Photography by Randy Hanna » Travel

NEW SAFARI DATES RELEASED

Randy Hanna — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:41:09 +0000

Three exciting photo safaris have recently been announced. Could one of these trips have your name on it?

Dates for the Galapagos safari are 3-13 June 2011. This is your chance to visit and photograph the islands that have stood still in time since their first discovery by Darwin.

Dates for the March safari to Kenya for the Masai Mara Plains in are 14-23 March 2011. This safari will focus on the cats and landscapes of the Masai Mara. Due to the remoteness of this trip, only 6 travelers will be participating in this exciting adventure.

Dates for the August safari to Tanzania are 14-26 Aug 2011. Every year I return to Tanzania to lead a fantastic photo and wildlife viewing safari. This trip, as opposed to my winter trips, will focus on the more northern section of the Serengeti in addition to Ngorongoro Crater and the Central Serengeti. Please note that this trip has been previously announced and is currently 50% full.

Cheers and I look forward to seeing you on one of my safaris. Should you have any questions about these safaris, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Randy

Giraffe Treats

Randy Hanna — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:12:20 +0000

Our last night in Amboseli National Park and outside in the Conservation Area found us with several wonderful opportunities as giraffes traveled from the distant forests near Tanzania to the park swamps for water. As daylight started to fall, I saw the opportunity to do some panning shots after the giraffes were spooked off of the watering hole. In these shots, the technique is to lower your shutter speed to a level that will convey motion. Some of this takes a bit of experience as well as a little bit of luck. The faster the animal is running, the higher shutter speed you can use. Conversely, the slower the movement the lower the shutter speed needs to be or you will simply ‘freeze the frame’. The key element is to pick out one point on the animal and follow the motion through just like a golf swing. In most cases I try to capture the head and eyes as the focus point, if possible. The rest is all in the motion of the camera, the follow through, and a solid guess on exposure.

Giraffes Drinking

Nikon D3s, 70-200 f2.8 VR @ 200, f/8.0, ISO 200 at 1/500 sec

Giraffe Running

Nikon D3s, 70-200 f2.8 VR @ 200, f/22, ISO 200 at 1/60 sec

Giraffe Running Full Speed

Nikon D3s, 70-200 f2.8 VR @ 200, f/8.0, ISO 200 at 1/20 sec

Cheers and happy photo’ing

The Negotiations for the Photo Shoot

Randy Hanna — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 11:20:42 +0000

I mentioned in the previous posting, the 2 hour negotiation event that netted us three Maasi for a two hour photo shoot starting at dawn the following day. Here are some behind the scenes shots of the Great Negotiator, getting his butt handed to him by the Maasi from a nearby village. At the end of the day, everyone was happy.

Masai Mara Update 1

Randy Hanna — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:32:41 +0000

For the past four days, we have been deep in the Masai Mara at Mara Plains Camp. With intermittent internet connections, blog updates have not been possible until today. It is very late so I will post only this very short post. Over the past four days we photographed two large river crossings (Wildebeest), and several cats, to include an early morning chase and kill by a single female lion. We have now moved to Tortilis Camp next to Ambosili National Park, to photograph large elephant herds. So until my next posting, I leave you with this photograph of an intense river crossing. The sights and sounds of this event, simply cannot be described in words alone.

Wildebeest Crossing, Masai Mara, Kenya

Cheers and happy photo’ing

Masai Mara, Here We Come

Randy Hanna — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 05:55:24 +0000

After a brutal flight from Dubai to Nairobi aboard Emirates (the big guy does not do small seats very well), the three die-hard photographers will soon board our private charter flight taking us deep into the Masai Mara. Rather than spending hours on the road, I selected a private charter option to maximize our shooting time on the ground.

I was excited to hear from the camp staff last night that large herds of Wildebeests are doing their river crossing activities. With a little luck, I hope to put us right in the middle of the action. For now, here is a graphic of what is going on (Source: Mara Bush Camp Migration Report):

Migration Report, 1 Aug 2010

For a generalized look at our first destination, Mara Plains Camp, I have attached a map from their web site. While at Mara Plains, I will find time to visit the Mara Bush Camp, which I will be using for my Kenya safari next year. Off to the airport in about one hour, this will likely be my last posting for a while, unless I can catch a solid signal from the bush.

