PINHOLE PHOTOGRAPHY MEDIUM FORMAT
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For Monday Night Combat.
Fires special incendiary rounds.
c'mon, you can't expect me to go into a fight without bringing a ridiculously huge pistol with me?
Did I ever mention that I love getting comments? I don't get out much >.<
Comments and notes are very welcome.
Thought I'd give it a try. Can't think of a story right now.. maybe I'll add one later.
Credit to Beck for the rail shading and to R4mos for the rail idea. Done in PMG 0.6.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
Obviously this is another photo of the same lioness and cub that I posted the other day. I have a lot of photos from the sequence, but they're all reasonably similar so I'll probably only post one more. In the meantime though, I couldn't resist sharing this cropped shot.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
A little while after my previous photo was taken one of the cubs had clearly done enough walking and just flopped down in the grass, so Mum gently picked it up and carried it whilst its three siblings struggled along behind. Favouritism or need, how does a mother decide?
We were very privileged to witness this natural behaviour and very fortunate that we were in the perfect position to capture a series of images that will certainly bring back happy memories in the future.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
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WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURES @ tickspics.com
"the experiences, the places, the species and more ....."
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Giving MNC another run, this time using my own style (I had thought the style guidelines stricter than they were)
Still how this qualifies.
Compact bullpup suppressed semi-auto rifle.
cred to Worlock for the letters.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
This is the female cheetah Kisaru, daughter of Amani, the one that they were calling 'supermum' in the Mara North Conservancy. We were actually very lucky to see her because later in the day she moved north crossing the border into Lemek. It's very rare to see a cheetah with six cubs and, even if you do, it's difficult to get a shot of them all together. In fact I never did as this photo shows as there was always one that wouldn't co-operate. In fact the only reason that these five are staying so close to mum is because they're anxiously looking towards three male lions that are heading in their direction. It was a nervy time for all concerned, but that's a story for another day. Fortunately the situation didn't develop, but that's not to say that the family didn't have an even more traumatic experience later in the morning! I shall comment on that later.
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This photo was taken very early in the morning, just before 6.30am in poor light, which unfortunately didn't allow for a greater DoF.
Masai Mara (MNC), Kenya
This is Kweli with two of her three cubs that are now just over 4 months. Kweli had her first litter early during mid 2020 when she was barely two years old. At the time she was seen with two small cubs, but sadly both were lost. In June last year she had another litter. Reports confirm that she had five cubs but one, possibly more, were killed by a buffalo. By the beginning of July she only had one and, soon after, that one was lost as well in circumstance unknown. There were originally four in this litter and I’m not sure what happened to the other, but the three we observed looked fit and healthy. At present, Kweli is proving to be a good mum in providing food and keeping the cubs safe, and hopefully by the law of averages these three may make it to adulthood.
Kweli was born mid 2018 to mother Amani (her fourth successful litter). She dispersed in October 2019 with her sister Kulete and brother Jasari. We were fortunate in seeing them that day so it was good to see her again with cubs of her own. Her sister Kulete also has two cubs that I believe were born at about the same time.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
Interestingly the Tawny didn't like the look of this little snake either. He tossed it up in the air a few times exactly the same as the Greater Spotted had done, but in the end flew off without it, which is rather strange.
Obviously Tawny Eagles are not specialist snake eaters like the Bateleur, Brown Snake-Eagle, Black-chested Snake-Eagle etc., but they are known for feeding on carrion. In Africa it's not unusual to see them on old kills together with vultures, albeit normally on the periphery of the action. In Afrikaans the name of this bird is 'Roofarend', which translates to 'Robber' which I suppose is exactly what it was doing here in taking the snake from the larger Greater Spotted Eagle.
The whole event with the Greater Spotted Eagle, which was initially accompanied by an immature bird, and this Tawny Eagle was really interesting to watch and made a nice change to the animal encounters.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
'Kiraposhe's Boys' - Milele and Mbili (meaning 'forever' and 'two' in Swahili, which are rather good names for brothers - let's hope that they do manage to stay together forever).
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WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY ADVENTURES @ tickspics.com
"the experiences, the places, the species and more ....."
______________________________________________
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
The incredible eye-sight, reactions and speed of a cheetah have to be seen to be believed. One minute Kisaru was happily dozing on a grass mound surrounded by her six playful cubs, and the next second she's spotted a scrub hare about 75m or so away and is up and chasing it. I wasn't expecting anything to happen and didn't even have time to pick up my camera. Fortunately though our guide had almost as quick reactions and the knowledge to know where she was likely to take the kill. Whilst this shot was always going to be my next in this series it's an appropriate image for 'World Cheetah Day'.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
The two Kiraposhe brothers - Milele and Mbili - roam a large territory in Mara North. Most of this area is wide open plains with only a few scattered trees or old stumps to break up the landscape. As they move around the area, they’ll stop at most of these features to leave their scent by spray-marking, and to ‘sniff the news’ in order to find out if another cheetah has visited the same spot. Whilst breeding males will defend a core territory their wider home range will almost certainly overlap with other cats. Marking territory boundaries is an important part of any cat’s daily routine.
Not sure if this is MNC or not, still don't quite understand it fully, but got to this by accident so kept at it. Anyway:
-Brutal grip
-MPO-esque thingy
-Great big dual axe
-Copious gulleys and drainage to stop blood impairing grip
-Etc
To be honest the fact the axe has an M16 is just a bonus rather than the other way round :P.
And this one actually does have some benefits to being viewed in lightbox.
Enjoy :).
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
A moment after my previous shot, the eagle is now exactly in the position that I wanted to capture it - the split second before landing when the wings are back and the feet are dropped. Anticipation, positioning and camera settings are important for images like this, but you also need a bit of luck especially when you're using a slower camera like the D850 that's only capturing around 7fps.
