Will's Posts

Penguins, Penguins, Penguins!

Posted on January 14, 2010 at 12:30 am

Penguins are the most conspicuous residents of the Falklands. Five species breed on the islands; kings, rockhoppers, gentoos, magellanics and macaronis. Despite macaronis being the most numerous penguin species in the world, they are not commonly seen in the Falklands, and therefore we concentrated on photographing the kings, rockhoppers, gentoos and magellanics.

King penguins are the most impressive and beautiful species in the Falklands. They stand almost a metre tall and can weigh up to 16kg. The Falklands are at the limit of their global range and consequently there are only around 400 breeding pairs on the islands, almost all of which are found at a single site called Volunteer Point. We spent one night at this location and were blessed by a few fleeting periods of good light during which we rushed around frantically taking as many different shots as possible!

Gentoos are the second largest species and are recognisable by the white stripe extending across the top of their heads like a bonnet. They breed in large colonies which can be situated a kilometre or more inland. Each morning the penguins make the long journey down to the sea where they eat fish and crustaceans. In the afternoon they return to the colony to feed their chicks. On Sealion Island we could see a gentoo colony from our bedroom window and this allowed us to pop out and photograph them at all times of day (and night!).

We found magellanic penguins on every island we visited. Unlike the other penguins in the Falklands, magellanics live in burrows. They are very shy and would scarper underground if we ever got too close… this made photographing them quite a challenge! However, by keeping a low profile and approaching painstakingly slowly, we were able to get close enough to photograph a pair standing in front of their burrow (below, right).

Rockhoppers are the smallest and most common penguin species in the Falklands. Rockhoppers get their name because they move around by hopping with both feet together. We were constantly amazed by their ability to tackle the most challenging terrain and by the bravery they exhibit when leaping between ledges on precipitous cliff faces! Rockhoppers live in large colonies often mixed in with albatross or imperial shags. They are noisy and quarrelsome little creatures but their comical antics and inquisitive personalities make them very endearing and they soon became our favourite animal of the trip!

The picture above is one of our favourites; it shows rockhopper penguins showering under a freshwater spring. Throughout the day the penguins were splashing around in the water and squabbling for the best spot. Taking this shot involved lying under part of the waterfall for several hours… we got completely soaked and covered in some rather unsavory stuff which earned us the nickname the “Guano Brothers”.

Falkland Islands Photography

Posted on January 7, 2010 at 12:25 am

The Falkland Islands lie in the South Atlantic, 300 miles off the coast of South America. They gained notoriety in 1982 when Argentina invaded, thus sparking the 74-day Falklands War. Nowadays the Islands are quiet and peaceful yet the wreckage of fighter jets and tanks, mine fields and war memorials serve as a reminder of the Islands’ recent past.

As we approached Mount Pleasant Airport and peered out of the plane windows, we were struck by how barren and tree-less the landscape appeared. Upon stepping-off the plane the reason for this instantly became apparent; we were confronted by a howling wind intent upon uprooting anything higher than a sprig of tussock grass (including us)!

The Islands have just 2,500 inhabitants in an area the size of Wales and with most of the population living in Stanley it means you are almost guaranteed not to bump into anyone else once you get out to the more remote islands.

Wildlife is abundant on the Islands, mainly as a result of the rich surrounding waters. The animals have little fear of humans which makes a trip to the Falklands a truly magical experience.

Penguins are everywhere! Magellanic penguins stand outside their burrows along the coast, Rockhopper and Gentoo penguins can be found in large noisy colonies and a large group of beautiful king penguins live at Volunteer Point. Graceful black-browed albatross nest in sprawling rookeries along the cliff-tops in the North-West. Gigantic elephant seals laze around and fight on pristine beaches, while killer whales cruise the shallows waiting for pups to stray within range.

Our aim for the trip was to photograph as many of the Islands’ species as possible. Many fantastic wildlife photographers have visited the Falklands before us, so we were also aiming to come away with something different. We visited six locations over the course of two weeks and upon arrival at each, we would dedicate a significant amount time to scoping out the opportunities and drawing up a list of shots that we wanted to get. We then spent the remainder of our time diligently working through our shot lists. Often we had to split up and concentrate on different subjects to make best use of our limited time. We were keen to take our photographs in the best possible light… unfortunately for us, this meant waking up at 4am for sunrise and staying out until sunset at around 10pm!

