Featured 'tog Tuesday - Steve Kaluski ARPS

I first purchased a camera in 1979 and, like a lot of people, I took images of everything and anything. In all honesty I had no real understanding about what I was doing, or what I was looking at!

Then, after a long period of time not doing any photography, in 2002 I decided to take it up again. And so, in 2004 I purchased my first digital camera. This gave me the excuse I needed to invest time, effort and energy in the subject. Since 2005, I have concentrated solely on wildlife, travelling all around the world. My work has appeared in various publications, including photography magazines but also others such as Travel brochures and BBC Wildlife. I am passionate about the natural world.

First up, the only one we ask to everyone:
BLAB: What colour would your Ferrari be?
Well it would have to be Red, no question! It symbolises the passion, pedigree, craftsmanship and the love of Italian racing. A Ferrari that isn't red is like chips without salt, LOL!

BLAB: Which photographer's work do you most admire and why?
Easy, it's the guy that kick started me back into photography with a passion for Wildlife and how to appreciate it, Andy Rouse. I became hooked with a series of TV programmes he did back in 1999 in which he spoke about photography and the love he has for animals in a very stimulating manner that appealed to me hugely. Several years later I met him and have become good friends with him ever since, visiting many worldwide locations with him. If you ever get a chance to work with Andy you
will realise that every time he will put the animals welfare first, irrespective of getting 'that shot'. Have respect for the animal you are photographing, they will have respect for you and you will achieve your image. In addition I also admire Neil McIntyre who I have spent time with, Danny Green and Edwin Kats, all great photographers, but it is the 'simplicity of their images I like best.

BLAB: If you had been paid ten thousand pounds for being our 'Tuesday tog', what photo equipment would you spend it on?
I wish!!!! And I guess this is the crunch question! If I had to choose today I would have to say Nikon purely because it does exactly what it says on the tin, and delivers! I have always used Canon equipment and have a small fortune tied up with them and therefore will continue to use it. However like for like, the Nikon bodies now outstrips the Canon and delivers the shots. I have even shots of the same images and settings etc, side by side, and the Nikon always seems to have the edge. The lenses are on par, albeit Canon might have the edge on that. But I now know a lot of pros swopping over to Nikon and they all seem to say it has worked for them.

[BLAB: Not exactly the answer we were expecting but this is the Tuesday 'tog post and what they say goes! While we may be a site aimed at Canon users, we know there are other views out there and there is no one perfect solution for everyone... hit the comments with your thoughts on it]

BLAB: What would your dream photo opportunity be?
No contest, 1-2 months in Botswana in May/June. I just love the country, especially the people and the wonderful abundant wildlife. They have adopted a low volume, low impact, policy in the reserves, with limited numbers of guests and therefore limited numbers of vehicles within each concessionary area. With only three vehicles at any one time on a sighting, the clients get the best vantage points and the animals are not pressurised or harassed. In addition the drivers and guides are, in my opinion, some of the best. I have a huge respect for them, especially their knowledge of the animals and birds and their environment. If you ever want to get the best out of your trip, then please do not put pressure on your guides saying, 'I must see lions...' or "I must see a chase or a kill". My experience is that if you just go with the flow and take pleasure in what you do see, then mother nature generally will reward you and you will see a lot more, more than you would otherwise think. And there is as much pleasure in some of the smaller more unusual animals and birds than the big five.


Canon EOS-1D MkIII, EF500mm f/4L IS USM, f/5.6, 1/320, ISO400
It was a very hot afternoon when we left our location, about 40 degrees. Confidence was high as Park officials and the foresters were talking of good sightings of Tigers that morning. We patrolled our alloted route listening out for any 'alarm calls', nothing! As the hours passed by, doubt began to set in, we were not going to see our Tiger. Talking one last route home we tried a small watering hole, as we turned the bend there she was, quietly walking down the sand track. We stopped, reversed up to the waterhole positioned ourselves and waited. Quietly she approached, hot and dusty, moving within feet of the jeep straight to the water. Crouching down she drank. Not a great picture with her 'bum' to camera but, then within a few minutes she turned and reversed into the cool water to face the camera. A perfect end to the day. After filling my boots with images it was a quick race back before the Park gates closed.

