Antarctica Photo Gallery 2014 - By Peter Scheulfer

As our travellers from our recent trip to Antarctica eventually start settling back into milder climates and the going on’s of everyday life in the city, the reams of images snapped during the expedition start making an appearance on social networks and some in publications.

C4 traveller Peter Scheufler managed to snap a mere 20 000 images on the trip, this number being a tribute to the sheer beauty we were exposed to during our weeks at sea.  Here are a few photographs from Peter’s gallery that serve as an indication to the beauty of which we speak. Well done Peter, we look forward to seeing more of your work!

 

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C4 Images and Safari's September Workshop - Mashatu Game Reseve, By Kyle de Nobrega

During our last 4 day photography workshop hosted at Mashatu Game Reserve’s Tent Camp, we were treated to some incredible sightings with our guests that Andre Cloete and I co-hosted.

With the onset of summer, the weather was inconsistent which made it challenging for a few days with very overcast conditions. However, this worked in our favour for the multiple times we spent with the mother Cheetah and her four 3 month old cubs.  Without the worry of harsh light we all spent a number of drives following these 5 Cheetahs as they walked, stalked and played over the dusty baron areas which are so unique to Mashatu.

With our bank of luck being topped to the full, we where fortunate to get a glimpse of the 3 new large male lions that have moved into the area from the Tuli Circle region in Zimbabwe. Clearly life out in their usual territory is not like that for a lion at Mashatu as these 3 boys where not having any vehicle get within 50-60m from them. As if they where never here, the very next morning they somehow disappeared from the property giving us a glimpse of hope that they might one day finally reside in the reserve.

During the course of our 4 day workshop we where spoilt with no fewer than 5 differnet leopard sightings, and in true Mashatu style the sightings were of great quality.

Myself and Andre spent some time scouting out a new ‘star –trail’ site and we where delighted to hear about and discover that the largest Baobab on Mashatu was only within minutes from Tent Camp. With this monster of a tree being very rarely visited we spent a good portion of our last afternoon/evening trying our hand at some Milky Way and star trail shots.

Over the course of the 4 days, it wasn’t just about getting images for the stockpile but rather about enjoying the wilderness and being able to capture the incredible time we had out there together.

A huge thank you to everyone who was on the workshop!

Cheetah mother and her four 3month old cubs

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Mashatu Photo Workshop Client Images

Below a collection of images taken by C4 client, Deepak Daya, whilst on our June photo workshop at Mashatu.

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African Time - Mike Dexter

It’s 9:00 and we’ve been in the hide for an hour and a half. A herd of impala just moved off, as have the guinea fowl and go-away birds. Only a scattering of turtle doves remain, kicking up small clouds of dust as they shuffle down to the still water. It’s almost time to head back to camp for a hearty brunch when a movement catches the corner of my eye. I look right and there, only 2 meters away, is a pair of huge grey wrinkled feet. Then from the left another appears, a silent giant approaching the waterhole. The elephants are here.

Soon dozens more fill the world before us. All that exists at this moment is elephants, water, shutters and my heart drumming in my ears. We are part of the herd, looking up into thirsty mouths, almost touching the dripping trunks and cracked toe nails. Never in my life have I been as much absorbed and overwhelmed as I am at this moment. It’s difficult to think about framing, composition or exposure and I can barely hold the camera in my trembling hands. Even so, from this angle and from this close, a bad photograph is unlikely. It’s difficult to count but there are easily more than 60 elephants in this herd. After half an hour they start to move off, a slow procession throwing up clouds of dust as they make their way towards the distant feeding grounds across the river.

The next morning 08:35 comes by. We’ve been at the hide since just after 06:00 and have had some great birding. The typical deep grumble tells us that elephants are in the area and minutes later they appear from the mopane thickets in the East. It’s a breeding herd of 20 individuals, and they’re thirsty. Yesterday’s experience is repeated with equal intensity only now we are prepared. We’ve talked about how to maximise the photographic opportunity and what to concentrate on. We manage to control our shaking hands and start thinking about the photography. It’s difficult to do but back at the lodge the results speak for themselves as we review our photographs.

