I never used to like African wild dogs. For some reason, the different patches of colour on their coats made me think of rabbits with myxomatosis! However, seeing a pack of them corner a blue wildebeest in South Africa changed my mind. The chase was very exciting, and it took place in the most gorgeous red light at sunrise!
Read MoreCapture the Moment!
Here are all my posts on photography, covering techniques, trips, research, exhibitions, talks and workshops. Watch out for my latest article every Saturday.
I’ve also written dozens of articles for Expert Photography and Camera Reviews.
If you’d like to contribute a guest post on any aspect of photography, please email me at nick@nickdalephotography.com. My standard fee is £50 plus £10 for each dofollow link.
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2022: I had a Lodge in Africa...
This is my last blog post of 2022, so I thought I'd give you a quick recap of what I got up to during the last 12 months.
Read More2021: The Great Escapes
Given the Covid pandemic, the year 2021 might’ve been a disaster. As it was, I managed to escape London to go on three photographic trips: to Kicheche Bush Camp, Arviat and Antarctica. They were all very enjoyable for different reasons, and it was also nice to get away from Africa for a change!
Read MoreAfrican buffalo facts
The African buffalo is so dangerous that it’s been called ‘Black Death’, and it’s responsible for killing around 200 people a year in Africa. The fact that it’s so dangerous is one of the reasons why trophy hunters added it to the list of the Big Five, alongside the lion, leopard, elephant and rhino.
Read MoreRhino facts
The rhino is a very annoying animal: it’s so rare that you’re very unlikely to see it, and that means you almost always end up disappointed!
Read MoreJaguar facts
The jaguar is the largest cat in the Americas and the third-largest in the world after the tiger and lion.
The best place to see it is in the Pantanal region of Brazil, and I had 16 sightings when I went there in September 2016.
Read MorePolar bear facts
The first polar bear I ever saw had a large number 59 painted on its rump - and that was in Spitsbergen…!
Read MoreElephant facts
In 2019, I was on a game drive in Tanzania when my driver saw an elephant tusk by the side of the road. He stopped the vehicle, picked it up and put it on the back seat so that he could hand it in to the authorities.
Out of curiosity, I looked up how much that 17 kg tusk would’ve been worth on the black market: at $1,800 a kilo, it would’ve cost $30,000!
Read MoreAnthony Morganti photo critique
Tiger facts
Tigers are the biggest cats in the world, and they kill more people globally than any other mammal. The Champawat Tiger, a tigress found in Nepal and then India, was responsible for an estimated 430 human deaths, the highest ever total for a single animal!
Read MoreGorilla facts
The gorilla has recently been named among the ‘New Big Five’ along with the lion, tiger, elephant and polar bear. It’s certainly an intriguing creature, and its similarity to humans lends itself to anthropomorphism in photography.
Read MoreLeopard facts
If you ask people on safari what their favourite animal is, they’ll almost always choose the leopard.
It’s certainly beautiful - particularly when lying in a picturesque tree somewhere - and it’s rare enough to be exciting when you see one.
Read MoreEvery picture tells a story: Bear Gills
I’m a wildlife photographer, and this is one in an occasional series of posts about my best photographs. I’ll tell you how I took them and break down the shot into the idea, the location, the equipment, the settings, the technique and any post-processing necessary.
Read MoreBrown bear facts
Watching brown bears fish for salmon on Brooks Falls is one of the all-time highlights of the natural world, and it’s a must for any wildlife photographer.
Read MoreLion facts
Lions like to sleep. And they do it a LOT - around 20 to 22 hours a day, in fact.
This can be a bit frustrating if you happen to be a wildlife photographer, but it’s worth the effort!
Read MoreCheetah facts
The cheetah is my favourite animal. It may not be the prettiest - most people prefer the leopard - but there’s nothing to beat the sight of a cheetah running at full speed. It never fails to make me smile…
And if you’re lucky enough to see a cheetah kill, that’s one of the most exciting moments you can ever get on safari!
Read MoreEvery picture tells a story: Fly Bee
I’m a wildlife photographer, and this is one in an occasional series of posts about my favourite photographs. I’ll tell you how I took them and break down the shot into the idea, the location, the equipment, the settings, the technique and any post-processing.
Read MoreKicheche Bush Camp
I’ve just come back from 10 days at Kicheche Bush Camp with Paul Goldstein. It was meant to be a week-long Exodus trip, but when that was cancelled due to the new Covid restrictions, I booked privately with Paul, and I’m so glad I did!
Read More2020: A Journal of the Plague Year
The year 2019 was a stand-out year for me when it comes to my photography career: being able to spend four months on safari in Tanzania and Kenya was a spectacular result - and all because I happened to read an online article about a photographer who’d managed to spend a whole year staying at lodges in Africa in exchange for taking pictures. Who knew it was even possible?!
Read MoreNamibia
Until recently, the longest journey I’d ever had to make was 36 hours. That was how long it took to get to Brooks Falls in Alaska to see the bears catching salmon. My trip to Namibia ended up taking seven months!
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