For this night shot of a Tasmanian pademelon and her joey, I was able to use a slow shutter speed to record color in the sky, while using an off camera flash to illuminate the pademelons. Pademelons are funny little macropods, smaller than wallabies and more round in shape. These two were in Narawntapu National Park on the northern coast of Tasmania.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 70-200mm lens (at 120mm) ISO 1600, f/2.8 at half a second
Always nice to photograph hippos when they are out of the water. Usually that means getting them first thing in the morning before the hot sun forces them back into rivers and other water bodies. This guy was grazing in an open field in the Masai Mara of Kenya just as the sun appeared on the horizon. In the background you can see a few resting cape buffalo. Fun fact of the day about hippos — their skin alone can weigh in excess of half a ton.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 240mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/250th of a second
This butterfly is known for its see-through wings, but in this photo I liked that I was able to capture the tips of its antenea, while the rest of the butterfly remained out of focus. There are many clearwing butterflies in Central and South American, this one was photographed in Ecuador. Its scientific name is methona confusa.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400 (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/200th of a second
I posted a wild eastern quoll when I first returned from Tasmania. This eastern quoll was a resident at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary, a rehabilitation center for orphaned and injured animals, as well as a breeding center for Tasmanian devils. Quolls really are among the cutest animals that I’ve had the pleasure of photographing, and that’s about all I’ve got to say about this little guy.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 200mm) ISO 1600, f/4.5 at 1/320th of a second
There are eight giant tortoises visible in this photo. They were enjoying a drink and a swim at a water hole in the Santa Cruz Highlands of the Galapagos Islands. There were several others milling about too, outside of the range of my wide angle lens. It was a lot of fun hiking through Santa Cruz’s open pastures alongside these enormous animals — the largest of their kind in the world and one of the longest living vertebrates in the world. They have an average lifespan of more than a hundred years. Biologists aren’t quite sure of the exact lifespan because data wasn’t collected that long ago, but a captive individual is known to have lived at least 170 years.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 800, f/8 at 1/1600th of a second
Wombats are funny creatures. They either scurried away as soon as I approached, or they let me get extremely close as if they didn’t have a care in the world. A few even pushed their noses up against my wide angle lens. This guy let me get extremely close, but had the added comfort of being at the opening of his burrow. I was using a fisheye lens when I captured this yawn.
Nikon D810 with Sigma 15mm fisheye lens, ISO 800, f/4 at 1/400th of a second
Just a simple headshot here of a striated caracara, locally known in the Falkland Islands as the Johnny Rook. These guys are fairly tame as you can tell from this close up. They were basically following me wherever I went in the Falklands, hoping that a few scraps would fall out of my backpack. This one spent a good part of the afternoon with me while I was photographing elephant seals on Carcass Island. Although they are common in the Falklands, they are an endangered species.
Nikon D800 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 400, f/6.3 at 1/320th of a second
For those of you on my subscribers list, I apologize, but for some reason last night’s post never sent. I’m not sure why, but hopefully this one will go through. If you missed last night, you should check it out — a sweet shot of a white wallaby with her joey you can see here. And this, of course, is a honey badger. I was in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve on my first trip to Botswana. Honey badgers have a fierce reputation for being able to stand up to larger predators such as lions. Their skin is very thick and also very loose. If a lion gets ahold of one, the honey badger can turn around in its own skin and fight back.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 400mm) ISO 800, f/5.6 at 1/250th of a second
Here’s another look at the white wallaby with brown joey that I got to know on Bruny Island in Tasmania. In this shot, the joey had just crawled out of the mother’s pouch. You can see that the joey does have quite a bit of white coloration on the stomach, no doubt inherited from mom. I took this photo about fifty yards from the accommodation I was staying at (Inala Cottage). I was able to spend a lot of time with the wallabies so they were quite comfortable with my presence and I was able to get a few intimate shots like this one.
Nikon D810 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 330mm) ISO 1600, f/5.6 at 1/640th of a second
I like the way that this one is almost devoid of all color (even though it’s fully saturated). It was sunset in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana when I came across this agreeable black backed jackal. The jackal was very accepting of my approach and I was able to get out of the safari vehicle and down on the ground for an eye level portrait. The low angle also enabled me to blur out most of the background, adding to the monochromatic effect.
Nikon D300 with Nikkor 200-400mm lens (at 360mm) ISO 800, f/4 at 1/125th of a second