Guest Image Gallery, Iceland 2016 - By Anita Keet

Anita recently travelled with C4 Photo safaris to the wonderful wonderland of Iceland. Under the experienced landscape photographic guidance of tour hosts Isak Pretorius and Hougaard Mala, Anita and the rest of the group had the opportunity to capture the mythical landscapes of Iceland at its very best.

Here is a collection of fantastic images by Anita, her interpretations of Iceland’s endless beauty:

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Intimate Namibia Landscapes 2016

Namibia is a massive, desolate landscape and boasts the title of the 4th least populated country in the world. With an average distance between towns of 200km, its endless vistas will be permanently etched into your soul. Namibia’s desert winds have sculpted the world’s highest dunes out of red sand and it is these dunes that make the Namibian landscape like no other on earth. In some places the dunes rise out of endless fields of grass and in others the dunes are as high as mountains. In a special place the sand cut off the water supply to a seasonal wetland and today the result is the petrified trees of Deadvlei. In the far South, fine silica sands are now reclaiming what was once the site of a great diamond rush - the ghost town of Kolmanskop. To the West, a special combination of rocky ground and hot, arid conditions have created one of the most alien plants on earth; the Quiver Tree. Where the Fish River flows over an ancient plateau, it has cut the 2nd largest canyon on earth into the rock. Join Namibia landscape specialists Hougaard Milan and award winning photographer Isak Pretorius for an opportunity to experience and photograph these one of a kind landscapes, from the ground, road and air.

For more info on this trips itinerary click on the link to our website below:

Intimate Namibia Landscapes 2016

A small photo gallery from our guides below, is just a glimpse to what photographs are possible to capture on this safari!

 

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Iceland Photo Safari 2016

Iceland is one of the world most popular landscape photography destinations, and for a very good reason! Situated in the icy North Atlantic, one is surrounded by frozen waterfalls, lagoons and beaches strewn with icebergs, glaciers, glacier caves and so much more. Perhaps the most magical attraction of this far north destination is having the opportunity to witness and photograph the Northern lights, one of the nature’s magnificent wonders.

The trip will be hosted by Iceland and landscape photography expert Hougaard Milan, and C4 Photo Safaris’ award winning photographer Isak Pretorius. Hougaard has previously spent time in Iceland, exploring and scouting out only the best photographic spots and accommodation the country has to offer. This photo safari is one of ultimate convenience, photographers will travel in comfort and the group size will be limited to 10 participants to allow for individual creative freedom.

Come and join us in the breathtaking landscapes of Iceland, and stand the possibility to capture some shots like these...

 For more information on this photo safari follow the link below:

Iceland Photo Safari 2016

 

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Mashatu Photo Workshop, April 2 - May 3 : By Isak Pretorius

Safari Diary - 29 April 2015

Photo Workshop, Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana

We were so inspired by our photos and the potential at the bee-eater hide that we decided to give it another try this morning. The dark background, golden side-lighting and action created stunning photos. A coffee break under a big Mashatu tree concluded both the morning drive as well as the first photo workshop. We to...ok our guests back to the border and picked up the new guests for the second workshop. During the afternoon drive our original plan was to have a look at the lions feeding on the elephant carcass. Instead, we found a leopard and spent the whole drive with her as she climbed a few trees, walked around, drank water and finally disappeared into the thicket. This was a fantastic start to the second workshop and the bar had been raised very high.

 

 

Leopard | 1/50sec at f/4.5, ISO 2500 | Canon EOS-1D Mark IV + EF200-400mmf/4L IS USM | Shutter priority, -1 EV

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Maasai Mara Photo Trips 2015

This year marks C4’s 7th consecutive year with Entim Camp in the Maasai Mara. The Mara never comes with disappointment, hence our successive photo trips to this wilderness region of Kenya over the past years.

 

Not only does the Mara provide photographers with an unlimited supply of phenomenal wildlife sightings and suburb lighting conditions, we are also fortunate enough to be guided by some of the Mara’s finest field rangers. Over the years C4’s professional wildlife photographers have provided the field rangers at Entim Camp with photographic training and tutoring, to ensure that our clients are provided with the best possible photographic experience.

 

C4 run two types of safaris to Entim Camp in the Mara, the Classic Photo Safaris and the Premier Photo Safaris. On both safaris, unless designated, you will have a personal, qualified guide that will conduct you through your safari with information and knowledge on the ecology of the habitat. The Classic Safaris can host up to 12 guests per trip with two photographic guide’s hosting the trip. The Premier Safaris are designed to give you the highest possible photographic safari experience; hence we have minimized the group size to no more than 6 guests per trip accompanied by three highly experienced photo guides.

