Posts for: fbeaston
Mar 13, 2020 14:37:21 #
FramerMCB wrote:
All are very nice images. #6 and #8 I find particularly stunning. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for that ... very nice of you to highlight those shots ... I appreciate it.
Mar 13, 2020 14:35:24 #
Retired CPO wrote:
Thank you, Frank. You did say to post it if I had it, right? 
Yes in deed ... & you captured the moment well ... better than I did. It was breath taking to see those critters as far as the eye could see in both directions. Thanks for sharing ... awesome shots.
Mar 13, 2020 14:33:55 #
toxdoc42 wrote:
I have no idea how many images I have to wade through. I used 7 SD cards, 6 were 128 gbytes, so I assumed there are thousands. Often I bracketed exposures, and also took videos. During the film era that would have been almost prohibitively expensive, and difficult to manage either slides or negatives. With digital, my feeling was, this is probably a once in a lifetime experience. Thus, I shot many more than probably necessary.
Sounds like you did more than I did ... sadly, I did few videos. But I look forward to your future posts.
Mar 13, 2020 14:27:31 #
I've decided to focus my last few posts from Africa on the animals that struck me most. Yesterday it was the Giraffe ... today, the Northern White Rhino & Elephants.
When I first saw the itinerary for our (RetiredCPO & me) trip to Kenya, I was intrigued because it stated we were to spend most of our time at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, located about 4 hours due North of Nairobi, Kenya. I was aware that there is a functionally extinct subspecies of Rhino, of which there are only 2 females still alive in the world & they are both at El Pejeta Conservancy. I was disappointed when the itinerary didn't mention them, although they did highlight we'd see Black Rhinos & Southern White Rhinos, which I believe are both endangered due to hunting & poaching.
So that's where my education about Rhinos started. I had no idea how many types of Rhinos there are, but I did learn you can in fact, tell them apart. According to the guidebook the "White Rhino is the world's 2nd largest land mammal - the Elephant being the largest. The animal's name has nothing to do with colour, but is a corruption of the Afrikanaans word 'Weit' meaning 'wide' and refers to the shape of the mouth ... Far bigger and heavier than the Black Rhino, the head is large, square-shaped ..." We learned that this is an adaption to the fact that Whites graze mostly on grass while the Blacks eat grass as well, they also nibble on tree branches. As a result, the Blacks have a narrow mouth & "prehensile upper lip" (an appendage that can be used to grasp something). After several days, I was able to distinguish the Blacks from the Whites ... however, I was unable to see the differences (although our guide tried to educate me) between the Northern & Southern White Rhinos.
The good news is when we got to El Pejeta Conservancy, a long held hope that I could see the last remaining Northern White Rhinos was in fact fulfilled. We drove by their compound several times & each time, they were out grazing with a male Southern White Rhino they hope will breed (so far, that has not happened). So I'm starting my post with a few pictures of them. I believe Keith has some great photos he plans to post of the Southern White & Black Rhinos that roamed freely around the Conservancy.
The 2nd part of this post is to highlight another favorite animal of mine ... the largest land mammal ... the Elephant. We frequently came across groups of Elephants of varying sizes many with little ones. We often saw them crossing a road, so we were actually quite close ... & they are impressive creatures up close.
The first 3 shots of the Rhinos & the 1st through the 3rd plus the last of the Elephants were shot with a Canon 5dIV & an EF-70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. The 4th Rhino shot & the 4th & 5th Elephant shots were with the same body but an EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.
When I first saw the itinerary for our (RetiredCPO & me) trip to Kenya, I was intrigued because it stated we were to spend most of our time at Ol Pejeta Conservancy, located about 4 hours due North of Nairobi, Kenya. I was aware that there is a functionally extinct subspecies of Rhino, of which there are only 2 females still alive in the world & they are both at El Pejeta Conservancy. I was disappointed when the itinerary didn't mention them, although they did highlight we'd see Black Rhinos & Southern White Rhinos, which I believe are both endangered due to hunting & poaching.
So that's where my education about Rhinos started. I had no idea how many types of Rhinos there are, but I did learn you can in fact, tell them apart. According to the guidebook the "White Rhino is the world's 2nd largest land mammal - the Elephant being the largest. The animal's name has nothing to do with colour, but is a corruption of the Afrikanaans word 'Weit' meaning 'wide' and refers to the shape of the mouth ... Far bigger and heavier than the Black Rhino, the head is large, square-shaped ..." We learned that this is an adaption to the fact that Whites graze mostly on grass while the Blacks eat grass as well, they also nibble on tree branches. As a result, the Blacks have a narrow mouth & "prehensile upper lip" (an appendage that can be used to grasp something). After several days, I was able to distinguish the Blacks from the Whites ... however, I was unable to see the differences (although our guide tried to educate me) between the Northern & Southern White Rhinos.
The good news is when we got to El Pejeta Conservancy, a long held hope that I could see the last remaining Northern White Rhinos was in fact fulfilled. We drove by their compound several times & each time, they were out grazing with a male Southern White Rhino they hope will breed (so far, that has not happened). So I'm starting my post with a few pictures of them. I believe Keith has some great photos he plans to post of the Southern White & Black Rhinos that roamed freely around the Conservancy.
The 2nd part of this post is to highlight another favorite animal of mine ... the largest land mammal ... the Elephant. We frequently came across groups of Elephants of varying sizes many with little ones. We often saw them crossing a road, so we were actually quite close ... & they are impressive creatures up close.
