I recently wrote a short blog on my experiences in entering photographic salons both locally in South Africa and Internationally and what it does for my own photography. My photographic friends told me that there are a few salons that you have to enter Internationally like the Trierenberg Super Circuit and the Al-Thani awards to…
Having recently returned from my first Chobe Safari of 2015, I was once again reminded what an incredible piece of the planet the Chobe River is for wildlife photography. The photography of the various species both bird and mammal, was diverse and we had some interesting action and interaction like the African Jacanas who are competing…
As nature photographers we have to be ready and willing to shoot in any conditions if we want to get the shot. In this particular sequence I want to share with you, I was in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in December a year ago when we were challenged photographically. The day started off as you would expect from a…
One of the Kgalagadi sightings I have always wanted to photograph is when the Jackals hunt the Cape Turtle Doves and Sandgrouse. I have visited the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park 13 times in the last few years and have always dipped on seeing this action. From what I could gather on the various reports and sightings…
A year had passed since my last visit to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park which straddles South Africa and Botswana. Form a photography point of view I had upgraded my cameras from the D700 and D800 to a D750 and D810 so I was excited to use them in anger to see the improvements. Planning a…
As many of the nature and photo club members out there we want to improve the quality of our work. One way to measure the quality of your images is though your photo clubs and international photo salons. I am new to the world of photography salons, but decided to try my hand this last year on the local…
The migration of more than 1.5 million animals from the Serengeti in Tanzania into Kenya by way of the Maasai Mara is hailed as one of the greatest animal migrations on the planet and for any nature and photography lover is a must on their bucket lists. On this massive migration the herds follow the…
One of the questions I get the most when discussing the Chobe Safaris with interested clients is what the best time of the year is to go on a Chobe Safari. I always say that there isn’t a best time only different times. When we start our CNP Chobe safaris in March every year following the end of the rainy…
I am going through my images and trying to decide which images best captures what we witnessed and photographed over the last 5 day CNP safari on the Chobe River. It is indeed a tough task as one of the clients remarked that every single session delivered something very special. The birds are here in their hundreds and as the…
In this blog I want to share with you some of the Birds of Prey we encountered along the roads and at the water holes during our CNP Safaris to Etosha . At the apex of the African bird of prey pyramid is the Martial Eagle. The female Martial Eagle who weighs in at 4.7 kg, has a wingspan of between…
The main feature of Etosha National Park in the northern part of Namibia is its salt pan which is believed to have formed a 100 million years ago and is 130km long and 50km wide at its widest point. In the local Ovambo language, The name Etosha means the “great white place” and can be…
I am back in Windhoek for a day between safaris and am trying to catch up on admin and getting some of my image editing up to date before we head north to Etosha again tomorrow morning. This last week was not only about the lions of Etosha, although we saw the Namutoni pride at…
CNP Photographic Safaris to Etosha National Park in Namibia is a highlight on the CNP safari calendar for me. As I sat in the plane en-route to Etosha via Windhoek I reflected on what our photography in Etosha was like in 2013 and what I was hoping for our clients in 2014. Questions like how…
Our first four CNP Safaris to the Chobe River have produced some very interesting sightings and good photography opportunities. All photography is done from our specialist CNP photography boats which allows our clients to shoot from a flat bottomed boat providing a stable platform for the telephoto lenses. Waterside photography is vastly different from shooting…
Last week I wrote about the anguish of the mother Hippo as she stood over the body of her young baby which had been killed and her subsequent retaliation towards other members of the pod. This sparked serious confrontation towards her by as many as 3 other Hippos at a time. I do not know what…
Neal Cooper 