 

Between our professional photographic guides Shem Compion, Greg du Toit, Isak Pretorius, Albie Ventre and Andre Cloete over 20 seasons have been spent in the Mara, giving the guides ample time to map out their favourite spots as well as the most productive game viewing areas on the reserve. Over this period strong working relationships have been built with the local field guides at Entim Camp, making our guided experience seamless.

C4 will be hosting 7 trips to Entim Camp in the Maasai Mara this year, to read more on these trips take a look at our photo calendar for the year here:

http://www.c4images-safaris.co.za/photo-safari-calendar-dates.asp

 

Here are some images taken during our 2014 Maasai Mara photo trips, we look forward to having you join us in this wilderness paradise soon!

 

 

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Maasai Mara Safari Dairy - Isak Pretorius

Safari Diary - 2 October 2014

Private photo safari, Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya

 

We finally arrived in the Maasai Mara and I was pleasantly surprised to see it so green from this week's good rains. This is great news as the wildebeest might return to graze here during the next few days before heading back to the Serengeti. In fact, people at our camp saw a massive crossing close to our camp over lunch time. Our plan was to look for Malaika, the cheetah with the five cubs. We found my favourite cheetah with her cubs and spent the afternoon with them. Our memory cards filled quickly as they finished a meal and went looking for another one, although not successfully. What a great way to start the trip!

Cheetah   |   1/500 sec at f/5.6, ISO 800   |   Canon 1D X + Canon 600mmf/4 lens   |   Aperture priority, 0 ev

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Maasai Mara Photographic Safari - A Visual Diary by Heinrich van den Berg

During C4 Images and Safaris most recent photographic safari to the Maasai Mara Nature Reserve our clients where spoilt with incredible wildlife interaction, colourful landscapes, great hosts at Entim Camp and of course ample photographic opportunity.

 

The photographic group was hosted by two of our professionals guides Isak Pretorius and Heinrich van den Berg. Thank you to all who made the trip a huge success, and to Heinrich for this visual diary from the trip!



Mating lions greet one another

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Mara Magic - Isak Pretorius Safari Diary

Safari Diary - 8 September 2014

Photo tour, Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya

 

With the traveling day behind us we finally made it to the Maasai Mara for the start of our photo tour. After arriving at our camp, we had lunch and time to refresh before leaving on our first afternoon game drive. Shutters fired furiously at our first sighting of small herd of elephants walking across the savannah. That was followed by mating lions in good light and a cheetah crossing the Talek river. On the way to camp we stopped to photograph wildebeest on the crest of a hill in front of the rising moon. Not a bad way to start the week and everyone is excited to see what is in store for the rest of our time here.

 

Cheetah| 1/1000 sec at f/5.3, ISO 640  |  Nikon D4 + Nikon 80-400f/5.6  |  Manual mode, -1/3 ev

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Mashatu Feedback

All images by Isak Pretorius

C4 guide Isak Pretorius has just returned from 2 back-to-back sold out Mashatu workshops.

It was a great success with plenty of sightings as one can only expect from Mashatu.

All of C4's Mashatu workshops for the year are fully booked with the exception of 11-15 June which has 2 more places available. Book your place now to avoid missing out.

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Isak Pretorius full time C4 representative

It is with great excitement that we welcome Isak Pretorius to join us as a full time C4 representative. 

Isak has been a wonderful part of our team over the last few years and his photography skills have grown in accordance with C4's ethics. It has become a natural fit for Isak to be involved with c4 on a full time basis and now it is a working reality.

Welcome to the C4 team Isak, we look forward to many great years together!

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C4 Guides Top Shots from the Mara

This year C4 spent 6 weeks in the Masai Mara leading photo tours. It was our 6th consecutive year of hosting these photo tours. Our camp ran beautifully, the location as always, was perfect and we had exceptional sightings.

Our guides are Mara specialists who have all spent many seasons leading photo tours in the ecosystem.

When on safari we believe in quality over quantity and get out guests to take images at excellent sightings in beautiful light.

These are a selection of the C4 guides' images from this year in the Mara. Enjoy and please share amongst your friends.

On the next blog post we will be putting up our clients images from their experiences in the Mara.

Albie Venter (www.africa-unlocked.com)

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More of the Mara

Another successful Masai Mara photographic tour, led by Isak Pretorius and Heinrich van den Berg, has come to an end. C4 Images and Safaris client, Johan Siggesson share some of his images with us below.

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Changing perspectives at Mashatu

It was with great excitement that we trekked north on our annual pilgrimage to C4's first Mashatu workshop for the year. Meeting all our guests at the Alldays coffee shop on our way to the camp has become an institution for those participating. It was great to see all the excited faces, mostly friends who have done trips with us before, but also some new faces that would soon become part of the C4 family. We confirmed that the weather forecast looked great for the next few days as we headed for the border into Botswana and the start of our five-day Mashatu photo workshop.

