Nov 4 - Great White Shark

I've done a lot of silly things. Walking with lions, bungy jumping, sky diving, falling down a waterfall and going on vacation during a class 5 hurricane. This one is probably one of the silliest. Get in a car, drive two hours to a Great White Shark feeding ground, take a bout out into the middle and dress up in all black, looking exactly like a seal. Yea, that sounds like a perfectly sane thing to do, right? Did I mention that the water was about 55 deg and that we were told there were 4 or 5 sharks hanging out in the area? How about that once inside the cage, you can't get out and your limbs can float outside of the cage if you aren't paying 100% attention?

So after getting in the water for 30 minutes, starting to freeze, dunking into the water and holding my breath when we are told a shark is headed our way, brace myself when the shark runs into the cage because he is following chub on a stick, I got out, and relaxed to take some photos. This is one of my favorite, especially when I can imagine that I was just in that cage and sharks were coming at me in the exact same way. They can't see all that well, so when the captain takes the bait out of the water, the shark tends to keep going and run into the cage. Perfectly sane right? I'd do it again!

Oct 12 - Sunrise in Africa

I got up early one morning in Etoshia to see if any animals were milling about. They weren't up yet I guess, but I really liked the lighting on this tree. The floodlights the light up the watering hole were giving the tree a fun color and yet the sky's blue was kind of this purplish shade. I like the colors from the bottom of the photo to the top, its just really unique and could only have been taken at this time of day.

Sep 23 - Black Rhino and her Baby

No, this was not a telephoto lens. Yes, I really was that close. About 6-8 feet to be exact. No, they aren't tame Rhinos. This was a wildlife preserve. Are they used to humans? Probably. Our entire goal when walking the land was to crouch and look like deer. Rhinos are herbivores, so they aren't going to eat us, but they certainly don't like things in their territory.

Their eyes are kind of beady and can't see well, so as long as we look like deer, we must be deer. No fast movements, we don't want to look like lions or cheetahs. They were walking towards us, just looking for grass to eat. What you don't see in this photo is the male rhino that was definitely keeping track of us and our movements. Not because we were a threat to anyone's life, but because he wanted to mate with her and he wanted to make sure we weren't moving in on his woman. At least that's what the guide told us.

Sep 22 - Zebra

I've showcased a few of my animal pictures from Africa, but this is one of my favorites. They just look so happy and in love don't they? They certainly didn't even care that we were there. I don't have any other exciting information about Zebras, so enjoy.

Sep 9 - Boys in Africa

These boys in Africa are destined for a short hard life, but for now they are enjoying the day and the visitors (that's us). I visited these natives of Namibia as part of my African tour and the same day that our truck broke down for two days. There is very little water here and the people never bathe, but that doesn't mean they are dirty. They actually cover themselves in a local red clay and because they put it on every day, they actually remove any of the old dirt by exfoliation, so luckily, they don't smell.

These little boy were running around the village, trying to get in our shots, just hamming it up. This was their home as we were about to go inside to see how they prepared meals and the boys were right there to greet us. In the future they will have to travel 5 miles each way to gather water and learn to hunt with their dads. For now, boys will be boys.

Aug 18 - Elephants at Sunset

So, yes, I have a lot of cool shots of Etoshia. This is another one. The elephants were here just enjoying the day, watching the sunset with a bunch of humans watching them. Although the image is technically underexposed because I had the light meter near the sun instead of the "subjects" I really like the sillouette look. It also brings in more of the sky's colors. I took another photo immediately after this with the light meter on the elephants, but the picture isn't as "cool".

Aug 3 - Giza, Egypt

As you probably know, the New 7 Wonders was voted on a few years ago. The big hubbub should be whether or not the Pyramids had to be voted since they are the last remaining of the Original 7 Wonders. First it was decided that they would be an automatic selection, then Egypt said they didn't want to be a part of it at all. So now it is the New Seven Wonders + Giza Pyramids or something like that.

So here are the Pyramids. The picture isn't the greatest and if I were home right now, I'd clean up the color, but instead you are lucky enough to see it how I saw it, or at least how my camera saw it.