Mara Plains Camp Location

Dubai, UAE

Randy Hanna — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 06:53:26 +0000

TWELVE hours later from Washington DC, I faced a temperature of 107F on landing. Dubai, an interesting mix of modern finance, incredible infrastructure, all with a mix of classic Muslim overtones. With Starbucks on just about every block, and often sightings of everything from Pizza Hut to Tony Roma’s, it took no time at all to feel somewhat at home. Staying at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, while en-route to Kenya, I spent most my time doing night photography of the wonderful skyline. With the winds blowing off-shore and the atmosphere full of fine sand particles, the sky was set ablaze with reflections from the artificial lights that adorn the night scape . This later proved to be somewhat of a challenge, as I found myself working vary hard for angles that minimized the reflected light and the impacts of the airborne sand particles. Armed with my Nikon D3s, optimized for long exposure noise reduction, I hit the beach in hopes of finding just the right spot to photograph the Dubai Icon, Burj Al Arab. The constantly changing lights on the surfaces of the hotel put on a wonderful light show. The images below are all single shot exposures from different locations along the Jumeirah Beach Road Exposures were taken in manual mode after doing a fast exposure calculation (sometimes my brain really does work). Exposure times ranged from 15 to 45 seconds, all at ISO 400 and f/9. No noise reduction, other than in camera settings, was applied. Kudos to the new D3s sensor!!! Everytime I turn around, the D3s just keeps surprising me. More on the Jumeirah Beach Hotel on the next update. Meanwhile, enjoy the light show below.

Skeleton Coast Dunes

Randy Hanna — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:38:08 +0000

I am in the process of getting ready to head off to Africa again. In doing so, I am taking some time to rearrange my image storage and management scheme. Just finishing up with my images from my May 09 Namibia trip in hopes of releasing the Namibia gallery before I leave – we shall see. So here is the shot, deep from the dunes inland from our Skeleton Coast base camp. Looking at this image, I was instantly transported back to the dunes; a place that I found very difficult to photograph, yet a place that I must return to.

'Morning Glow' over the inland dunes of the Skeleton Coast, Namibia

New Safari Dates Just Announced for 2011

Randy Hanna — Mon, 24 May 2010 01:07:55 +0000

I will be leading two safaris into Tanzania during 2011. These will offer two distinct seasons of Africa and both will feature opportunities for viewing and photographing one of the great wonders of the world, the great wildebeest migration (as long as Mother Nature cooperates). We will also pursue photography of Cheetahs, Lions, and Leopards as well as huge elephants herds and the incredibility wildlife rich and scenic Serengeti Plains. February 2011 will offer that magic splash of green that comes after the fall rains, while August brings the classic African tans and browns in the landscape. As with all of my Tanzanian safaris, I will be using Thomson Safaris for my logistical and travel support. I have used Thomson’s since my very first adventure into Tanzania and the are simply the best of the best. The proof of this is in the numerous awards that they receive and their ever-constant commitment ecotourism as well as their commitment to the indigenous people of Tanzania. Their most recent awards include the National Geographic Best Adventure Outfitters on Earth for 2008 and 2009 and the Conde Nast World Savers Award for 2008.

Jan 27 – Feb 8, 2011

Aug 14-26, 2011

The Photographers Ephemeris (TPE)

Randy Hanna — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:46:02 +0000

Not very often does one run across an application that makes your life simple when it comes to taking photographs. In this case TPE is free, available for Mac, PC, was well as the the iPhone. While there are many applications for the computer and iPhone which annotate sunrise and sunset for a given location, this little beauty stands apart from the crowd as a true interactive planning tool. The Photographer’s Ephemeris can depict sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset PLUS it will show the actual sun angle at any give hour from any given location, all with the Google Earth / Google Maps in the background. TPE is fairly simple in concept: 1) display a Google Map 2) choose a date 3) calculate and display a bunch of astronomical data. The tricky part comes from the connection between 1 and 2. Most similar programs and web-sites have you select from a pre-defined list of locations, where, presumably, things such as the relevant time zone are already saved – not much help if you are in the middle of BFE and it is not on the pre-defined list. I love it as a planning tool and will use it in planning my outdoor shoots. As an example, the screen shots below indicate the sun angle by the thin yellow line, while the thicker yellow/orange lines indicate sunrise and sunset direction. Lots of detailed explanations are on the site so give it a look.

Head on over to The Photographer’s Ephemeris and run the tutorials, download the application. If you like it be sure to come back and toss the author some coins for his efforts.

Cheers and happy photo’ing

Africa 2010 – Good Guides Do Make a Difference

Randy Hanna — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 05:13:24 +0000

Before I start sharing photos and stories from my Feb 2010 Safari, I wanted to address one question that I am often asked: Why do you always use Thomson Safaris? While they are one of the oldest and most established tour companies in Tanzania, specializing only in Tanzania, I only have to turn to the quality of their guides for the real reason. Sure accidents will and can happen, but there really is no excuse for being careless and not knowing your surroundings. The images below show a proper river crossing, even though we had to drive a little bit out of the way to find a safe crossing, and a not so proper river crossing. Every time I see an accident like this, I am reminded just how lucky I am to always have some of the best guides in the business on my trips. The guides of Thomson Safaris are trained to always put the safety of their clients first and game viewing second. Nuff said and the photos below speak for themselves.

Tarangire River Crossing Thomson's Style

Nikon D3, 70-200VR @ 110mm,ISO 250, f9 @ 1/1250 sec

River Crossing Done the Wrong Way

Photo by Lori Kruger

Cheers and Happy Photo’ing