Mashatu Tent Camp is a lovely small camp nestled in a forest that makes you feel closer to nature and would be our home for the five day trip. It offers all the necessities and luxuries for a photographic weekend with wonderfully friendly helpful staff. Mike Dexter met us at the border. He is C4's hide expert and is permanently stationed at Mashatu. As a well-respected guide and photographer in his own right he was going to be my fellow host for this weekend.

I was telling the guests all about Margaret's famous lemon meringue pie at Mashatu Tent Camp that is considered to be the best in the world. With great disappointment we learned that it would only be served during Sunday high tea, which we would miss. We persuaded the kitchen staff to switch Saturday and Sunday menu's around to experience this decadent delight and in the end I was happy that everyone agreed... the best lemon meringue pie in the world!

After settling into our new home we got together for high tea and set off on our first drive. A call came about a cheetah with five cubs. Seeing a cheetah with such a big litter of cubs is quite rare. We've had a cheetah with six cubs in the Masai Mara in Kenya before, and I've heard of someone seeing a cheetah with seven cubs once, but this is extraordinary for Mashatu and we raced to the sighting with great anticipation. We were not disappointed and found them all in great late afternoon light. Shutters were clicking furiously and it was a fantastic way to start the workshop.

The next morning we stumbled upon two lionesses on a fresh zebra kill not far from camp. Everyone was enjoying the early morning photography. While sitting at the lion kill, at one stage I turned around facing the back of the vehicle to help a guest with camera settings. Suddenly, in a moment of disbelief I saw a wild dog out of the corner of my eye. I immediately stopped talking out of pure shock! A pack of wild dogs were trotting on the road where we came from and also stumbled onto the lions. The one lioness immediately got that expression of intense focus on her face, stood up and started chasing the wild dogs. They all moved at an incredible speed. Luckily the lioness did not have any other intentions except for chasing the dogs away from their kill and thus gave up the chase quickly. We followed the wild dogs over very rough terrain and were amazed at the speed and stamina they had trying to move out of the lions' reach.

The afternoon was spent photographing general game and a big herd of breeding elephants in the last light of day. Some of the baby elephants were very entertaining and one young brave baby came to smell our vehicle, but he shook his head in disgust as his trunk touched the metal bar on the side of the vehicle. We had planned to do star trials that night but our plan was interrupted by the sighting of a leopard cub and his mother playing and drinking water on our way back to camp. The guests were not much disappointed for missing the star trail that evening and luckily the forecast was for clear skies for the next evening as well.

When I arrived at Mashatu, Mike had been telling me about the great sightings at the elephant hide and showing me some of the pictures he's taken from within the hide. I was bursting with excitement to go to the hide. We organized with him to go to the hide during the next two morning game drives. The elephant hide was recently completed by C4 in the middle of the reserve at a place called 'Moddergat', close to the Mujali river. The hide is sunk into the ground next to a waterhole with two small openings, giving you an eye level view of the waterhole. The perspective is amazing. To see the animals from that angle creates a whole new dimension to wildlife photography. It looks spectacular - even the usually dull-looking turtle doves and grey go-away birds looks great from this new perspective when they come down to drink.

Both sessions we had in the hide were fantastic. Shutters were firing away furiously as we were entertained by all kinds of birds coming to drink, impala, warthog, elephants and even a leopard tortoise that we saw approaching from a distance. When a 25 strong breeding herd of elephants arrived it was breathtaking. They surrounded the waterhole and it felt as if you became part of the herd. Looking up at these majestic creates from ground level, standing meters away from you, was a surreal but humbling experience - one of my ultimate bush experiences ever. The photographic experience was overwhelming and when the herd left we were all shaking from adrenaline and excitement. I can now envisage all the potential photographs from this hide and wish I could stay there forever to capture all those shots. C4 has definitely hit a home run with this hide and the other three that are near completion.

The rest of the drives on our workshop seemed average in comparison to what we experienced at the hide but they were spectacular in their own right. Lots of leopards, including the three cubs that we had seen during our August workshop seven months ago and that are amazingly all still alive, two young male lions, breeding herds of elephants and all of the general game.