If you would like to know more about Tigers, or would like to help please visit www.21stcenturytiger.org

Canon EOS-1D MkIII, EF500mm f/4L IS USM, f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO400
Beauty is my favourite Leopard which I met about two years ago in the Okavanga Delta in Botswana. She brought her cubs into camp for us to babysit whilst she went off to hunt. Sadly her parenting skills left a lot to be desired and non of her cubs have survived. I hooked up with Beauty last year and again she was proud to show me her new two week old cub. This shot was taken early morning, we just sat and watched her play and drink until we lost her in the tall grass. We moved the vehicle around, hoping to find her again hidden amidst all the rustling sounds. But as we approached a big old tree I instinctively knew she was going for the tree. So we positioned the jeep,switched off the engine and waited. Then in two leaps there she was high above us, parading around like a fashion model. Fifteen minutes of pure bliss.


Canon EOS-1D MkIII, EF500mm f/4L IS USM, f/5.6, 1/4000, ISO400 -0.33
I thought this would be an easy assignment, choose three images and write about them. Well the third did prove a problem, but I trust you like my choice.

The reason for choosing this image is because of the bold, vibrant colours of the image. The Saddle-billed stork is a rather ungainly bird standing about five feet high and looks as if its plumage was created by 'paint by numbers' as it appears to be totally out of context with the surroundings and environment. This shot was taken about mid morning as we patrolled the channels in the Jao/Kwetsani area. The stork was feeding in the ever increasing water that was steadily flowing into the Delta. I just love the trail that the left foot makes on the waters surface as the stork walks through the water in a very 'elegant' manner.



BLAB: Thanks for your time and for answering our questions. Some interesting and (possibly for this site controversial!) views and some really stunning pictures. We wish you well with your photography in the future and we'll be keeping an eye out for your images around and about. With images like these it won't be long before you're knocking on the door of some of those names you've mentioned as influences. 

UPDATE: Steve has just provided us with his new website www.untamedimages.co.uk where you can see some more of his work. 

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It's that time again

One of the biggest photographic competitions of the year has just opened the flood gates to entries for the 2009 round. That's right, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year (WPOY) is waiting for you to enter your images now. 

If you have any interest in wildlife, natural history or landscapes, it's worth entering as you never know what can happen. Take a look at some of the placed and winning images over the last few years and you'll see it's clearly a lottery as to whether you win or not. Look back just a few years and you'll realise it doesn't even have to be a wildlife image! Yes, I am thinking of the Gorilla in a zoo picture. Equally, as much as we may espouse technical perfection in images, this really is not a criteria for the judges either. As long as it shows what they're looking for this year, you're in with a chance of winning. 

While you may think you need to go off someplace exotic to shoot, don't forget your own back-yard. If you look hard enough, you'll find something worth entering. 

If you do decide to enter, Good Luck! 

Press release from the Natural History Museum below:

The 2009 competition is open for entries
The Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is beginning its annual search for the best and most astonishing images from around the world, whether they come from the wildest places on Earth or urban gardens. With the bar being raised each year, the 2009 competition promises to be bigger and more inspiring than ever before.

‘This is the greatest and most prestigious competition for wildlife photographers anywhere in the world. It raises the profile of wildlife photography and provokes a wider awareness of wildlife conservation. It is not just professionals who are successful – amateurs of all ages have won awards in the competition many times. In recent years the judges have been particularly impressed by the standard of images being produced by many young people.’ Mark Carwardine (Chairman of the judges)

The winning photographer will be presented with £10,000 at an awards ceremony at the Natural History Museum, London, in October. Each category winner receives £500 and every runner-up £250. Special Award winners receive £1,000.

How to enter
visit our website to enter online, for revised rules and category definitions and the Chairman’s foreword and insider tips.
images must be digitally captured or scans of transparencies
original transparencies, or the original capture as it was recorded by the camera will be requested, and must be supplied if an image reaches the final round of judging
translations of the rules are available online in Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish
online entry fee: £20
postal entry fee: £27 (CDs only)
closing date for online entries: Friday 27 March 2009
closing date for postal entries (CDs only): Friday 20 March 2009
Veolia Environnement Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year

If you are 17 years or younger, this is the competition for you. You can enter pictures of any wild animals, plants or landscapes. The judges will be looking for original, beautiful or striking shots rather than rare or exotic subjects. Creatures or places close to home that you know well or have easy access to may be your best subjects.

The three categories are: 10 years and under, 11–14 years, 15–17 years

The winning photographer will receive £500 and a day out with a well-known wildlife photographer. Category winners will receive £250 and runners up £100.

