Take me to the place where the white boys dance...

To kick off this post, I have to apologise to the band "The Killers", whose song title made a perfect title for this photo and its resulting blog post.

As you may know, we recently returned from an amazing family safari-camping-roadtrip through some of the most iconic places in Namibia. One of the destinations was the famous Etosha National Park. Though it was not my first visit to Etosha, this was definitely my longest to date. We stayed a total of 12 days in the park, to ensure we made the most of each of the main camps and its surrounding regions.

One of the photographic opportunities that has eluded me on my trips to Etosha prior to this one, has been to see and photograph the iconic elephant bulls caked in the white calcium-rich mud of this particular arid ecosystem. In my presentations and workshops, I always make mention of the fact that understanding animal behaviour is key to obtaining good wildlife photos. This particular photo is also the result of such understanding, and a bit of luck...

Nikon D3s  |  Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II @ 70mm  |  f11  |  1/1250 SS  |  ISO-560

We first saw these elephant bulls when we transferred from Namutoni camp to Halali camp. They were moving across the pan towards the mudholes at the Springbokfontein waterhole. Because we were busy moving camp and had our big trailers hitched, we could not maximise the sighting for us photographically. It was also in the heat of midday, which meant the heat haze affected the quality of our photos.

During our stay at Halali, I was tempted to see if these bulls perhaps frequent this particular waterhole. I made a late morning run to this waterhole (a 32km trip one way) - and lo and behold, they were there, albeit further from the road than what is ideal. I knew now that these boys were the locals, this was their pub, and they would probably be found here most days until the rains come.

We decided to return in that direction the next morning - and although they weren't there when we first arrived, they had made their way to the same spot far from the road by the time we got back from our brunch stop (we made delicious jaffels on the edge of the Etosha Pan, yum)...this time there were a total of 9 elephant bulls in the immediate area! The 4 we'd seen previously, and another 5. Photos were, again, hampered by the heart haze (it was upwards of 45 degrees Celcius by this time).

That hatched a plan for me. The next day we would be moving from Halali to Okaukuejo, and although the potential is there for the "white ghosts of Etosha" to be photographed around that area as well, I really wanted another crack at getting bankable photos of these boys. So we decided to scoot out to Springbokfontein one last time that afternoon, in hope that they would still be around the waterhole and possibly even close enough for decent photos. Man, were we right!! Some of them had moved off way into the bush, but 2 of the bulls were feeding right next to the road, and they were super relaxed...meaning we could work some really nice closeups and even wide angle shots of them. The golden afternoon light and some puffy clouds made for a very enjoyable afternoon of photography.

Are these photos unique - will they win me awards?
Nope.
Does it matter?
Nope.
Did my friend and I enjoy the culmination of my quest to photograph these white boys?
Immensely.

Go out there, and enjoy your photography!

Morkel Erasmus

Special Print Series - Atmospheric Elephants

Good afternoon everyone...

I've just released a new special print collection on my website. It's a specific portfolio of black & white photos showcasing elephants under the vast expanse of the African sky. This series can be printed on the finest Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper or fine art quality canvas, and it will be an exquisite adornment for a home or a corporate office space. I am making each image available as individual prints. 

I will also be running special prices on multiple orders of 2 or 3 prints, 5 prints, 9 prints or the whole series of 13...multiple prints can be designed and sized according to the specific space you intend for them to be hung.

You can see the entire collection HERE.
If you want a moody piece of "Africa" to adorn your walls - let me know!

For detail pricing and enquiries, please contact me on:
morkel@morkelerasmus.com

Have a great week!

Morkel Erasmus

The Handshake

Secret societies have it. 
Mob bosses have it. 
Elephants have it. 
Secret Handshakes...

My time spent in this research bunker at a very remote waterhole in +Etosha National Park will always bring back fond memories of really seeing and experiencing the daily lives of elephants up close and personal. 

Elephants are highly social creatures, and even though many of the bulls frequenting this waterhole arrived and left on their own, they never failed to interact with the other bulls around the waterhole, often spending long periods just standing close to others, making contact and rumbling off their tummies or drinking water. 

