First off Terry, thanks for taking the time to share your experiences here. I'll probably do an Africa photo safari at some point in the next few years and gear selection is going to be a quandary. Your thoughts and experiences are really valuable.
Second, I can see there are some great images in the pipe! Anxious to see more.
I think this is an excellent point. It also goes along with your "storytelling" consideration.
When I step out of my forte (landscapes) the caliber of my photos drops quite a bit. Sure, I can take a nice wildlife shot, but I feel I wouldn't bring much to the table compared to a dedicated wildlife photographer. I think most of my shots in the super-telephoto "look at the lion yawn" portrait genre would end up being nice travel log photos not unlike the tens of thousands that already exist. They would hold great personal value to me. A small heavily edited selection might be of interest to friends. I have a hard time imagining I'd produce any "wow" shots in that genre even with heavy tools. The subject matter is no longer novel to the audience. Our culture is saturated with nature films and photos, so a technically well executed documentary photo of wildlife is not going to provide interest. As someone who would be stepping into the role of "wildlife photographer" for a vacation I don't feel I'd be able to adapt creatively into that role in such a short time beyond documentary and storytelling. I don't think I'd want to haul a 15 lb lens that I'd never use for anything else to capture storytelling images, "lesser" gear would do just fine.
What I would hope (perhaps naively) is that I could bring my landscape experience to bear on a landscape I've not shot before that has wildlife as a significant element to it. For me I'd probably be better at making creative images that might connect with viewers in that context. Your zebra shot here being a nice example. I suspect much of my current gear and techniques would fit that role already and I could perhaps supplement a bit to get "documentary" shots of wild life along the way.
If you've bothered reading this far, one question
These trips are all vehicle based, and everyone stays in the vehicles. The vehicles are typically filled with people with giant super telephoto lenses all trying to get the "lion yawning" shot of the century. (And since some of them probably know what they are going, unlike me, they have a passing chance of doing it). The guides are probably used to catering to this as well. I have the feeling that if I approached such a trip as a landscape photo shoot I'd be a fish out of water often trapped in a vantage point not amenable to what I was trying to shoot (wildlife in the landscape instead of just the wildlife). Any thoughts about that after your experience?
Thanks again,
Ken
