Tag Archives: mountain gorilla

Gorilla’s in the mist ctd.

Goodday everybody,

In follow up to my former post, there’s some more things I wanted to share with you regarding tracking and photographing gorilla’s. Not the easiest task, with pitch black animals under often cloudy conditions and a heavy forest cover, with an absolute interdiction to use the flash. So know your camera before going out there, or you’ll come back frustrated like there is no tomorrow.

As I mentioned in my former post, their looks are moving and I don’t even have to think about the people that kill entire families to get 1 baby for a rich bastard’s private zoo.

Canon 350D, Canon 75-300 @ 190mm, 1/500, f/5.6, ISO 400

Seeing a silverback emerge from the bush is quite an impressive sight, makes you wonder how the first ever encounter between these great animals and an explorer developed?

Canon 350D, Canon 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 @ 55mm, 1/100, f/5.6, ISO 400

This silverback belonging to the Suza group (the largest group, comprising over 30 animals at the time of my visit) decided to impose his authority by snapping a few trees upon our arrival. This power display cought me slightly off-guard, hence the sharp bum 😉

Canon 350D, Canon 75-300 f/4-5.6 @ 75mm, 1/80, f/5.6, ISO400

This being said, as I indicated in the first part of this post, it’s not all about the perfect picture, go out and enjoy, my favorite gorilla picture is not sharp, yet it captures the emotion and the way I look back at my gorilla experience better than any other picture of the trip, an emotion I accentuated by turning it into B&W.

Canon 350D, Canon 75-300 @ 150mm, 1/125, f/5.6, ISO 400

This young female was playing in the foreground when we approached, as if seducing us with her play. The silverback did not enjoy this and after demonstrating he’s the boss by snapping some more trees as if it were matchsticks, he kept an eye on us, while the female now took on a posture, watching off in the sky, dreaming away, as if it wasn’t her who had been playing around a few minutes before that.

One last tip, just make sure not to point your lens to the silverback’s face for too long, since that is seen as a big eye by him, and staring directly is considered an act of aggression. No need to point out who’d be loosing out in that confrontation 😉

All the best,

Guy

Gorilla’s in the mist

Hi everybody,

This is around the 6th or 7th week into this site where I talk about my photographic journey. Close to 1800 people have visited the site without having advertised it. No idea whether these are genuine hits or not, … up to now nobody has reacted to anything, so maybe not, yet I won’t worry about that too much and I will keep on sharing with you. When you are reading this, that’s probably because you read my anouncement on Facebook or because you received an e-mail telling you about Pics from the Wild. Not to stalk people, I will send no more e-mails, yet I will post on facebook whenever a new post is out there, that way you can still decide whether you want to read up on that one or not. Looking forward to your feedback and interaction!

That being said, this is a first post in the category: wildlife & nature destinations. The first one in that category is the Volcano National Parc in Rwanda, hosting the Mountain Gorilla’s that got famous through the movie about Dianne Fossey’s life, Gorilla’s in the mist.

Canon 350D, Canon 75-300 f/4-5.6 @ 75mm, 1/200, f/5.6, ISO400

These creatures share 97% of their genes with us, human beings, hence crossing eyes with a silverback or any other group member is a trully amazing and humbling experience, worth every

Canon 350D, Canon 75-300 f/4-5.6 @ 300mm, 1/60, f/5.6, ISO400

single USD you’ve paid to do so. While I was living in Rwanda, it has probably been the most asked question I got from visitors, ‘should we spend the money?’, all of them received a full blown YES as an answer and none of them came back disappointed. DO IT, it’s worth it, and oh yes, once you’ve tracked your group, you only get one hour with them, and although it’s oh so tempting, try not to spend the full hour staring through your camera, yet contemplate the moment!

For more information on gorilla permits etc., do check out the ORTPN site, and of course please feel free to drop a line as well, I’ll bemore than happy to advise where possible or to link you up with people that are better placed to help you. In my next post I will tell you a bit more about my gorilla experience.

Warm regards and as I said, whether you’re out on a gorilla trip or not, enjoy the moment!

Guy