We haven’t had room to include many of our favourite pictures from the trip, so stay tuned for a few follow-up posts!

Heathrow Terminal 4 Exhibition

Posted on November 18, 2009 at 4:28 pm

If you are flying out of Heathrow Terminal 4 in the next six months then make sure you check out our new photo exhibition situated near gates 7 to 9! On display are some of our favourite wildlife photographs from around the world.

To coincide with the exhibition we have launched a brand new website: WildExhibition.com. On the site you can find out more about the exhibition and see all of the featured photographs. You can also check out our new series of limited edition prints, our 2010 calendar and greeting cards featuring photos from the exhibition.

We visited Heathrow Airport last night to view the exhibition for the first time… it was wonderful to see our images printed large and it was nice to observe other people looking at our work. You can view our exclusive behind the scenes pictures from the exhibition on our facebook fan page.

Finally, if you get the opportunity to see the exhibition then please let us know what you think!

For more information please visit WildExhibition.com.

Mysterious Places Contest Results

Posted on November 16, 2009 at 2:04 am

We would like to thank everyone who submitted photos to our Mysterious Places Photo Contest. Matthew and I spent days sifting through thousands of fantastic entries and last week we posted our shortlist of 12 finalists so that you could vote for the “People’s Choice” winner. The voting is now over and we can reveal the overall winners!

Before proceeding, we would like to thank our terrific sponsors, Lensbaby and SmugMug, who generously donated over $2,000 in prizes! All of the photographers below receive a prize as described on this page.

The overall contest winner is Paul Marcellini with his wonderful image taken in a Florida swamp. The spooky atmosphere, the twisted trees and the detail of the alligator drag-marks in the foreground create an image that epitomises the theme “Mysterious Places”. Congratulations to Paul for creating a truly original and striking shot!

Given the success of this contest, we will certainly be launching another photo competition in the near future! If you would like to be notified when this competition is announced then please subscribe to our blog via RSS feed or email.

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Caiman by Moonlight

Posted on September 30, 2009 at 1:00 am

We are always on the lookout for original, technically challenging projects. Last year we photographed caiman at night with star trails above. When we returned to the Pantanal earlier this year, one of our harebrained schemes was to photograph caiman by the light of the full moon. There were a few fundamental difficulties that we had to overcome to do this… firstly we had to approach to within a couple of meters of a wild caiman, then set up a camera & tripod beside the reptile, compose the shot in the dark, stay totally still for at least 5 minutes and hope the caiman didn’t move. It was going to be a challenge! Below you can see some of the resulting shots. At first glance the images almost look like they were taken during the day but there are subtle signs that the shots aren’t normal; the stars in the sky, the smooth ethereal water, the eerie lighting…

To take these shots, we spent a whole night, from 10pm to 5am patrolling the banks of the Rio Negro in search of suitable caiman. We decided to split up, each of us taking a camera and tripod in order to double our chances of getting some decent shots. Being alone with the caiman on the dark river bank was a spooky experience!

Whenever we spotted a caiman in a good position, we moved painfully slowly to avoid disturbing it. In order to photograph the caiman as a part of their environment, we tried to get close enough so that we could use a wide-angle lens. The long exposures typically took upwards of 5 minutes. During this time, we had fish nibbling on our feet and mosquitoes sucking our blood. We couldn’t stop them for fear of disturbing the caiman! At one point we noticed a caiman chomping on a freshly caught piranha – the last thing you want to see when you are wading in the river with bare legs and feet!

When the Sun’s glow started to light up the sky in the East, we squelched back to our lodge for some breakfast and a flagon of coffee… needless to say, we were totally shattered for the rest of the day!

The Pantanal Revisited

Posted on September 23, 2009 at 1:00 am

Last year we visited the Pantanal in Brazil – one of our favourite wildlife photography destinations. We returned with some fantastic images and couldn’t wait to revisit this unique wetland paradise. Earlier in the year we set off on a follow-up trip, visiting three new locations that provided opportunities to photograph a wide range of species.

