Vincent Grafhorst
02-02-2008, 03:51 AM
A lonely baby springbok in Kalahari landscape. (Antidorcas Marsupialis)
Young springboks are born in the summer months at the beginning of the rainy season.
Females with young lambs tend to form nursery herds. The young remain together resting, more or less in hiding, while the females graze. This lamb, however, was all by itself and the nearest adult springboks were many hundreds of meters away. I could approach this springbok on foot as close as two meters before it decided to get up and take a few clumsy steps not knowing what to do next. One can just imagine what an easy meal a baby springbok is for a cheetah, something we had seen the day before...
I wanted to create an image that is not only about the baby springbok itself but about this vulnerable creature in its beautiful (but cruel) environment. I used a relatively short focal length to include the background with the typical cloudy skies with local rain showers and amazing fiery colors that one can see in the Kalahari in summer. The light conditions made this rather challenging though since it forced me to use a flashgun, which can be very tricky.
Canon EOS 40D with EF-S17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens @ 70mm and a 580EX Speedlite flashgun.
1/125sec @ f/5.6, EV-2/3, ISO 400
Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), Letiahau Valley, Botswana
Vincent Grafhorst
Gaborone
Botswana
http://www.khwaiphotography.com
vincent@khwaiphotography.com
Young springboks are born in the summer months at the beginning of the rainy season.
Females with young lambs tend to form nursery herds. The young remain together resting, more or less in hiding, while the females graze. This lamb, however, was all by itself and the nearest adult springboks were many hundreds of meters away. I could approach this springbok on foot as close as two meters before it decided to get up and take a few clumsy steps not knowing what to do next. One can just imagine what an easy meal a baby springbok is for a cheetah, something we had seen the day before...
I wanted to create an image that is not only about the baby springbok itself but about this vulnerable creature in its beautiful (but cruel) environment. I used a relatively short focal length to include the background with the typical cloudy skies with local rain showers and amazing fiery colors that one can see in the Kalahari in summer. The light conditions made this rather challenging though since it forced me to use a flashgun, which can be very tricky.
Canon EOS 40D with EF-S17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens @ 70mm and a 580EX Speedlite flashgun.
1/125sec @ f/5.6, EV-2/3, ISO 400
Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), Letiahau Valley, Botswana
Vincent Grafhorst
Gaborone
Botswana
http://www.khwaiphotography.com
vincent@khwaiphotography.com