Collected Moments of Survival

The stairway to heaven must look something like this May of 2014 brings around an opportunity to do a little wildlife photography in the Great British Isles. A huge contrast to the plains of Africa, but nevertheless an opportunity to spread the proverbial African wings to distant shores. Skomer Island lies off the coast of Wales. As such the priorities change somewhat when it comes to packing. Water can now be classed as the enemy instead of the usual African dust and clothing suddenly is a lot heavier. Adorable little bunnies hide in the bluebells all over the island Travel from London along the motorway is thankfully quite swift once one breaks free of the confines of the M25 and before too long the narrow windy tracks of the Welsh countryside make for a new driving experience. I strike out onto the A40 and head towards Haverfordwest. My iPhone Maps suddenly becomes my very best friend when I hit those unmarked country lanes. An African in a teeny weeny little car pick...

Being ready should be the watch word for every wildlife photographer out there. Seasoned photographers (such as myself) know that at any moment anything can happen and as such a photographer will sit with camera at the ready, on standby mode while periodically changing the camera settings as the light changes. However, Murphy is always occupying the seat next to yours and you are lulled into complacency. Whenever conditions are such that you know that any self-respecting big cat will be tucked away into the deepest thicket they can find to get away from the searing heat of a Kalahari November day, that lethargic complacency will be at its most prevalent. And then it happens! Three subadult cheetah appear suddenly from nowhere, the light is atrociously bright, the heat waves are making a mockery of the lens stabilisation system and of course no super telephoto lens will have (or need to have) a polariser or ND filter so as to reduce the reflections being thrown at it by the gli...