subscribe 0330 333 1113 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I 13 April 2019 43
Baby elephant shelters behind mother’s legs on a dry Mwagusi riverbed
Sony A7 III, Canon EF 600mm f/4L IS II USM, 1/3200sec at f/10, ISO 12,800The lens was most pleasant to operate in
places where many animals had congregated
together, times when the camera could be
fixed into position and I could spend time
picking out ‘moments’, like a woodland where
I photographed monkeys somersaulting,
swinging, leaping, tugging each other’s tails,
munching leaves and grooming. The weight
of the lens demands something to rest it on,
such as a tripod with a gimbal head or a door
mount; I used a beanbag, which did the trick
and allowed me some freedom of movement.
Even in the low light of the forest and shooting
with fast shutter speeds, the lens sucked up
light and colour.
It’s not so much fun to use it freehand.
Without anything to take the weight, it’s a
struggle to hold a lens of this size and weight
in position for long, and it’s quickly painful on
the neck, shoulders, arms and lower back. The
adrenaline of photo opportunities frequently
overrode practicality. When I saw the
confrontation on the dry Mwagusi riverbed
between the aggressive male leopard and
terrified female cheetah, the cheetah narrowlyavoiding a possibly fatal clash by turning and
sprinting away, there was no way I was putting
the lens down with two beautiful, rare big cats
right in front of me, but I certainly felt the
physical effects later in the day.
Likewise, when we later witnessed the same
leopard leap from the branches of a sausage
tree onto an unfortunate impala below, I held
the lens and kept it firmly focused on the
once-in-a-lifetime event. The leopard pinned
down the impala, first with its paws, then with
its jaws over the muzzle. The two animals
mouth-to-mouth, eye-to-eye made for a
striking image, like a deadly kiss.
Photographing the leopard’s attack from
the tree, a pride of lions feeding on a giraffe
carcass, bat-eared foxes scampering along the
roadside, or a herd of elephants marauding
through the forest, it wasn’t always possible to
rest the camera on a beanbag or tripod during
such constantly shifting situations. I wanted to
move not only the camera but also myself –
to stand, to crouch, to move to the back of the
vehicle for different angles. That kind of
movement is easy with a smaller, lighter