For the rest of the week, I am in Colorado Springs, but you'll still get a post each day. They will be of the New Seven Wonders that I have been able to visit. Hopefully I'll eventually get to see the other three.

July 28 - Kindergarden, Africa Style

While travelling in Africa, I got to see different tribes. Some tribes you felt like they didn't really live there, they just showed up to "work" every day dressed in their "native" attire and then when the tourists left, they went back home to more "normal" lives. Other tribes you really felt like that's how they lived.

Unfortunately, this was one of the former tribes. It was very touristy, a lot of the people knew english and they sold "crafts" that were probably made in China. They took us to their Kindergarden, which was a caged in looking room just outside the main circle. They all lined up for us and then they sang their abc's. All of them very cute and all looked well nourished. Jon and Kate got nothing on these guys when it comes to exploiting kids.. I'm just sayin..

July 24 - Town Hall Meeting at the Watering Hole

This is back in Etoshia. A couple of the watering holes are lit up at night so that we can sit and watch the animals that like to come by at night. We are "protected" by about a 6 ft wall, but sometimes it doesn't feel so protecting. I was sitting here and there was absolutely no activity going on. I was about ready to pack it in for the night. Then off in the distance I could see an elephant coming towards the watering hole. I decided to stay, along with a couple of others in our group.

When the elephant got closer, you could see there was more with them. About 10 in all. Cool, we'll sit and watch. But then, from the other direction, another line of elephants started to emerge. Soon, 20 elephants were hanging out at the watering hole, only 20 ft from us. It didn't stop there, another 10 soon came forward. It was a little party now. The little ones are playing in the water and the big ones are moving around to greet one another. Again, I was about to pack it in, and ANOTHER 10 elephants showed up. Now it was a rave. You can see in the photo dust being kicked up with all the animals shuffling around. We waited to see if more would show up, but only a few minutes later, some began to leave. I decided it was time to call it a night as well.

Have a great weekend all. I'll be back on Monday!

July 17 - Giraffe Happy Hour

When you live in the desert, you gotta get to a watering hole sooner or later. The downside is you might get eatten on the way. So what do you do? You invite your buddies along for a happy hour.

This photo was taken at Etosha National Park in Namibia. Etosha is a lot like the Mohave desert, but with interesting animals in it. It's a dry flat plain that rains most of the winter but is completely dry in the summer. If you visit Etosha in their winter, you probably won't see many animals because they can get water from anywhere at any time. In the summer, they have to come to the watering holes. During our safari we saw this herd of giraffes heading towards the water so we decided to stay put. They all walked up and then one by one they spread their front legs so that they can lean down and drink.

There is always one that will not drink with the rest so that he can be on the look out for those pesky meat-eating animals.

July 13 - The Kill

This is why I went to Africa. To see a kill. Okay, so we missed the actual killing, but they sure were enjoying it. I took this in the Serengeti from the roof of a Land Rover. We were actually out looking for a leopard that we were told was in the area, but then came upon this. We were only the third vehicle there and then we got trapped in and had to wait until they were done because all the other vehicles boxed us in.

It's rare that you see two male lions interacting with each other. Especially at the dinner table. It also doesn't look like they were leaving much for the lionesses that probably actually participated in the said killing. There were plenty of hyena and voltures circling around the area waiting for them to finish up. I love that I also got the lion with his tongue out, probably finishing licking his lips.

July 9 - Felucca at Dawn

During my trip to Egypt, we spent two nights on this felucca. Basically a boat that was designed to travel up and down the Nile. You sleep out on the top, under the stars. I woke up to the sunrise, quietly scrambled off the boat with my camera and tripod and took this photo. Sure, it was like 4am in the morning, sure I could have woken the entire boat up and sure, I couldn't see anything on the marshy coast, but a photographer does whatever he needs to get his shot right?

This is one of my favorite photos from Egypt. Everyone has the Pyramid photos and the Sphynx. I have tons of photos of all the temples. This photo, I WORKED to get and when it comes out like you want, it feels good. It's one of the photos that I entered into the OC Fair, but didn't get nothin.. Oh well.. I still like it and I hope you do too.