It is not quite as dramatic as the title might sound but this little fella was standing in the middle of the Yala National Park approach road - effectively blocking most of the road. He has learned to beg for food from passing traffic - we saw several small trucks pull up and the drivers passing over a banana or two - clearly he'd done this before. By the time we got close he was sort of shuffling back and forth into the shrubbery, all the while keeping an eye on the people in the bus. As you'll see in this very short clip, he was almost touching the vehicle - we saw a couple of other elephants doing the same during the drive into the park. Interestingly the guide reckoned this fella had been shot sometime ago because you can see the circular wounds from shotgun pellets that seems to have healed over nicely. Elephants can flatten an entire field or rice in one night and destroy a lot of crops like maize and fruit so unfortunately, even though it's entirely illegal, farmers still take pot shots at their invaders. Luckily for this guy, he lived to tell the tale.
Yala Elephant from Robin Nichols on Vimeo.
Wednesday 28 March 2018
Friday 23 March 2018
Shooting Tip: Lighting Problems in Galle's Fishmarket
We have all visited a fish market at one time or another - our plan in Sri Lanka was to get to the early morning markets in Negombo after arriving the night before.
That plan failed because most of the fishermen in that part of Sri Lanka are Christian so, it being a Sunday, nothing was open.
We eventually found a much smaller local fish market in Galle, two hour's drive south of the capital. It was much smaller (than Negombo) and a bit late in the day (after 8:30) so half the stalls had already packed up - and by the smell pervading the beach along which the market was assembled, things were already going off.
Still, it was a great experience - photographically tough because: it's a busy place, the light was coming from behind the stall holders and of course, they were more interested in us buying fish, rather than posing for photos with fish.
Here's a small selection of snaps taken along the beach and some suggestions on how to deal with extreme back lighting...
That plan failed because most of the fishermen in that part of Sri Lanka are Christian so, it being a Sunday, nothing was open.
We eventually found a much smaller local fish market in Galle, two hour's drive south of the capital. It was much smaller (than Negombo) and a bit late in the day (after 8:30) so half the stalls had already packed up - and by the smell pervading the beach along which the market was assembled, things were already going off.
Still, it was a great experience - photographically tough because: it's a busy place, the light was coming from behind the stall holders and of course, they were more interested in us buying fish, rather than posing for photos with fish.
Here's a small selection of snaps taken along the beach and some suggestions on how to deal with extreme back lighting...
Fishermen's nets litter the beaches up and down the coastal areas of Sri Lanka often making for a great shot, with and without the rubbish... |
Angry Birds! |
Wednesday 21 March 2018
Take your camera for a Walk in the Garden
Because of an early flight out of Colombo I had to spend the night in an airport hotel next to the airport.
The Gateway Hotel is set in a large expanse of garden two kilometres from the airport so, with a few hours to kill, I wandered though the gardens to see if there were many birds about. As it happened it was great with more than nine species of bird seen - and a palm squirrel - in the space of only a couple of hours. Here are some of the pictures...
The Gateway Hotel is set in a large expanse of garden two kilometres from the airport so, with a few hours to kill, I wandered though the gardens to see if there were many birds about. As it happened it was great with more than nine species of bird seen - and a palm squirrel - in the space of only a couple of hours. Here are some of the pictures...
Common Kingfisher |
Layard's Parakeet |
Green-billed Coucal |
Palm Squirrel |
Yellow-billed babblers |
Wagtail |
Golden Oriole |
Indian Cormorant |
Tuesday 20 March 2018
Seema Malaka Temple, Colombo
Seema Malaka was originally constructed in the late 19th century. The original structure slowly sank into the water in 1970s. In 1976, Sri Lankan architect Geoffrey Bawa was brought in to redesign and construct the temple.
Statue of Vishnu in Seema Malaka temple |
Though Buddhist, this temple is designed more for meditation than prayer, with an interesting mix of obviously Buddhist statues and those from Hindu religions |
More statues inside the temple are mostly gifts from other Asian countries including Japan and Myanmar. |
Monday 19 March 2018
The Frustrations of a Wildlife Photographer or, the Elephant in the Room
On many occasions I've been lucky to have experience a safari - looking for animals and birds - for the pleasure of seeing a varied range of wildlife, and of course, to try and take a great shot of the subject.
In Sri Lanka most people that head to one of the excellent wildlife parks want to see the biggest mammals - this includes leopard, sloth bear and elephant.
The latter isn't hard to spot, particularly in Udawalawe, Minneriya and Kaudulla National Parks but, because of its natural cunning, leopards are significantly harder to detect.
On this photo tour we did find one leopard and it was up a tree. This is one of the 'Holy Grails' of leopard photography - but luck was against us - the tree was about a hundred metres away, in a forest, with dense ground cover.
After 20 minutes gesticulating on the part of our naturalist we eventually saw what looked to be a leopard, or rather a bit of a leopard obscured by leaves and branches. We took a snap for a record and moved on.