The first 3 shots of the Rhinos & the 1st through the 3rd plus the last of the Elephants were shot with a Canon 5dIV & an EF-70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM lens. The 4th Rhino shot & the 4th & 5th Elephant shots were with the same body but an EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.
A bit of description of the Southern White Rhino's situation currently.
(Download)
It was clear each time we were out there, that we were in fact under observation.
(Download)
And here is one of the world's last Northern White Rhinos ... seen here through the enclosure wire. Unfortunately, I can't tell you which one this is. If you look closely, you can note the square jaw.
(Download)
And here is the other of the world's last remaining Northern White Rhinos. Again, I can't tell the 2 apart but our guide said this was the other.
(Download)
Herd of Elephants we happened upon next to the road. I posted a shot of a calf in this group nursing in a prior post. Mama's were not alarmed at our being there, but they seemed to keep their eyes on us.
(Download)
A mama with her baby ...
(Download)
A baby eating grass ... hard to think of an elephant getting lost in the grass, but a couple of these were relative new borns, so they were mostly hidden in the grass.
(Download)
Another baby ...
(Download)
An elephant that was part of another smaller herd we saw in another part of the Conservancy.
(Download)
And one last elephant we saw in another field ...
(Download)
Mar 13, 2020 12:41:54 #
Earnest Botello wrote:
Very good series, Frank, but did you find any Giraffes?
Thanks Earnest ... & to answer your question ... nope ... not yet ... but I'm still looking. Stay tuned. ;)
Mar 13, 2020 12:41:16 #
crafterwantabe wrote:
Beautiful pictures
Thank you ... appreciate the visit & comment.
Mar 13, 2020 12:37:30 #
toxdoc42 wrote:
thanks, I am about 1/2 the way through sorting, just startng to work on a few shots that were reqested by our travelling mates.
By the way those black spots are not dirt on the lens, those are flies, all over the animals!
By the way those black spots are not dirt on the lens, those are flies, all over the animals!
Actually, I realized that ... have to say, it would drive me crazy ... but they were obviously distracted. Looking forward to more. It took me 3 weeks to finally get through all mine ... but I went overboard ... I took 6,775 shots in total. That was a bit crazy ... added to the burden of going through them all but in hindsight, it was better to take too many than miss something. Thanks for sharing.
Mar 13, 2020 11:17:00 #
DebAnn wrote:
You got some great shots there, Frank. I agree - giraffes are fascinating to watch.
Thank you DebAnn ... that's high praise coming from you based on the photos of yours that I've seen. Thank you for that.
Mar 13, 2020 10:27:24 #
Wow!!!! What a thing to witness!!!! Great shots & commentary. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing more.
Mar 13, 2020 10:15:52 #
Wow!!!! Just simply WOW!!!! You captured that scene well Keith ... nice job.
Mar 13, 2020 10:14:32 #
Yikes!!!! I'll bet that water was cold, cold, COLD!!!!! Glad you were there to lend a hand but not go in yourself. Excellent shots ... & what a hike that had to be. Thanks for sharing.
Mar 13, 2020 10:04:00 #
blacks2 wrote:
super. 
Thank you sir. I appreciate the comment & 3 thumbs up.
Mar 13, 2020 10:02:25 #
nimbushopper ... appreciate your visits & comments as always.
digit-up ... to be honest, I hadn't thought about it that way, but now that you mention it ... I think the answer is yes ... that's a funny observation ... although the 2nd portrait shot might be an exception. ;) Thanks for sharing that observation.
jaymatt ... thanks for the double thumbs up ... appreciate that.
AzPicLady ... well, there's nothing wrong with photos taken in a zoo setting ... there have been some awesome ones here on the Hog. However, I share your preference ... there's something about shooting animals in their native habitat that makes for a more satisfying photo. These guys were simply amazing to me ... & we saw dozens & dozens of them ... every day ... in different settings. I couldn't get enough. So I hope you too, get the opportunity to go shoot them in the wild. You won't regret it.
MT native ... thank you for that comment ... I couldn't say it better ... probably should have asked you to do the intro for the post!!!!!! You certainly captured my thoughts. Thank you.
digit-up ... to be honest, I hadn't thought about it that way, but now that you mention it ... I think the answer is yes ... that's a funny observation ... although the 2nd portrait shot might be an exception. ;) Thanks for sharing that observation.
jaymatt ... thanks for the double thumbs up ... appreciate that.
AzPicLady ... well, there's nothing wrong with photos taken in a zoo setting ... there have been some awesome ones here on the Hog. However, I share your preference ... there's something about shooting animals in their native habitat that makes for a more satisfying photo. These guys were simply amazing to me ... & we saw dozens & dozens of them ... every day ... in different settings. I couldn't get enough. So I hope you too, get the opportunity to go shoot them in the wild. You won't regret it.
MT native ... thank you for that comment ... I couldn't say it better ... probably should have asked you to do the intro for the post!!!!!! You certainly captured my thoughts. Thank you.
Mar 12, 2020 23:48:07 #
UTMike wrote:
You have not reviewed our posts. Keith served notice that revenge is best served cold. I am on borrowed time.
I did see his post & that comment. And I chuckled. I wouldn’t want him coming for me. I was just surprised you didn’t egg him on. ;)
Mar 12, 2020 23:44:53 #
CindyHouk wrote:
Love them all....great shots Frank!
Thank you Cindy. I very much appreciate the feedback.