"Shhh, don't talk."
"Everybody hold steady, don't move!"
"Hold on, don't do it yet."
"Steady, steady, controlled..."
"Fight, shoot!"
This is not a military exercise or a war story, but a scene that actually took place last year to photograph wildlife at bunkers in Botswana. We were squatting in the bunker all day photographing elephants and chalkboard gazelles, and we were a little exhausted. It's almost 6 o'clock in the evening, everyone is ready to pack up the guys to withdraw, this day has not stopped shooting, feel the cannon camera is about to "smoke" (in fact, there is no electricity).
At this time, the nature guide Aubrey suddenly said to me, "Jerry, let everyone keep quiet, there is a jackal approaching." (Jerry, let's calm down, there's a black-backed jackal coming for water.)
Wow, this is fresh enough, it has not been filmed yet, so I quickly signaled everyone to keep quiet and patient. This quiet is actually very demanding, we have practiced beforehand, quiet not only means that everyone can not talk to each other, but also everyone to put down the camera, can not focus and shoot, because the camera focus lock focus emitted by the slight sound, and the clicking sound of pressing the shutter will make the wild animals who want to come to the bunker pond to drink water nervous, the result is that they can not be photographed drinking water scene (wild animals will come to drink water when there is no one in the wild). Therefore, at this time, absolutely in unison, anyone who presses the shutter on their own initiative may cause the "enemy" to detect and retreat. So there was the scene above, everyone under my whispered command, pressing the soldiers, but the left hand was firmly holding the camera and cannon, the right hand was clutching the camera handle, and the index finger was ready to press at any time.
The black-backed jackal was tens of meters away from us, curiously looking at our container, which was almost buried in the ground, and did not dare to rush closer. In fact, it is not afraid of us, but there may be some more powerful predators that sometimes hide near the pond to ambush, such as lions, so the slightest sound that makes it feel dangerous may make it give up drinking.
A few minutes of silence made the already cautious and timid black-backed jackal feel a little relaxed, and soon it made small steps all the way to the edge of the pond, this time the most nervous, each of us staring at the little guy, but without any movement or sound. The black-backed jackal let down his guard, leaned over to the edge of the pond, opened his mouth, and began to lick and drink with his tongue.
At this time, the container suddenly erupted with a huge amount of low-roar high-frequency camera shutter sound, 7 1Dx Mark II, plus Nikon D4, and several Canon 5D III launched at the same time, which was much more pleasant than the sound of firecrackers Chinese New Year's Eve the Spring Festival. Once the black-backed jackal started drinking water, it was not too nervous, it was not as vicious as an elephant, it drank a few sips, stood up, glanced at us, and trotted away. At this time, we finally breathed a sigh of relief, happy and excited, happier than buying stock up and down boards, this is the fun of wildlife shooting, of course, cover photography is so fun and exciting.
Although we were all shooting in the bunker, the picture taken in different locations was completely different, just now I shot the position on the side, and Teacher Dai shot in the middle was facing the black-backed jackal, didn't it look more cute?
Talk about this experience of bunker photography in Botswana, in 2018 Jerry found this unique resource of bunker photography when he participated in the WAA high-end nature travel exhibition in South Africa, so he planned the 2019 bunker photography launch group, which is also the first travel agency in China to organize a professional bunker wildlife photography master class, a group of 12 people came to Botswana in southern Africa to stay in a private reserve.
This bunker is actually a container, the designer is very clever to open a row of windows on the side of the container, and then bury the entire container into the ground, only a row of windows is exposed, and in front of the bunker is a large pond, and it is the use of solar power and pumps to control the water level of the pond in real time, so that for wild animals in this semi-arid area, there is a fixed water source, especially in the dry season, this is the source of life!
So every day before 6 o'clock, we drove from the camp to the bunker, and we had to enter the bunker before the animals came. When we arrived, the nature guide (here are two nature guides, taking turns on duty to guide the guests to shoot) was already waiting for us here, she opened the huge clamshell on the top of the container, we entered the container from this passage, and when we went in, we put the lid on, we would stay in the container all morning and afternoon to shoot, and only return to camp at noon for dinner.
Let's take a look at the structure of the container. In fact, it is still very spacious, which is much more luxurious than the trenches in the actual war. Everyone had a bar chair to sit on, bean bags on the board to help us stabilize our shots, and drinks and snacks next to it. Outside the daytime temperature can reach thirty or forty degrees, but the container inside feels warm in winter and cool in summer, almost 20 degrees, very comfortable, no need to walk, do not have to carry machines, cannons, animals to press the shutter is good, it is really easy.