The Greater Spotted Eagle breeds across northeast Europe and northern Asia, migrating south in winter with some birds dispersing into northeast Africa. Although I'd previously photographed the species in Tanzania they rarely get further south than the Mara.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
After his somewhat embarrassing attempt to copy his mother (see previous post) it's time to confess that he fell over and scrunched his trunk!
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
This photo is of a lioness from the Cheli & Peacock Pride moving her four young cubs across the plain to a new location in order to protect them from the encroaching Serian Pride. Interestingly, both prides are controlled by the same males - the four 'Offbeat Boys', but that doesn't stop conflicts when members of the prides come in contact with each other. This mother was playing safe.
Masai Mara (MNC), Kenya
I've just checked the time stamp for the shot, which was 36 seconds after this photo was taken. It was a very tall tree!
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
I wasn't going to post any of the shots from this particular sighting as they're not great because of the poor light, but this was our only encounter on this trip with arguably the most famous female cheetah in the Mara.
Her name is Amani, and even if she’s not the most famous or well known, she’s certainly the most successful in terms of being a mother as she’s now raised nine youngsters to independency from four litters between 2012 - 2018. Of particular note is Imani - the mother of Selenkei - from her first litter, the sisters Busara and Kisaru who were born in March 2016 - the latter being the current ‘supermum’ with six cubs, and the three subadults - one male and two females, recently named Jasiri, Kweli and Kulete - who dispersed at the end of October.
It wasn’t obvious at the time, but we later found out that Amani was pregnant when this photo was taken, so with any luck she should be giving birth again any time soon.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
Here are three photos of the famous female called Amani, who is the most successful Cheetah mother in the Mara having raised nine youngsters to independency from four litters between 2012 - 2018. Of particular note is Imani – the mother of Selenkei - from her first litter, the sisters Busara and Kisaru who were born in March 2016 – the latter being the current ‘supermum’ with six cubs – and the three, as yet unnamed, subadults – one male and two females - who dispersed at the end of October. If I include Kisaru’s cubs, we saw and photographed eleven of Amani’s descendants during the course of our stay.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
Whilst most baby animals can be considered cute, they often need to develop before they start looking like their parents. Not so with baby Giraffes as they’re around 2m tall when they’re born and look just like miniature versions of the grown ups. I don’t know the exact age of this little one, but it still had the remains of its umbilical cord so was only a few days old at most - possibly just a day or two. The smallest and cutest Giraffe that I’ve ever seen.
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
Finally a half-decent shot of this species that is usually obscured in the grass. They're tricky little subjects to photograph from a safari vehicle. Fortunately this chap was calling from a raised mound where the grass was shorter and in a position that gave me a better low level perspective.
* Agujeta Piquicorta, Short-billed Dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) (Mnc)
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La becasina piquicorta, costurera, o Agujeta Piquicorta
(Limnodromus griseus) es un ave limícola playera migratoria, de la familia Scolopacidae.
Migra entre Norteamérica, Centroamérica, las Antillas y Sudamérica, en hábitat muy variados, que van desde la tundra en el norte, hasta estanques y marismas en el sur, incluyendo playas arenosas, costas lodosas, manglares, lagunas y humedales de agua dulce. Abandonan completamente sus áreas de reproducción cubiertas de nieve durante el invierno del hemisferio norte y marchan al sur alcanzando desde la región del Caribe hasta Brasil.
Mide en promedio 28 cm de altura. Su pico es largo y recto, con una longitud entre 6,3 y 6,8 cm. En época reproductiva el dorso presenta plumas marrón acanelado, manchado en las alas y estriado en la cabeza, parte posterior del pecho y el cuello. Tiene una banda ocular negruzca y una superciliar blanca; el vientre es rojo ladrillo con unos pocos puntos en los lados y barras en flancos.
En la época no reproductiva, el dorso es gris pardusco y el vientre blanco con algunas barras oscuras en los flancos.
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The short-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus),
is a medium-sized, stocky, long-billed shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is an inhabitant of North America, Central America, and northern South America. It is strongly migratory; it completely vacates in breeding areas during the snow-bound months.This species favors a variety of habitats including tundra in the north to ponds and mudflats in the south. It feeds on invertebrates often by rapidly probing its bill into mud in a sewing machine fashion
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Lugar de Observacion / Taken: Parque nacional Monte Cristi, Republica Dominicana/ Monte Cristi National Park, Monte Cristi Province in the Dominican Republic
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Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Charadriiformes
Suborder:Scolopaci
Family:Scolopacidae
Genus:Limnodromus
Species:L. griseus
Binomial name
Limnodromus griseus
ShortDW_W_MntCrti_IMG-3387
Masai Mara (MNC) | Kenya
Interestingly, we didn't see a single 'Tommy' when we were in the reserve due to the waist-high grass, but as soon as we crossed into the conservancy we encountered this herd of around fifty animals. This species relies on short grass, so as soon as the conditions became unfavourable in the southern areas of the Mara they started to move north. As far as I understand they are resident species, not nomadic like the majority of the Wildebeest, Topi, Hartebeest, Zebra etc, so how they know which direction to move in situations like this is a mystery to me!
It was worth the freezing temperatures for light like this. Incidentally, I flew on 9M-MNC to Kuala Lumpur from LHR in 2014.
Masai Mara (MNC), Kenya
One of the two brothers - Milele or Mbili, never quite sure who is who despite seeing them a number of times before!
Masai Mara (MNC), Kenya
This is Kisaru's daughter, recently named Nadupoi, with her remaining cub. Nadupoi was one of Kisaru's litter of six that we were fortunate enough to see back in October 2019, so it was good to see her again with a cub of her own.