Posts Tagged ‘safari’

    

Photo Safari in Tanzania – Andy Biggs Video

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

If you’ve never been on a photo safari in Tanzania, you’ll get a taste of one by watching this video.  Andy Biggs of Gura Gear fame shows us travel, accommodations, relaxation and wildlife in this video of a typical photo safari.

You’ll want to go, or go back, after watching this video.  Thanks Andy!

 

 

You can learn more about Andy’s safaris here.

Photo Safari in Tanzania Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Andy Biggs, and thank you for taking the time to look at this brief introduction to an African photographic safari. The reason I put this together was to really explain what we see on a typical game drive. We have beautiful wildlife. We have beautiful landscapes. And then to also show you our accommodations, how comfortable they are, as well as take a look at our professional wildlife guides

Photographic Safari Client

When you get to be around my stage in life you’re looking to fill your bucket list, and Africa was number one, has been since I was a child, actually. So when I chose to come to this safari, I had high expectations. They’ve all been met and exceeded. You walk in here, you walk around the campsites, you get in the vehicles, you see Africa, and it’s sort of becomes part of your soul.

Photographic Safari Client

My favorite moment was, for sure, the encounter with the cheetahs at the water’s edge. There was a little stream with cheetahs, and the reflection was just awesome, all blue. I got some awesome shots from that.

Photographic Safari Client

I also just like the general massive herds just trucking on through. Don’t worry about you. They’ve just got a place to go. That’s all they’re worried about is where they’re going, and it’s impossible to describe these masses of animals just moving along.

Photographic Safari Client

My favorite part of the trip so far – because this is my first time to do anything like this, any type of vacation – was actually when we flew into the airport. There was a pond of hippos below us when we flew over. So that was kind of, “Okay, we’re in Africa now.”

Photographic Safari Client

The accommodations have been great. We have warm beds, a self-contained toilet that we can use, a hot shower in the evening. The food’s been great. I eat a lot of food at home and have not gone hungry here. I’m also a very picky eater, and I’ve definitely liked the food that we have.

Photographic Safari Client

The accommodations here have just been fantastic for tents. It’s like you’re in a hotel or a lodge actually, because you can walk out. The food’s been great, and the beds and everything has been fantastic, comfortable, warm.

Photographic Safari Client

I’ve been on Safari now for about eight days, and I can honestly say this is one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. The wildlife has been amazing. We’ve seen everything that I was hoping to see multiple times and more. The guides are knowledgeable, friendly. One of the things that I like about Andy’s safari is that, as a photographer, you get the time to work with the animal as long as you want. You can recompose. The drivers are accommodating. If you need them to move around for different angles, they’ll stay with the subject as long as you like. If you want to wait for better light, you can wait for better light. There’s no rush.

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How to Photograph from an Open-Roof Safari Vehicle in Africa

Friday, April 8th, 2011

Editor's note:  Welcome Andy Biggs to the blog! Andy has been a long time supporter of OPG, and is the designer and manufacturer of the wildly popular Gura Gear Kiboko bag.  In addition to running Gura Gear, providing commercial stock images and teaching workshops, Andy conducts incredible photo safaris to Africa.  Andy heads overseas six or more times a year, covering nearly every accessible part of the African continent.  Having traveled with Andy myself to several stops in southern Africa, I can tell you that Andy's safaris are first class, and that you'll have the photographic experience of a lifetime.   You can find out more about Andy, see his images and learn about his safaris at his website www.andybiggs.com.  We look forward to more articles and videos from Andy in the future! –Chris

There are many different types of safari vehicles in Africa, and this is the first in a series of videos to try and explain what the vehicles are like. This video specifically describes what the pop-top, or open-roof vehicles are like in east Africa. There are other vehicle types in east Africa (Tanzania and Kenya), however this video specifically addresses the open roof type. I'll shoot similar videos in Botswana and in Kenya later on this year, and my goal is to use these videos to visually explain what the vehicles are like before travelers get to Africa.

You can find the Kinesis Safari Sack described in this video in the OPG Store here.

How to Photograph from an Open-Roof Safari Vehicle in Africa Video Transcript

So I’m here today to talk about how to photograph out of a Land Rover in Africa. Here we have one of my vehicles that we use in Tanzania, and the vehicles are very similar in Kenya as well. But these are what we call pop top, open roof vehicles. Some vehicles do not have a top. I prefer the ones that provide shade because you’re out in the bush all day long, and that sun just beats you down. So I’d really prefer to have one of these tops, these canopies.

The main location you’ll photograph from will be from the standing position. You’ll be in your vehicle. You’ll find your game, what you want to shoot, and you’ll stand up. Here we have a generic bean bag underneath my 200 to 400 lens. My preferred bean bag is from Kinesis. It’s their Safari Sack. It’s kgear.com is their website, and what makes this bean bag really great is it’s got the ability to cinch it to the posts here and keep it in place. You could put a bean bag on one side of the vehicle and another on the other and just leave them there all day long.