How to enter

visit our website to enter online, see the revised rules, and more tips from the Chairman of the judges.
entry to this competition is free
up to 10 images can be entered
images must be digitally captured, or scans of transparencies
translations of the rules are available online in Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish
closing date for online entries: Friday 27 March 2009
closing date for postal entries (CDs only): Friday 20 March 2009
Judges

Mark Carwardine (Chair) zoologist, writer and photographer
Jack Dykinga, landscape photographer
Laurent Geslin, photographer
Chris Gomersall, wildlife photographer
Orsolya Haarberg, nature photographer
Josef (Sepp) Hackhofer, nature photographer
Tim Harris, manager, nature and garden collections, Photoshot
Tony Heald, wildlife photographer
Rosamund Kidman Cox, editor and writer
Jan-Peter Lahall, photographer
Tor McIntosh, picture editor
Vincent Munier, nature photographer
Erik Sampers, photo director, Terre Sauvage
Brian Skerry, marine wildlife photojournalist
Sophie Stafford, editor, BBC Wildlife Magazine
A feature on the 2009 competition, along with tips on how to improve your Urban and Garden photography can be found in the February issue of BBC Wildlife Magazine, on sale 22 January, and online at www.bbcwildlifemagazine.com


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Featured 'tog Tuesday - Martin Dyer

This week's guest photographer is Martin Dyer. Martin describes himself as a wildlife photographer who has a particular passion for bird photography. You can start by reading his biography:

Martin's Biog:
I started to take photos from the age of about nine when I was bought my first camera. My late teens involved lots of trips to motorcycle races and airshows, so I have packs and packs of very poorly processed 6 x 4 prints taken from the same corner of different motorbikes or aircraft taking off and landing. Very rarely was there anything of any great photographic merit, although I do recall taking pictures of the 1996 F1 Champion, Damon Hill, some time back in the 80’s, on Kawasaki Z500 production bike in a clubman’s race at Brands Hatch, on the inside of the track at Druids Hill hairpin, when you could actually do such things as a member of the public.

Photography fell a bit by the wayside through the 90’s as I was disillusioned with a lack of control of the whole process, and I couldn’t afford or even want my own dark room.
In fact I was about to sell off my EOS500N and two kit zooms when Canon launched the 300D. Well that got me back in to it in a big way. I had been into my wildlife for a long time and so this now gave me the opportunity to combine my two interests. So I suppose you could say I was a wildlife watcher first before photographer, which in some ways gives me an advantage in terms of subject knowledge and behaviours. My philosophy is firmly that the welfare and well being of my subject comes first and is embedded in the Nature Photographers code published by the Nature Group of the Royal Photographic Society. 

I take regular trips to the Isle of Mull to watch the wildlife there, probably the best place in the UK to see Golden and White Tailed Sea Eagles. Very difficult to photograph, as everything is at extreme range, but you have to keep trying from public locations and hope they come near you. Last year a photographer ‘s actions resulted in the failure of a Sea Eagles nest and the subsequent loss of the chicks, which is totally unacceptable and I believe a prosecution resulted. No picture is worth that.

There are sites in Europe where you can pay plenty of money to photograph them in more controlled conditions if that is what you want to do. But to me, I get the greatest satisfaction as a result of fieldcraft and patience, which usually involves a lot of cold and uncomfortable sitting or laying about, often with nothing to show for it.

I do a bit of printing work, usually for Photographic exhibitions, using both the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 and 9500, depending on what type of work I am doing. Both are excellent printers in their own right. Since I acquired the 9500, it has opened up the monochrome world to me and can finally finish some of my landscape work.

If you would like to see more of my work, then I have a blog with another wildlife photographer friend of mine, David Courtenay at Wildlife Across the Water. and also my own personal website at Martindyerphotography.co.uk that I will be updating and overhauling very soon.

As with all of Tuesday 'togs, we ask them a list of questions and they get to choose which ones to answer. We also one question they all have to answer:

BLAB: What colour would your Ferrari be?
Well if it had to be a Ferrari, then there is only ONE colour and it must be Red.

But why would I want a car that crashes into walls in airport tunnels in Manchester? – No for me it would be a Porsche GT2 – in bright metallic blue with gold wheels, configured just like the one I have on the Nintendo - Wii Need for Speed Pro Street as my grip car 

BLAB: If you had been paid ten thousand pounds for being our 'Tuesday
tog', what photo equipment would you spend it on?
As a wildlife photographer, I would buy the EF800mm f5.6L IS USM as you never can have too much length, and also the EF400mm f2.8L IS USM as it is not something that I could ever see myself purchasing ordinarily, and the results I have seen from it are stunningly sharp

BLAB: Rucksack or shoulder bag and why?