After shooting a few times we learned the pattern. Basically the first "enemy" in the morning is birds, birds are more active in the early morning, different species come to the pond to drink water, basically are forest birds, from large pearl chickens, partridges, South African gray banana cranes, to medium red-eyed doves, African green doves, Michael's starlings, brown-headed emeralds, and then to smaller red-billed Quelia finch, Angolan blue finches, brown parrots, etc., batch after batch, basically without stopping. Fortunately, I have eaten some snacks in the morning, so I can shoot with confidence. And early in the morning the light is a good ah, 6-7 o'clock soft light reflects the green and yellow of the entire surrounding environment in the pond, this time there is no wind, reflection shooting out is really good.
As the temperature gradually rises, there are some mammals to drink water, the black spotted gazelle comes first, they are not easy, it is estimated that all night are trembling and wary of predators, lions and leopards and the like, in the early morning finally relaxed a little, hurry to drink some water pressure shock. However, they are also very vigilant when drinking water, after all, anything can happen in the jungle, in case a leopard is hiding behind our bunker, it will be caught.
The biggest highlight of shooting blackboard gazelles is a large number, the shape is very beautiful, and the water surface is relatively calm in the morning, the reflection is clear, the water surface is almost exactly the same, true and false, this is a big shooting point.
If the light allows, you can also shoot some slow doors, of course, this time if there are gray mirrors and the like is better.
The next large number of "enemies" are the elephant herds, and when they come, they are really moving, and if I say that the ground will tremble, can you believe it?
The biggest advantage of shooting in the bunker is that the angle is very low, almost close to the ground, and the distance is very close, which is generally impossible to achieve, it is impossible to shoot the elephant herd on the ground without protection in the field, but the bunker achieves this impossible task.
First of all, when the elephant herd comes, you can take a lot of low-angle frontal photos, you can see whether it is an adult elephant herd or a baby elephant, seeing that the water source is really hungry and thirsty, running happily.
Secondly, you can shoot the big scene of them drinking water collectively, whether it is wide-angle shooting or mobile phone shooting at this time, it is very good.
It is recommended to shoot videos, and it is also fun to do time-lapse photography in the later stages.
Sometimes the elephants will come up next to you, really close.
Next, you can shoot baby elephants. There will always be some cute baby elephants in the team, some big and some small, very naughty, and many baby elephants will not drink water with their noses, come and see the funny little elephant drinking water video.
There is also a shooting point for shooting baby elephants, that is, portraits of baby elephants in the elephant herd environment, which is a bit awkward, but it is worth shooting.
The next shooting point is some local shooting, such as elephant legs.
For example, the moment when the elephant's nose is lifted up by drinking water, the splash is brought up at this time, and it can be shot with a high-speed shutter freeze frame, especially with a telephoto lens to focus on the local area, which is a very interesting picture.
Is this the legendary chocolate factory?
Basically a good morning, you will wait until dozens of white-headed elephants come to drink water, and the opportunity to shoot is really big, you can try different ideas and focal points and parameter combinations. Teacher Dai used the ultra-wide angle lens to shoot this wonderful image of the elephant splashing mud on the camera, which is actually the elephant naughty, not an attack, but for the photographer it is impossible to ask for.
At 2-4 p.m., the same large herd of elephants will come back to drink water, and their needs for water in the dry season are basically met here.
Of course, you can't relax when shooting, because you don't know when a curious "enemy" will enter your line of sight and you must be on standby at any time. No, this black long-tailed monkey was watching us play outside the container. Sometimes you can also wait for the little squirrel to drink water.
The most interesting is the giraffe, you may know that the giraffe drinks water is extremely cautious, because it is also the most vulnerable to attack when it bends down, so the giraffe is the most difficult to shoot in the bunker, when we all waited for the giraffe to drink water, it hesitated, and may also hear the jungle behind us feel unsafe, so back and forth, it actually took us 40 minutes, this "enemy" is really cunning.
Shooting in the bunker is very rewarding, the key is that these scene shots are not usually shot, only in the bunker can be safely shot, to obtain these wonderful images.
At the end of October this year, Wild Go will once again organize a group to Go to Botswana to shoot wildlife in depth, including 3 nights of cover photography, in addition to professional boat shooting, private reserve shooting and other rich content, each shooting site is at least 3 days itinerary. Interested friends can pay attention to the wild nature travel information public number (yetravel2014) for specific information.