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View Full Version : Crime Scene - the rhino poaching crisis in South Africa



Gabriela Plesea
05-22-2013, 02:19 PM
I hope you will allow me a few words before you give a critique to this image. This might be the worst photograph in my collection and you might wonder why I am posting it...The rhino crisis in my country has touched me deeply and my intention is to create awareness of this dire situation. There are many Game Reserves in this area and every day we realize that the rate of rhino poaching is increasing beyond control. By 2014 we might have no rhinos left.

I took this image of a rhino kill from a light aircraft with my Nikon D300S and a Nikon 200 lens. I cannot give details regarding the place where it was taken, the kill is still under investigation. I was afraid to use a bigger lens because of weight and length-the pilot took the doors out in order for me to have a full view...I have never done this before, at times I felt I was going to drop my equipment, with the aircraft tilting and turning. It was silly of me to try and film as well as take photographs, while I was filming I had my camera on my lap and I had to hold it at times, otherwise it would vanish into thin air. The purpose of the flight was to take close-ups of rhino so that we can identify them-I do have a few decent images, but for the rest I guess my lens was too small. I am planning to take the Nikon 300 F2.8 next time with a 1.4 converter and attach it to my Nikon D3S, hopefully less noise at high ISO. Is there anyone among BPN members who has done aerial shots before, and if so, did you use a harness to keep your equipment safe? What kind of harness? I could do with some help...

I really appreciate you viewing this image, it means a lot to me.

Warmest regards,

dankearl
05-22-2013, 09:25 PM
Gabriela,
Thanks for posting this.
Just an outrageous crime with seeming no solution on the international level.
I do not understand why the conservation groups just don't harvest the horns, sell them to the
lunatics who will pay for them and at least attempt to put the poachers out of business.
I know that cutting off the horns has been tried, but selling them has not.
A crappy solution, but obviously stopping poaching is not successful.
Putting pressure on the countries where they are purchased, just is not a priority sadly, in the big scheme of things.
A radical approach of legally selling horns is a tragedy, but not as much as losing the species entirely.

Diane Miller
05-22-2013, 10:37 PM
Hi Gabriela,

I'm so glad to see you contributing to this effort!

I've done quite a bit of shooting out of planes (my husband is really into small planes) but have rarely tried to wrangle two cameras at once. (When I do, I toss one on his lap.) We can't take the doors off (sure wish we could!!) but can remove my window on one, and one is an open cockpit, with my seat in front of his. So I don't have a problem with loosing a camera out a door.

But I can offer a few bits of advice, which you have probably already figured out.

Don't let the camera or even your elbows touch any part of the plane -- you'll transmit high-frequency vibration that IS can't handle. Remove the lens hoods to minimize buffet from the air blasting by. (Even at modest speeds the propeller is pushing a lot of air back at you, assuming it is a plane with an engine up front.) Tell the pilot not to sideslip (he'll know what that means) toward the target as you'll be blasted by slipstream coming in the door at an angle.

Positioning is frustrating; as soon as you start banking or turning toward a target, it will be rapidly moving under you. It takes some planning to approach the target, but I'm sure you've figured that out! The 70-200 is a great aerial lens - my weapon of choice. But I never get ground-level quality.

John Ippolito
05-23-2013, 02:03 AM
Gabriela, this is a far more important wildlife image than a nicely composed, beautifully processed image of a live specimen that makes us all feel good about nature.

Being a wild creature in the 21st century is increasingly a sketchy existence at the hand of an arrogant mankind, steeped in the notion that the only reality is his own. Cheers to you and all others who can document the pointless slaughter - and dare us to look the other way.

I owned and flew a small bush plane here in Alaska for more than 20 years. The best platform in my opinion, is a Piper Super Cub (or its equivalent) with the door off or wide open. We were able to fly at very low airspeeds which translates into less buffeting of your camera gear. I could hover around in the Cub at a lazy 25 knots.
I agree with Diane that a 70-200 is a good focal length to get past the wings, struts, and wheels - also agree on scrapping the lens hood, avoiding touching the vibrating airframe, and side slipping. I never tried a harness. Just a neck strap, but I was also flying the cub, so I couldn't afford to get "lost" in the viewfinder flying close to the ground.

vishaljadhav
05-23-2013, 02:21 AM
I think you bringing this image to the forum say s a lot about your pain for the wildlife depletion thats occurring all over, i live in India and i know how much it hurts to loose a Tiger or a Rhino,

Guess you have a good advice above of what equipment to use and how to .

Morkel Erasmus
05-23-2013, 02:25 AM
I think it's a very well pulled off documentation of a sad situation for a species in peril.
I think the discussion on poaching is best reserved for the general forums (as it can get quite heated and veer off-topic easily). Perhaps start a thread in the general photography forum, Gabriela? You can even post this image there too (I could copy it there as well).

With regards to legally selling horns, Dan, I would be careful to just tout that as a solution. There's no real idea of just how big the market demand is, and even if horn is harvested by private ranchers you will still get a "black market" that is willing to do anything to undercut the legally available channels for a piece of the pie - Rhino horn is now ounce-for-ounce worth more than either Gold or Platinum...

Please keep discussion on this thread in WILDLIFE to the critique of the image and advice on shooting from planes.
Gabriela, let me know if you want me to copy this to the general forum so the discussion on poaching can continue there.
:e3

Gabriela Plesea
05-23-2013, 03:12 AM
Thank you all for viewing and for your concern- like Morkel said, it is a sad story and no immediate solution, unfortunately.

Morkel,I would appreciate it if you copied my image to the appropriate forum, last time I tried to edit a post I ended up deleting the image but the text was still there...

Wishing you all a pleasant day ahead,

Gerald Kelberg
06-02-2013, 03:07 PM
Gabriela, well done for taking this initiative!

Although I have never been shooting images out of an aircraft, when I have been in precarious situations or needed to be hands-free, I have relied on a "BlackRapid RS-7" strap to keep my camera and lens safe. I am sure a number of people on this forum use them - Artie among them. It is a very good, very reliable product.

Hope this helps and best wishes for your anti-poaching activities.

Gerald