Archive for the 'Deer' category

Back from a few days of photo trip to Nepal, I feel it is time to share with you some of this astonishing experience organized by Amawanda and guided by Alain Pons.

I am more or less a wildlife photographer attracted to the African wide-open spaces. But I had been attracted mostly by the presence of a seasoned pro photographer (Alain Pons) assisted by a very serious organization (I had been able to appreciate them in a previous trip to Kenya in 2008). I had also noticed that costs were relatively moderate (taking into account that this is a wildlife trip – which is often very expensive) including -we could check this later on location- a significant share reserved for local actions for development and nature protection in full coordination with the local structures and the local wildlife organizations.

The flight to Kathmandu was without surprise on Qatar, despite the long night stop in Doha airport where the only Duty Free shop cannot be considered as a commendable tourist spot (but they have a nice stock of alcohol or cigarettes for those who prefer to prepare themselves for later needs).

The Kathmandu-Bardia journey requires about 20 hours of bus or car. The stops provided in the program are a good way to break the inevitable monotony. A faster plane journey would be possible (it is included on the way back) but it would be a pity to avoid the view in the valleys and from the mountain roads out of Pokhara.

All along this journey, I will try to make a few recommendations about what a photographer might find more interesting to stop for.

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I am leaving France for a photo trip to Nepal. Why did my colleagues pay a part of that trip?

I couldn’t resist and I bring you this image I found on an automobile-oriented blog (autoblog).

Met in the forest of Rambouillet (near Paris, but more precisely in the fern land at the end of the Espace Rambouillet of Office National des Forêts), two roe deers that were stuck in the sights of two camouflaged wildlife photographers.

Roe deers (Click to enlarge)

I’m just out of eBay where I bought a second-hand Minolta 1.4x lens converter to extend a little my tele-lenses when I put them on my Sony Alpha 700 and the old faithful Konica-Minolta Dynax Maxxum 7D.

I think it is going to support me when I go to Nepal (Bardia National Park) in next October. With Alain Pons and Amawanda.

Yesterday, we were speaking here about prehistoric big cats in places where they disappeared (e.g. Europe). Today, I want to point at a surprising proposal made by Josh Donlan.

Recognizing that many big cats were roaming in North America tens of thousands of years ago, he want to re-introduce lions, cheetahs, elephants and other large animals in North America. He admits that this could be a bit difficult and that there is no way to rebuild the original population. But he offers ideas about how to bring camels and lions (from the closest relatives species) to a country were they were last seen hundreds of centuries ago.

Of course, it sounds a lot like Jurassic Park for real. Are you ready to find in the United States cheetahs hunting pronghorn bucks in the Wild West (wild again) or in Montana?

Red brocket deer (Mazama americana, daguet rouge)

Marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus, Cerf des marais)
Click on the thumbnails image to enlarge them

Brazil, 2007.

Source: Neatorama.

On Sunday, I took advantage of the extraordinarily warm weather and the re-opening of the Espace Rambouillet since 1st of February, to do a little European safari. The park of the Espace Rambouillet is hosting a few fallow deers ; they are speciallly fearful, so I wanted to use the probably limited number of visitors to approach these elegant and timid animals.

As you can see below, I reached my objective, but as the hunting approaches were long and tiring, I finished with a winged subject easier to shoot (the eagle was having a siesta in the sun).

Again in the Espace Rambouillet (South of Paris), here are a few deers that I shot in the limited sunlight of the woods. They honour the quality of the light exposure of the Dynax 7D.

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them.

After a previous post about a photo ballad I made in Rambouillet, I decided to go back to the same location (a little South of Paris, France) and to try by myself again to surprise a few of the large animals that can be found here.

Since I was alone, I could take advantage of being more silent and discreet than a full group of amateur photographers and I could approach more easily some roe-deers.

Click on the thumbnails to enlarge them.

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the image. Maybe you thought this deer was belling in rut; But no! He’s just bored to death during a photo session near the park border and he’s merely yawning.

Some of you may have noticed the lack of updates in the recent days. Apart from some personal unforecasted obligations I had to serve, it comes from a heavily occupied weekend: I had the possibility to do a two-day photo session in the Rambouillet forest, organized by the ASCPF 50km South of Paris.

In the middle of the rutting season for deers, it seemed a good idea to go hunting with people used to this kind of hobby and to take advantage of excellent conditions. The photo session is organized by the Association Sportive de Chasse Photographique Française to initiat some people to the association and the art of photo hunting with big tele-lenses. For a mere 50€ (covering 2 days), a complete newby like me is guided in a 180ha park (the Espace Rambouillet, managed by the French Office National des Forêts) where we can find boars, deers, roe-deers and fallow-deers roaming freely but slightly less afraid of man than in the open forest (Despite that, there is strictly no chance to reach and touch the animals; This is not even a zoo).

This is indeed an engrossing experience for a photographer interested in animal life. The advice provided by Guy Mallet and Daniel Trinquecostes are precise, concise and to-the-point, for hardware as much as for hunting techniques. But this is not a class course about photo hunting; It is mostly oriented toward practical application (and they can be long for a city dweller with few sports habits like me who is not used to slow walking in the woods and in wet pits during hours). And nature photographers are nice people indeed. We knew that most photographers like to share their passion; This even more visible in this context.

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge it.

All in all, these two day produced a few dozen images. The camera is not stressed, the flash memory cards are not flooded (with data), but some good snapshots can be collected if you apply a few basic rules:

• No need to rush and press the trigger from afar; Be patient.
• A good telelens is required: A 300mm on a digital camera or a 400mm on an analog camera seems to be the bare minimum to reach if you want to grab a few good images.
• Light is missing in the forest and under vegetal cover, all means to compensate this issue are welcome: stabilized lens or camera sensor, tripod (or – even better I think – a monopod), large aperture lens (my clear Minolta APO 300mm f/4 was most welcome and much more confortable than the Sigma 400mm f/5.6). And, when time comes to press the trigger, hold your breath for half a second.
• Camouflage and smooth quietness are needed. I don’t believe that the camouflage nets and similar green-looking garments are not absolutely necessary, but white, and bright and light colours are the first major error (you quickly learn why so many seasoned wildlife photographers use gaffer tape and sock-like to cover the tube of white or pale grey lenses).

Now, I let you look at the other images I could produce. (more…)