I don't know anything at all about photography, I really mean it - nothing whatsoever. So when I was given a voucher for a photography workshop as a leaving present I wasn't entirely sure it would be for me. The subject matter definitely was for me though - photographing big cats. The day was organised by Photographersonsafari.com, and was based at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation Big Cat Sanctuary, Smarden Kent.
John Wright, who runs Photographersonsafari was very kind and sent me a basic digital photography set of course notes. This was just about as helpful as a textbook written in Chinese as it mentioned things like multi segment metering, histograms, aperture priority and ISO speeds. Still, nothing daunted I set off for the day - at least I would see some big cats.
For the first half hour my worst fears were confirmed - everyone else had a giant camera, and John went through the course notes. Hearing the words spoken didn't make them any more understandable than seeing them written down, so I was feeling a little bit downhearted at this point
John Wright, who runs Photographersonsafari was very kind and sent me a basic digital photography set of course notes. This was just about as helpful as a textbook written in Chinese as it mentioned things like multi segment metering, histograms, aperture priority and ISO speeds. Still, nothing daunted I set off for the day - at least I would see some big cats.
For the first half hour my worst fears were confirmed - everyone else had a giant camera, and John went through the course notes. Hearing the words spoken didn't make them any more understandable than seeing them written down, so I was feeling a little bit downhearted at this point
You can see there were some rather large specimens on display, and mine was very small in comparison. Still, as we headed for the tigers I plucked up courage and told John I didn't understand one word that he was talking about. He did the kindest thing and put me out of my misery - he just set up the camera for me, gave me some basic advice, and then in a very teacher-like fashion praised me to the skies each time I managed a reasonable shot
Why do they always close their eyes just as you press the button?
The WHF is not open to the public like a zoo, but they do run photography workshops and experiences where people can feed the animals or stay in lodges for a couple of days. It's not cheap, but the access to the animals is amazing - we all had to sign a form absolving WHF from all responsibility if we had our fingers bitten off. The lions and tigers only get fed every two or three days so we were very lucky that Friday was their feeding day. The lion was particularly co-operative, and I got some of my best pictures because he graciously kept still
The WHF is not open to the public like a zoo, but they do run photography workshops and experiences where people can feed the animals or stay in lodges for a couple of days. It's not cheap, but the access to the animals is amazing - we all had to sign a form absolving WHF from all responsibility if we had our fingers bitten off. The lions and tigers only get fed every two or three days so we were very lucky that Friday was their feeding day. The lion was particularly co-operative, and I got some of my best pictures because he graciously kept still
In the afternoon we progressed onto action shots. A member of the WHF staff was with us all day, and he spent the whole time throwing pieces of meat accurately so that the animals would move into incredibly photogenic poses. The puma was on her best behaviour and leapt over a little pool over and over again so that we could catch her in the air. Here is my best attempt
I tried eight times at least, and she never got fed up with jumping to find little pieces of meat. I did get some good pictures of her though, and here is one of them
The day was full of highlights - the jungle cat was just so cute:
However, there are some animals that are jaw-droppingly awesome, and the white lion falls into that category. He lay on his hill, the king of all he surveyed.
He also put on a special performance just for me and did this when no-one else was looking
John explained that we were trying to get as natural looking shots as possible and so even though I love these pictures you can see fencing or wire mesh, which isn't what we wanted. I don't care though.
So we went to the tigers to entice one of them to come through the bamboo and for us to get the 'money shot'. By this time I was feeling a little bit weary, although I could have carried on looking at the animals for a long long time. I had been snapping away - not always with much success:
However, I now understand why people will wait for hours and put up with wind, rain and snow in order to get the perfect shot. This is the best photograph I have ever taken, and I shall be very surprised if I ever take a better one
I would love to go on a Photographersonsafari trip to Montana or the Galapagos Islands, all I need is £4000 and I'll be there!