Desert Elephant. Namibia
Nov, 2017Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The headwaters (actually there was no water - just dry river beds) of the Huab River in Namibia near Twfelfontein.Time
We started from the Twyfelfontain Desert Lodge about 4pm and our guide drove us for about one and a half hours to the place where the elephant herd were. Arriving in the area as the shadows were lengthening. Well after dark by the time we got back to the lodge.Lighting
Evening light in the desert, low angle and a lot of orange, and dusty, orange dust. The elephants roll in it so they are varying shades of orange too.Equipment
Fuji XT-1 with 50 to 140 lens. Handheld in the vehicle at 50mm. ISO 400, !000th sec at f2.8. no filter no flashInspiration
We were in the river bed shooting some younger elephants - probably 2 to 3 yrs old when there was a crashing, craning noise from the brush to the west and in just a few seconds this large mature female appeared at the top of the bank. Threatening pose and taken at 50 mm so she was pretty close and well above us. She seemed to assess our threat level as low so she dropped the threatening pose and started browsing on the thorny bushes.Editing
Minimal alterations to tone and presenceIn my camera bag
2 bodies Fuji XT-1 at that time with zooms, wide, standard and short tele, with 1.4 tele-extender. I now have a longer tele but not on that tripFeedback
The elephants live in a remote corner of a remote country. We used the services of Goway Travel whose southern Africa agent booked a trip where our accommodation was booked and we had a rental 4X4, but otherwise we had recommendations but no schedule. We were there for over 2 weeks and just visited a small chunk of the country. it is safe especially compared to the rest of Africa. English is widely spoken. Apart from these desert elephants highlights were a few days spent at Etosha National Park and also at Erindi - quite fabulous wildlife viewing and photography.