I use both depending on what I shoot. For studio work and people shots that I get dragged into doing, I tend to use an old Jessops shoulder bag – does the job OK.

For my wildlife and landscapes I have three rucksacks. When I am using the 500f4, I use a custom designed and made bag that will take the 500f4, with the hood fitted the right way round, with a 1.4 converter attached to my 1Dmk3, ready to shoot straight out the bag. When I am shooting from the car, it sits in the passenger footwell good to go, and then out in the field pretty much the same. A frustration with most other bags is that you have to build your camera/lens combination, by which time that rare bird or mammal is a small speck in the distance. It is an exceptionally comfortable bag, made by a fishing equipment manufacturer, that I can carry for a long time on my back.

My other rucksacks are the Think Tank Airport Acceleration – perfect bag for travelling by air. I can get my 1D, 500f4, 300 f2.8, 70-200f2.8, 24-70f2.8 and 17-40, plus 100f2.8 macro in, plus numerous other bits and bobs – great and complies with the smaller of the aircraft carry on sizes that some airlines insist on. The other bag I use from time to time is my Lowepro PhotoTrekker, usually for landscapes as it made of materials that seem to cope with the usually disgusting conditions that I end up putting my bag in

BLAB: Natural light or flash and why?

Landscape and wildlife are my preferred genre so therefore natural light is everything for those subjects. All my best wildlife images are down to the light, well in my opinion anyway. My landscape work is usually done in the golden hours of sunrise and sunset, although I won’t waste overcast and cloudy conditions to ‘see’ and take monochrome images, particularly when it works well with the subject matter. So while I do use studio flash from time to time for portrait and figure photography, and have even been known to use flash for wildlife, usually with the Kirk Flash Extender, it is not my preference.

Martin has also selected three of his favourite images to show on blab:

Milkcap fungus. I enjoy the challenge of macro photography particularly for fungus, and here the technique is all about the lighting. Compared to other natural history macro photography, fungi are really easy as they are not going to get up and run away, so the results are entirely down to you. I took this a couple of seasons back with my beloved old 1Dmk2N plus my trusty Canon 100f2.8 macro lens at my local woods. It was a fabulous season two years ago and I have kept my fingers crossed every year since, but have been sadly disappointed. M mode, ISO400, f20 and 1/5 s exposure. Using aluminium kitchen foil to reflect light back under the head of the fruiting body. An additional bonus with this particular specimen is the lactating gills, hence the name.

This shot was just a practice pan and so goes in the lucky file. I was out in Switzerland last year with my good friend and wildlife photographer, David Courtenay at Lake Geneva, trying to photograph in flight, landing on the water Goosanders. Dave and I would take turns throwing in the bread to attract them while the other took the shots. Sadly for us, somebody else was also feeding the birds a bit across the lake from us, which was distracting our subjects. It was a late Feb afternoon and the sun was setting just behind us. I saw two Pochards coming round towards the feeding activity, and as I often do just practice my panning and focussing techniques, with a suitable subject. It look pretty reasonable in the viewfinder so just gave it a double tap to squeeze off two images, and really thought no more about it and when back to my Goosanders. Well it wasn’t until I looked at them on computer that I realised how good the image looked. Moral of the story – always use any opportunity to practice your skills. Taken with the 1Dmk3, which still wasn’t fixed at this time, although this doesn’t look too bad does it? and my Canon 500f4L. Av mode, ISO 400, f7.1, 1/2000

I saw these stunning birds for the first time last year courtesy of a friend of mine who took me to the site. We watched up to seven in this one field over a number of days. Another image blessed with late winter afternoon sun coming on from the left. I blagged my partner Sue’s Canon 40D for this image to give me some additional ‘reach’ with my 500 f4 plus the 1.4EFTC to give me the best chance for frame filling images. M mode metered off the grass, ISO400, f7.1 and 1/1250. I was pleased to get a ‘Highly Commended’ for this at the Smethwick International Exhibition this year in the Nature Digital Projected section.

BLAB: Thanks for your time and answers Martin, they're very interesting and will hopefully help some of the readers either learn a bit or get inspired to go out and shoot more themselves. 

If any readers have any feedback or thoughts about Martin's work, hit the comments! Equally, if anyone else fancies being our featured Tuesday 'tog, let us know! 

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