On a safari this tends to happen again and again. You 'think' you see it, you take a snap hoping to capture at least a glimpse but find, once it's downloaded to the computer, it's just a bunch of leaves or twigs. That said, even though the professional guide can see it, and the use of a good telephoto lens, isn't a guarantee of getting the shot.
And then there are the places where, despite the guide's excitement, you see absolutely nothing, and the record photo you take reveals even less, leaving you wondering whether the spotters are just making it up to look like they are doing their job, or perhaps you need a new prescription.
One instance was the sighting of a fishing cat and a cub - this was exciting as it's a very rare find, but ultimately disappointing, as I could see nothing in the dim recesses of the shrubbery. The photo revealed something else.
And as if animal camouflage and cunning wasn't making the photographer's life hard enough, there are those critters that have the uncanny knack of always keeping a bush or tree between it and the lens, no matter how careful, and quiet you think you are.
A good example of this would be the very exotic Asian Paradise Flycatcher - a small light grey-coloured bird with a long white tail stretching more than twice its length (this was the white morph version). Whenever we saw one of these beautiful creatures is was just for a fleeting moment before it shimmied into dense undergrowth to disappear in a flash.
In Sri Lanka most people that head to one of the excellent wildlife parks want to see the biggest mammals - this includes leopard, sloth bear and elephant.
The latter isn't hard to spot, particularly in Udawalawe, Minneriya and Kaudulla National Parks but, because of its natural cunning, leopards are significantly harder to detect.
On this photo tour we did find one leopard and it was up a tree. This is one of the 'Holy Grails' of leopard photography - but luck was against us - the tree was about a hundred metres away, in a forest, with dense ground cover.
After 20 minutes gesticulating on the part of our naturalist we eventually saw what looked to be a leopard, or rather a bit of a leopard obscured by leaves and branches. We took a snap for a record and moved on.
On a safari this tends to happen again and again. You 'think' you see it, you take a snap hoping to capture at least a glimpse but find, once it's downloaded to the computer, it's just a bunch of leaves or twigs. That said, even though the professional guide can see it, and the use of a good telephoto lens, isn't a guarantee of getting the shot.
And then there are the places where, despite the guide's excitement, you see absolutely nothing, and the record photo you take reveals even less, leaving you wondering whether the spotters are just making it up to look like they are doing their job, or perhaps you need a new prescription.
One instance was the sighting of a fishing cat and a cub - this was exciting as it's a very rare find, but ultimately disappointing, as I could see nothing in the dim recesses of the shrubbery. The photo revealed something else.
And as if animal camouflage and cunning wasn't making the photographer's life hard enough, there are those critters that have the uncanny knack of always keeping a bush or tree between it and the lens, no matter how careful, and quiet you think you are.
A good example of this would be the very exotic Asian Paradise Flycatcher - a small light grey-coloured bird with a long white tail stretching more than twice its length (this was the white morph version). Whenever we saw one of these beautiful creatures is was just for a fleeting moment before it shimmied into dense undergrowth to disappear in a flash.
Sunday 18 March 2018
Photographing inside the Weherahena Poorwarama Rajamaha Viharaya temple, Matara
This is one of those really curious temples that you can find in different places around Sri Lanka - hundreds of panels or cartoons depicting the life of Buddha in all its complexity - but illustrated in a form that people with little education can still grasp. There are so many stories - but as you can see from the twin picture - that I call heaven and hell, the message is clear. Behave, and you are 'in the clouds'.
'If you don't, well, it looks like you suffer some sort of painful compulsory foot surgery. Most of the shots here were triple exposures and processed using Aurora HDR Pro using a 'realistic' HDR preset.
'If you don't, well, it looks like you suffer some sort of painful compulsory foot surgery. Most of the shots here were triple exposures and processed using Aurora HDR Pro using a 'realistic' HDR preset.
View looking down from the top of the statue |
Buddha's footprint Seems he was a bit flatfooted? |
Heaven and hell? |
Topless Yoga perhaps? I don't get the chicken feet... |
Crow Island from Flagrock Bastion, Galle Fort
Indian tourists taking a selfie from Flagrock bastion, Galle Fort |
On my photo tours I always try to get everyone into shooting at night with a tripod. Unfortunately there were no stars last night because the sky was 9 tenths cloud cover - but there was some illumination provided by the lighthouse beam sweeping out across the sea.
Here are a few shots taken late in the evening from the most southerly part of Galle Fort, looking out to sea. Night time exposures were around 160secs at f4, ISO 800. (Interestingly these files required substantial retouching to remove/retouch the blank pixels - these appear in the file as white or coloured specks - in my case, the EOS 5D MkIII produces a lot of these 'dead' pixels - you don't see this in daylight, only in long, nighttime exposures in the darker areas of the file).
Surf breaking over rocks immediately in front of Flagrock bastion - the lights from a passing ship somewhat overpowering the view on the horizon |
Saturday 17 March 2018
Feeding Time at the Elephant Transit Camp in Udawalawe
This little elephant is too young to cope among the 50+ older elephants at the camp so a gets special one-on-one feeding session. He knows exactly where to go and which keeper to follow... |
Bingo! |
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