Vertical Elephant

[Morkel Erasmus]

We are back from what now has to be my favourite wildlife-photography location in Southern Africa...Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe.

One of the main goals of our trip was to photograph the elephants in the iconic forests of this park (consisting of Ana and Acacia trees)...the cherry on top would be to be able to photograph the bull elephants standing erect on their hind legs to break off branches to fee on (the trees grow very tall here). Well, the cherries fell on us in droves, particularly supplied by this large bull who was very adept at it and would repeat this behaviour quite a few times every time we came across him.

This image was captured early one morning when we found him and his 2 younger "askari" cohorts in a very photogenic patch of trees. With the advantage of being able to get out and walk around as you please in this park, we got out and ran around like mad men for 2 hours capturing a ton of amazing images. I will never forget that experience. This is one of my favourite "rises". I hope you like seeing this as much as I liked being able to photograph it! :bg3:


Techs:
Nikon D3s with Nikkor 500mm f4 VR-II
f5.6 @ 1/500 SS @ ISO-1250
handheld, crouching
full frame, cropped for slight rotation

[Andrew Merwin]

Morkel,

It sounds like you had a wonderful & very successful trip.

The image is a great behavior shot & something that I will probably never witness. I like the light. The techs look perfect to me. It is neat to see how the elephant uses his short tail to help balance himself. I just wish you could post a larger image so I could really see & enjoy the detail. TFS.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Morkel, very nice behavioural image, shot in some lovely soft light, nice done.

TFS
Steve

[Steve Canuel]

Nice capture Morkel. Steve's comments sum it up for me.

[PhilCook]

Amazing opportunity, and I can honestly say I have never seen this behaviour on any natural histroy documentary ever, a possibly unique, but certainly a classic shot. Curious.....surely there must be a significant element of danger walking aroung in the park rather than from the relative safety of a vehicle

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Fabulous image and great behaviour demonstrated in this shot! Never seen anything like this in Serengeti or mara that I visited last month. This is as exciting as the pride of tree climbing lions I saw in Serengeti! Cheers & congrats!
sanjeev

[Jay Gould]

I would have definitely preferred to see it in person; however, 2nd best - your image - is perfect! TFS

[Arno Ellmer]

Absolutely stunning shot ,Morkel . Africa at it's best !!

[Egil Droge]

Stunning image! Something they do only very rarely here (Luangwa Valley). Would have been nice to see a bit more of the trunk, but you can't have everything I guess.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Morkel,
good to see your safely back.You have chosen a really nice starter to post.
Good behavior shot with techs spot on !! as usual i would say.It must be a nice scenery down there,one day for me too.
The only nit i have is ,as far as everything is vertical,the big horizontal log is a bit distracting my eye.:w3 So but there is nothing you can do about.Anyhow a great image,from here.

Cheers Andreas

[Sid Garige]

Exceptional image Morkel. Never seen one like this. Unique behavior very well captured.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks so much for the kind comments, knew you all would like it :bg3:


Amazing opportunity, and I can honestly say I have never seen this behaviour on any natural histroy documentary ever, a possibly unique, but certainly a classic shot. Curious.....surely there must be a significant element of danger walking aroung in the park rather than from the relative safety of a vehicle

I was nervous in some instances, no doubt about it, but my travel companion was a highly qualified and experienced ranger/guide and knew how to behave around the animals, as well as look out for danger :t3

[Morkel Erasmus]

Hi Morkel,
good to see your safely back.You have chosen a really nice starter to post.
Good behavior shot with techs spot on !! as usual i would say.It must be a nice scenery down there,one day for me too.
The only nit i have is ,as far as everything is vertical,the big horizontal log is a bit distracting my eye.:w3 So but there is nothing you can do about.Anyhow a great image,from here.

Cheers Andreas

You should see the image my friend got from another angle. Clean as a whistle in the BG, just upright trees in the distance...a dream shot :Whoa!:

[Vivaldo Damilano]

I also love this park for the same reasons Morkel. I even managed crossed a the shallow part of river by foot, got some amazing shot of swallows and bee-eaters. I never witnessed a sighting like this there, will have to visit the park again. I love how you got the low angle and the eye contact well done.

[RakeshDhareshwar]

Totally phenomenal documentation !! Such a unique behaviour for such a hefty animal . Beautifully shot !!

[Rachel Hollander]

Morkel - it has all been said above. Great capture of a unique behavior.

TFS,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

Thanks Vivaldo, Rakesh and Rachel!

[Charles Glatzer]

Love this image.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Glad you like it Chas!!

[Ken Watkins]

Morkel,

Strange how this behaviour seems restricted to Mana Pools (well it is the only place I have seen it) It is a pity that you could noy get a cleaner BG, like the one I posted last year, but hey that is just bad luck.

[vikram potdar]

Great behaviour shot and. I like the golden light on bit oof trees in BG. TFS.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Morkel,

Strange how this behaviour seems restricted to Mana Pools (well it is the only place I have seen it) It is a pity that you could noy get a cleaner BG, like the one I posted last year, but hey that is just bad luck.

Thanks Ken. I actually LOVE the BG as it shows the Mana Pools forests off so wonderfully IMHO. Will have to go look for your shot... :S3:

I've seen photos of them doing it across the river in Lower Zambezi NP, Zambia as well...

[Arthur Morris]

Stunning is accurate. I actually like the one in the Mail Online piece here (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2203248/Elephant-stands-legs-eat-tree-leaves.html)better because it is bigger and lighter. The one posted here needs to be lighter.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Stunning is accurate. I actually like the one in the Mail Online piece here (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2203248/Elephant-stands-legs-eat-tree-leaves.html)better because it is bigger and lighter. The one posted here needs to be lighter.

thanks Artie...I agree it probably needs a bit more lightening...at the time I tried to process it as I remembered the light to fall in the forest that morning - quite dappled with patches shining through on the treetrunks.

Will probably reprocess for some entries into some competitions next year anyway :w3

[Arthur Morris]

Good plan. Watch out BBC....

[Morkel Erasmus]

hehe :t3
Which do you prefer compositionally, Artie? Note the placement of the ellie between the trees in this one, as opposed to placing the ellie smack-dang centre in the frame in the shot you saw on the Daily Mail website...?:e3

[Arthur Morris]

Great question. Please post them both in consecutive panes below with the OP here lightened so that I an others can compare them more easily. For some reason I think I know which I will like better.....

[Morkel Erasmus]

Here you go, Artie.
On the left - the news-published image
On the right - the OP of this thread

Seeing them side-by-side...I prefer the LHS one :eek3::Whoa!: mostly because of more trunk being visible. I initially liked the OP more because of the lower angle and the placement of the elephant between the trees.
What do you think? :S3:

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Mork-man. That's what I thought. Centered shmentered. The one on the left is clearly the one to enter in contests because of the sunlight on the background; it makes the subject pop even though it does not touch the subject! Mega.

[Andrew Merwin]

FWIW, I also prefer the left image. It seems more dynamic to me because the knees are bent which suggests that the elephant is moving up or down. I also prefer the light & the fact that there is more trunk visible.