The Pantanal is a tropical wetland area approximately eighteen times the size of the Florida Everglades. What makes it special is that you can observe wildlife that is almost impossible to see anywhere else in South America. The Pantanal ecosystem relies on a yearly flood cycle – during the dry season, the landscape consists of open savannah, patches of forest and isolated brackish lakes. However, when the rain arrives later in the year, up to 80% of the Pantanal is transformed into a saturated expanse of flooded land.

One of the creatures we were keen to photograph was the Giant Anteater. These animals are notoriously hard to come across in the dense rainforest that covers much of South America, however, in the Pantanal they can be found in the fields that line the roadside! We soon found that photographing anteaters wasn’t as easy as locating them… their long bodies made it hard to find a pleasing composition and focusing on their eyes as they waved their heads around took some skill! By far the biggest challenge though, was locating and removing the ticks that had swarmed over us as we crawled around in the dry grass. Even as we write this our bodies are still covered in purple tick bites.

The highlight of any trip to the Pantanal is seeing the beautiful Hyacinth Macaw. These birds became critically endangered due to the illegal pet trade and the destruction of suitable nesting trees. However, there has been a successful breeding program in the Pantanal and they are making a strong comeback. We were lucky enough to find a pair of nesting Macaws and one morning we set up our gear on the roof of a truck to photograph them. We managed to get some lovely shots of these characterful birds.

One downside of visiting an enormous swamp such as the Pantanal is the mosquitoes! Often we had to make the difficult decision… swat the mossies that were carpeting our bodies or keep our cameras up to our eyes, ready to photograph the animal we were watching. For some reason, coatis seemed to particularly enjoy mossified areas and whenever we tried to photograph them we ended up getting completely obliterated by the Pantanal Air Force!

The second location that we visited, a Fazenda called “Barranco Alto”, turned out to be an incredible place to see tapirs. In total we saw five individuals which is quite amazing considering how shy and elusive these animals are. On one occasion, we came across a young tapir sleeping in the middle of brackish lake. Initially, we didn’t even consider photographing it as 100m of waist-high, gungy green mud lay between us and the tapir. However, Matthew decided to brave the toxic swamp and began to wade. We really didn’t think that it would work… how close could you possibly get to a wild tapir? The answer is very close… close enough to use a wide angle lens!

An essential item in any wildlife photographer’s toolbox is the camera trap. This consists of an infrared beam which triggers a camera when broken. Day or night, whenever we had a spare moment, we would traipse off into the bush looking for suitable spots to set up. Unfortunately we were not lucky enough to catch a shot of a jaguar, but we did manage to photograph some crab eating foxes and a curious peccary!

Katavi, Tanzania

Posted on September 11, 2009 at 12:44 am

We have recently returned from an incredibly productive trip to southern Tanzania. Our primary destination was Katavi national park, a small and very remote area which receives less than 650 visitors per year. In Katavi, game such as hippo, buffalo, zebra and elephant congregates in huge herds. This abundance of animals attracts predators, and prides of lions patrol the flood plains. The wildlife is much shier than in other places we have been due to the low volume of visitors. This made photographing the animals challenging but ultimately more rewarding.

We set ourselves a gruelling schedule: off looking for wildlife before dawn, backing up photos at lunch, out again in the afternoon and then processing photos late into the night. Our constant companions throughout the day were the tsetse flies – large, almost invincible flies with a ferocious bite. They had a knack of launching coordinated attacks right at the crucial moment of taking a photograph and it wasn’t long before we were covered with angry red bites!

We dedicated many hours to photographing a pride of lions which lived near our camp on the Katisunga floodplain. The pride consisted of four females and six beautiful cubs. The hours we spent with them were rewarded with some stunning photos.

Katavi is also a great place to see a wide range of interesting bird species. One morning we lay beside a croc infested river with a blanket over us to photograph sand grouse as they came down to drink. One of our favourite creatures was a Verreaux’s Eagle Owl which often used a perch overlooking the plain. We spent a long time trying to capture some of its many amusing expressions!

Our ten days in Katavi were a fantastic experience. We have many more photos which we will be sharing in due course. Our next post will be about the Mahale Mountains National Park and the wild chimpanzees that we photographed there.