These two bulls were greeting each other and gently touching trunks. The giraffes across on the other side of the waterhole caught my eye and I tried to work them into the composition by shooting vertically. I just love the perspective here.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II @ 200mm
f11  |  1/800 SS  |  ISO-640

click on the photo to view at best resolution and sharpness

I wanted to share this image today as the day of announcing the winners of the BBC Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 draws closer. This photo of mine was a finalist in the "Black and White" category, and I had high hopes for it. Alas, it was not included in the final selection of winning images. It was a good year for me as far as the "final round" of the BBC WPY goes as I had 3 single images and a portfolio of 6 images through to the final round (none of which made it to the awarded images, unfortunately). I am looking forward to seeing the actual awarded images and seeing who walks away with the big honours this year after my friend and countryman, the legend Greg du Toit scooped up the grand title last year. I will try again next year, as it's always fun to enter images into this most prestigious competition in nature photography.

Thanks for viewing! What do YOU think of this photo? Let me know in the comments section below.

Morkel Erasmus

An Elephantine Moment

Wildlife photography, to me, is about telling the stories of nature and conveying a sense of the wonder of God's creation to my viewers. As a photographer, you need to be able to use all the tools at your disposal to do this. Besides the obvious - your camera and lens and the right settings for the shot you envision - you need to sometimes resort to cropping and post-processing techniques to "bring out" the story in the photo.

This photo of elephants drinking life-giving water was taken from an underground research bunker in Etosha National Park, Namibia. 

I was using a Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 lens, but even after capturing the tender moment of the young calf drinking between his protective mother's legs, I felt that it needed an extra touch. 

I cropped to eliminate distracting elements - in this case the sky, the other elephants (as much as possible) and some of the foreground. Mom wasn't as important to me as the young one, so it wasn't necessary for me to have "all of her" in the frame. Not much I can do about the giraffe you see through her legs in the background, though. I also wanted to convert this to monochrome to avoid the brighter colours drawing your eye from the cute calf who was in the shade.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VR-II @ 200mm
f8.0  |  1/250 SS  |  ISO-900

Let me know what you think!
Thanks for looking, and have a blessed week my friends.

Morkel Erasmus

Featured on the BBC Wildlife Magazine webpage

A little while ago I was fortunate to have a selection of my African Elephant photos featured in an online gallery on the BBC Wildlife Magazine website (Discover Wildlife). Being featured on the website of such a prominent environmental publication is a big honour for me indeed.

You can view the gallery HERE (and also browse some of the other amazing galleries to be seen in that section of the website, by legendary photographers like Steve Winter, David Lloyd en Hannes Lochner).

Have a great weekend, friends!

Morkel Erasmus

Free HD desktop background

Yesterday, on my Facebook Page, I made a promise. I promised to hand out an HD resolution desktop background to download once my page reaches 50,000 followers.

Well, the 50k has come and gone, so it's time to keep my word.

This is the photo, showing some elephants at a remote waterhole in Etosha National Park, Namibia. I included a quote by George Kimble:

"The darkest thing about Africa has always been our ignorance of it..."

You can download the HD version by clicking on THIS LINK. I hope you enjoy having this on your iPad, laptop or desktop computer!

Have a great day!

Morkel Erasmus

Happy Hour Rush

Elephants love water. You know that by now (at least some of you do). I love watching breeding herds rush to the water as they start to smell the nourishment. One of the best places to do this is around the waterholes of Etosha National Park in Namibia, which is exactly where I am headed from tomorrow...

This photo is from an earlier visit to this magical place. The dust, the dusk sky (past sunset already) and the rushing herd in an open setting made for fantastic viewing and photography. With the sun already set, I needed to push the ISO and drop the shutter speed a bit to get a sharp shot and keep the ISO from rocketing to the 50,000s. This photo is best viewed against a darker background to pick up on all the subtle detail.

Techs:
Nikon D3s
Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f4.0 | 1/250 SS | ISO-4500
Exposure Bias -1 EV (to accentuate mood/dust and also get ISO a bit lower)

click on the photo to display properly

 You can look forward to more images from Etosha when I return!

Morkel Erasmus