Over the next 2 days we were to have another 5 elephant encounters at the hide. What we noticed was the regularity at which the elephants were visiting the waterhole. Of the 7 elephant sightings 5 occurred between 08:30 and 09:00; whoever said ‘African time’ is unreliable clearly didn’t have the elephants of Mashatu in mind.

Ground level elephant sightings aside, we had some incredible game viewing on the latest C4 photo workshop including, but not limited to, wild dogs, aardwolf, tiny lion cubs and 6 different leopards.

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Arniston Workshop

Images by C4 client David Kettles and Leo Theron. Taken whilst on the Arniston photo workshop with Art Wolfe in April.

David Kettles

Arniston Workshop - Client Images continued

Below is a few images from C4 client, Hendri Venter, taken while on the Arniston Photo Workshop with international photographer Art Wolfe.

And here is the rest of it.
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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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Art Wolfe in South Africa

"Art Wolfe’s photographs are a superb evocation of some of the most breathtaking spectacles in the world.” — Sir David Attenborough

For over 30 years, Art Wolfe has photographed on every continent. He has authored over 65 books, each full of outstanding images. He is one of the world's greatest pictorial story tellers, Intermingling artistic and journalistic styles to create his signature images, his photography captivates the viewer. He has transformed his photography into an art form.

Magazines all over the world publish his images and pictorial stories. He is at ease in the world of television production and his acclaimed 13-episode Travels to the Edge is a stunning production. It will remain a significant part of his remarkable legacy of work.

Everyone one viewing Wolfe's evocative images has their mind captured. He stands alone in terms of sustained brilliance in photography. His passion generates its own energy. His teaching is infectious.
People are eager to learn from him and come away absolutely inspired, eager to try his unique approaches and compositional styles in their own photography.

He is a master teacher, an artist and one of the finest photographers alive today. He is coming to speak in South Africa, for the first time. This legendary photographer will be presenting seminars and photo workshops in Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa. It is the first time Art Wolfe will present his work in South Africa.

4 April - Johannesburg Gallagher Estate, 09h00 – 16h00. R1300 per person
6 April – Cape Town, Mutual Park 09h00 – 16h00. R1300 per person
8 – 11 April 2012. Arniston Bay Hotel. R13500pp sharing. All inclusive photo workshop.
11-14 April 2012. Arniston Bay Hotel. R13500pp sharing. All inclusive photo workshop.

Details of the content and the one day seminars and 4 day photo workshops can be seen via these links.

"Art has the broadest range of excellence of any nature photographer I know.” -- Galen Rowell

Join C4 Images and Safaris with Art Wolfe in South Africa for this once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from one of the great masters of photography.

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Mashatu June photo workshop- an annual occurrence.

In June 2010 we ran a photo workshop to Mashatu on the exact same days as this years one. It was one of the best 4 days I have ever had on the reserve, with leopard cubs, lion cubs, wild dogs, hyena and lots of elephant activity to keep us and our cameras busy. Knowing what things are like in the wild, I never expected such an intensity of activity to be seen for quite a while.





How wrong was I to be.

Heading out on our first afternoon drive we found some lions laying in the riverbed lazing away. Just then, a herd of elephant arrived and the lions scuttled, the scene was filled tension- and it was a harbinger of things to come.





From then onwards we had a few hours old elephant baby being swum through a herd, lions fighting with hyenas at their den. The hyenas had very young ups which offered us very good photos when danger was not around. A very relaxed leopard mom with three tiny cubs was the next attraction and kept us occupied with cameras for many a session. In amongst this we also had elephant herds running down riverbanks, lions trying to mate and a couple of other leopards roaming around…





I’m not the superstitious type when it comes to repeat performances, but I can justly assure you that next year June I will be on the June Mashatu photo workshop. Lets just say that it will be part of tradition…!

Enjoy the pics.








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Namibia Desert and Landscape Photo Workshop continued

Below are some images taken by Jill McLaren while on our Namibia Photo workshop.
(Click on the image to view it in the dark screen)
2012 Namibia Photo Workshop















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