The format of our workshop weekend includes morning and evening game drives, tuition and advice on the vehicles, and photography instruction in the day between game drives. Definitely hard work that everyone is very keen for and just can't get enough of! Since all our guests are experienced photographers, most of whom have travelled with us before, our curriculum for the weekend included flash photography for wildlife, a demonstration and discussion on Lightroom and the changes in the new version 4, and image reviews. I was blown away by the quality of the images from our guests, once again confirming what a magical place Mashatu is and the quality and diversity it offers the wildlife photographer. Thanks Jake, Justice, Commando, Ona, Congo and the staff at Mashatu tent amp for an unforgettable experience.

Join one of C4's next Mashatu Workshops:
27 April - 1 May
14-18 June
22-26 November


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Mashatu Photo Workshop Feedback

"Back from Matshatu after a long day on the road with hearts filled with joy of the beauty of the bush…

We had a stunning time and came back with lots and lots of pics… many worth keeping and it'll serve as a visual reminder of a great few days in the bush under the guidance of Isak.

The hide, in particular, offered "a new perspective"! - Paul Vorster

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Masai Mara Clip

A short clip from Isak Pretorius for C4 Images and Safaris about our upcoming Masai Mara Photo tours. We will be releasing next years dates shortly, so watch this space.


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Finding Gold - Mashatu Trip Report by Isak Pretorius

Another Mashatu workshop is behind us, making us all suffer from serious withdrawal symptoms. A photo workshop with passionate guests, spectacular sightings in a wilderness area hosted at a stunning camp can not be anything but very successful! August in Mashatu is cool and dry with a landscape covered in gold with the drying mopani leaves. It's a magical time of the year!

The leopard mother with three cubs we had seen on our workshop in June delivered an even better show than the last time. Our first four game drives were dedicated just to them as the mother made an impala kill and dragged it into what I consider "the best leopard tree". A fever berry tree with a big open branch growing diagonally and then horizontally out of the ground. This made for a beautiful stage for their performance.

For most of us photography itself is a wonderful excuse to spend time in nature. At Mashatu's tent camp dinner is served in a boma that overlooks a floodlit waterhole. This is always exciting. One evening we were treated to a show of at least 30 elephants coming for drink and entertaining us during our dinner.

After seriously branching out on our leopard portfolios we decided to look for a greater variety of subjects during the rest of our game drives. Some of the highlights included spending time with hyenas at their den, baboons, breeding herds of elephants, zebra in the golden mopani bushes, and fighting giraffe! As always during a Mashatu workshop one evening was dedicated to doing starscapes and startrails at a baobab tree near our camp.

Each season at Mashatu has it's own magic. For me, the winter months is extra special! Thanks to everyone who made this such a great trip! Enjoy the photos taken by our guests!

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Mashatu Winter Bliss - By Isak Pretorius

The dry season in Mashatu usually means good game sightings. The dry conditions force animals to congregate at the last remaining waterholes. Our recent photographic workshop to Mashatu in June always had the prospect of good sightings, but nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to see. The sightings and photographic opportunities were not just good, they were phenomenal!





One of the highlights on our first afternoon drive was to try different lighting techniques on a pair of lions with the vehicles' spotlights. Everyone had fun mastering backlit/rim, side and front lighting. The next morning we were out early and found a hyena den close to camp - a big clan with lots of youngsters that were playing outside the den each morning until late. Mashatu also delivered the usual specials with large breeding herds of elephants, including a day-old baby still with a piece of its umbilical cord attached, good bird photographic opportunities and the normal plains game.





One afternoon we stumbled upon a small pan with about 30 foraging glossy ibises. These usually bland subjects looked spectacular in the late afternoon sun. That was exactly the type of photography that gets my heart racing - making ordinary subjects look spectacular. They were surprisingly accommodating and allowed us to get very close to them - out of the vehicle and onto the ground for that low angle perspective.





You know that a trip is going well when a sighting of lions fighting with hyenas are not even considered the highlight of the weekend. On the second morning's drive we followed the same male and female lion we saw on our first game drive and observed how they wandered too close to the hyena den. The whole clan of eight adult hyenas grouped together and started harassing the trespassers. The young male's temper flared up in a number of sequences that offered first class action photography opportunities as he defended himself.





A female leopard with three cubs have been in the area for our entire stay and we were dying to get a good look at them. Small gaps through the thicket allowed us to get some record shots at various stages, but with such young cubs we knew our chances were slim of getting good leopard cub shots. On our fifth drive our patience were rewarded when the leopard and her cubs walked in a dry riverbed an even allowed us to observe them while drinking water. This was a special moment for us all. At the time we did not know however, that this was just an appetizer for things to come. That night she made a kill and dragged it into a nearby tree. We returned to this sighting on each of our last three game drives and felt privileged to observe and photograph an episode of these leopards' lives!

Once again Mashatu revealed to us some of its unique and spectacular treasures. We can not wait to return there soon.

Isak Pretorius Photography Blog.




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