If you are a photographer and need a new web site, you really should take a look at what Widerange is doing with other photographers' sites. Great stuff.

Wow. This has to be one of the most fascinating and rare sequences in the wildlife world.

Check out this link to see some amazing photographs of a leopard taking out a nile crocodile. Simply amazing.

"A series of incredible pictures taken at a South African game reserve document the first known time that a leopard has taken on and defeated one of the fearsome reptiles. The photographs were taken by Hal Brindley, an American wildlife photographer, who was supposed to be taking pictures of hippos from his car in the Kruger National Park.

The giant cat raced out of cover provided by scrub and bushes to surprise the crocodile, which was swimming nearby.

A terrible and bloody struggle ensued. Eventually, onlookers were amazed to see the leopard drag the crocodile from the water as the reptile fought back. With the crocodile snapping its powerful jaws furiously, the two animals somersaulted and grappled. Despite the crocodile's huge weight and strength, the leopard had the upper hand catching its prey by the throat.

Eventually the big cat was able to sit on top of the reptile and suffocate it.

In the past, there have been reports of crocodiles killing leopards, but this is believed to the first time that the reverse scenario has been observed."

"I drove away, elated in disbelief. It may have been the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

Ellie Rose, a reptile keeper at London Zoo, said: "Normally, crocodiles are well able to defend themselves against attack. I can't think of any examples of this happening before."

Well, as you might have read in an earlier post, Leslie, Christian and I welcomed Will to the family about 3 weeks ago. Life has been, well, interesting ever since. Mom is wiped out, baby is apparently happy, big brother Christian is realizing that he has competition for affection, our two greyhounds are bored out of their minds and are ready to go for a family walk at any moment, and dad (me!) is trying to get back to a normal work schedule.

I haven't taken that many photographs of Will since his birth, primarily because he is either in Leslie's arms for feeding time or all wrapped up and swaddled and sleeping. Not too many photo opportunities. I do take tons of family photographs, but my typical answer for whether I take people shots is: "If it doesn't have tusks, horns, hooves, spots or stripes, I probably won't be very good at it." So I decided to learn something today, and my area that I need work on is portrait lighting. Why not sit little Will in a basket, turn on the Pocket Wizards, get the black backdrop up, adjust the soft box and go to town. Unfortunately Will woke up after the first flash, and the next 10 minutes was filled with trying to keep a newborn comfortable. Not an easy task.

My equipment:

Canon 1DsMkIII + 24-70mm f/2.8

Canon 580EX II flash

Photoflex LiteDome small softbox

Two Pocket Wizards

Photek Background-In-A-Bag (black 8x12 foot) and companion support system

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheetah and gazelle

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. October 2007

Nikon D2x, 200-400mm f/4, 1.7x, 1/500 sec @ f/7.1, ISO 400

 Al, Nic and Trevor on safari in Botswana, April 2008

Just a quick grab shot to illustrate what some of my vehicles look like in Botswana. These are the vehicles when we are camping, not the ones we use when staying in lodges. Notice the photographer who sits in the front seat will use a bean bag on the dashboard, and the photographer in the first row seat has ample room to use a tripod with a gimbal mount. The rear row (not seen) works best with a monopod. Notice the cooler box (aka "refrigerator") in the middle seat? Nothing like cold beer, wine, sodas and water when out on a long game drive.

Raging Elephant

Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, January 2008

Canon EOS 1DMkIII, 100-400mm @ 180mm, 1/8 sec @ f/8, ISO 100

This isn't a raging elephant as stated in the title, but rather an impression of what I am trying to convey. This bull was walking beside our vehicle for a good 5 minutes, and he would go from one side of the vehicle to the next. After eating a clump of tall grass, he would sometimes do a quick shake of the head before moving on. I was trying some push/pull blurring techniques of slowing the shutter down and zooming in or out when the shutter was pressed. Not many of these experiments were successfull, but it was a fun few minutes. Keep in mind that as photographers we are storytellers, and it is up to you to define the tone, gesture and mood of your photographs. This can be done in many different ways, and my approach was to use a blurred zoom to show a sense of movement that could be interpreted as rage.

Bicycle Crossing Male

Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa, April 2008

Canon 1DsMkIII, 400mm f/4 DO IS, 1/80sec @ f/6.3, ISO 1000

 This was my last frame of the day, as the light had already faded to a point where my shutter speeds were getting woefully too slow for a sharp photograph. I had to use a bean bag on the dashboard of our Land Rover to be able to shoot at 1/80 of a second. We decided to drive ahead of this beautiful male leopard to try to include a shot of another vehicle that was coming to the scene as we were leaving. I love the body language of the guests in the other vehicle, which indicates that this is not a big deal and that leopards are seen all of the time walking down dirt roads. Well, it is a big deal, but after a few days at Mala Mala, you really do have a chance to get some nice moments with these absolutely gorgeous predators.

Afternoon Game Drive

Mala Mala Game Reserve, South Africa, April 2008

Canon EOS 1DsMkIII, 24-105mm f/4 L IS, 1/30 sec at f/5.6, ISO 100