When I mount my lens or I place my lens on the bean bag, a lot of times I am using the lens foot. I have a replacement lens foot here from Really Right Stuff, and the reason why I like to use the replacement feet is because they’re typically lower, a lower sense of gravity. You’re not creating a big pendulum on top of the bean bag. That’s my recommendation there.

If my subject distance isn’t changing very much, I do prefer to move that lens foot around to the side or to the top so I have more surface area to hold the lens. The downside of that is that you can’t tweak your manual focus very well, and it’s also hard to zoom if you’re using something like a 200 to 400, a 100 to 400, just some other type of zoom. But for the long zooms, the focusing ring and the zoom ring really do get in the way, so I do like most of the time to just leave the lens foot in place on the bottom.

Now, this is really the best place to photograph if your subjects are farther away. But if your subject is very close, you’re going to want to be shooting from a lower position. And here on the bottom of the vehicle I have a 70 to 200 mounted on top of another bean bag and just sitting out of the window. This is great for those big cats and subjects that come really close to the vehicle because you don’t want to shoot down on your subject. You really do want to shoot at eye level, if at all possible.

This also allows a different view where you can get things and your subject in your frame, like the horizon. I find that is a good storytelling item in an image. The second thing is that if you’re shooting at the same aperture up here, like let’s just say F8 versus F8 down here given the same length of lens, you’re going to have more shallow depth of field, i.e. a blurred background from shooting from a lower position. Why? Because your background is physically farther away from the lens.

I also have two bean bags stacked here in the middle of the vehicle. This is really great where, maybe, if you’re uncomfortable and you need to create a little bit more height but you still want to shoot from a lower position, this can work well. The caveat with that is that if you’ve got some sort of predator walking by the vehicle, you’re not going to want to have that bean bag fall out. That’s a really bad time.

Here is a Land Rover from East Africa and how we shoot from them.

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Photographer Spotlight: Andy Biggs

Friday, May 7th, 2010

From Houston, Texas to the wilds of Africa, Andy Biggs makes a living as a professional photographer.  Andy’s diverse business interests mix photography, safaris, workshops and print sales with his newest venture—camera bag designer. More impressive still is the fact that Andy only started taking photos ten years ago.
 

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Andy picked up his first camera and started his journey in photography in 2000.  At the time, he was employed in the software industry, implementing accounting systems.  In a short two years, he honed his skill and made the decision to become a full time pro.  Since 2002, Andy has put both his business skills and his photographic vision to use, creating a diversified professional photographic business.

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Andy started building his business with stock image sales and worked toward fine art sales, two areas of business he still pursues today.  However, as Andy's business interests have diversified, his stock and fine art images have narrowed to his favorite subject:  Africa.  This specialization in his images has served him well.  Andy's stock sales have continued to be strong in today's environment of stiff competition and falling prices.

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In 2008, Banana Republic used thirteen of Andy's photographs as the cornerstone of their Urban Safari campaign, and his images were seen in all 750 stores around the globe, as well as in their billboards, catalogs and annual report. Andy was also the winner of the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year in the 'Wild Places' category in 2008.

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How did Andy become attracted to Africa?  He can't quite pin it down for sure.  Maybe, he says, it was the movie Out of Africa, with its romantic portrayal of life on that continent.  In any case, after his first trip, he was hooked.  Today, Andy's photographic safari business thrives, with Andy spending two to three months a year out on safari.

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Andy sees the photographic safari business as one of teaching and also as one of hospitality.  To merge these two businesses takes a special personality.  Andy has that slant down pat.  In his own words, he says he was born with the ‘gift of gab' and that he loves interacting with people.  Hosting safaris in far-off places comes naturally.

Hot Air Balloon Over the Serengeti

Traveling internationally and in the bush comes with severe weight limits.  After numerous times of having to leave equipment at home due to heavy camera bags, Andy decided to design and make his own bag.  After spending 2 years with many prototypes, the Gura Gear Kiboko bag was born.  Andy launched Gura Gear in 2008, redefining the lightweight camera backpack market.  The Gura Gear Kiboko bag has been a runaway success worldwide.

Andy names his photographic influences as Ansel Adams for his larger than life black and white images, Galen Rowell for his passion for the outdoors and for conservation and Art Wolfe for his ability to come away with wonderful photographs in challenging circumstances.

Through diversification and dedication, Andy has been able to successfully weave his photographic vision and his business interests together, using the one common thread that ties it all together:  Africa.

When not traveling, Andy enjoys good food, good wine (he's an expert wine connoisseur) and good family time with his wife and two sons in his native Houston.

You can find out more about Andy, his safaris, his blog and his images at his website:  www.andybiggs.com

Learn more about the Gura Gear Kiboko Bag in the Outdoor Photo Gear Store here:  Kiboko

 

 

 

 

 

 

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