Most photographers seem to call themselves ‘award winning’. You’re never sure really what that means. Maybe that’s why we haven’t entered many competitions. Each month we see the results and think ‘we’ve got better shots than that’ yet we never seem to do anything about it. Until now. Lola decided it was time we entered a few images, a lo and behold we’ve won a few prizes. We entered  the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers’ monthly competition and we’ve won four gold awards. This competition differs from most because you are competing against other professional photographers. And it’s international (though most of the entrants are from the UK). We’ve won golds in four different categories so far.

First of the four is this shot of baby Mariella with dad, taken when she was six days old. I love this shot for its intimacy, and also the eye contact, which is hard to capture with a newborn baby. Although this looks like a studio shot it was actually taken at the client’s home, using window light only.

Next up is one of my favourite wildlife photographs. It’s not widely known that I lead photo safaris to Africa on behalf of a specialist USA-based photo tour company.  This one was taken on a tour to Tanzania. A few moments later and it was all over. Feel sorry for the frog

The next gold is a powerful and moving picture of a young Masai, also taken in Tanzania. The day before I’d run a ‘photographing people’ workshop for the tour participants, and one of the techniques I taught was shooting in to the sun when the the light is harsh and there is no shade. That technique works well here – I love the way the light rims her face. There’s a soulful look to her expression that really appeals to me too.

The final gold award (for now?) was for this image we took of Richard Ashcroft at a rock festival promoted by one of our clients. Photographing at a rock concert is a real eye-opener. You’re only allowed to be in the ‘pit’ for three songs so it’s a mad scrum with all the other photographers to get the best angles. Because Karen and I were working as a team the pressure was off slightly, so I could take a step back and look at what the lights were doing. Positioned myself carefully in a line with Richard and the backlight and this is the result. The lighting director should really get half this credit

These four pictures now go forward to the annual judging in January. Flushed with initial success I guess we’ll be entering a few more images next year

Karen and I got back last week from South Africa.  This was mostly a holiday but also in part a recce to see whether there is potential for a future guided photo tour.  South Africa is a land of contrasts and whilst clearly far more western in terms of infrastructure than, say, Kenya or Tanzania there is still plenty of disturbing evidence of poverty.    As a visitor I didn’t feel too uncomfortable given that tourism is a major source of employment.  It was still slightly disconcerting to realise that the smart, friendly, intelligent people who served us in hotels, restaurants etc in all likelihood lived in one of the infamous suburban townships that were on the outskirts of every conurbation.

For those with sufficient money to enjoy it, the country is stunning.  We went to Cape Town and then drove the Garden Route (via the wine region), continuing to Addo, just north of Port Elizabeth.  We’re not great city folk, though we enjoyed Cape Town.  The highlight for us in the cape was our two visits to Boulders Beach to photograph the African Penguins:

Cape of Good hope:

Franschoek, in the wine region:

A guided wine tour was great fun and a real eye opener as to the quality of South Africa wine.  The good stuff doesn’t make it to Majestic or the supermarkets!

Knysna forest, on the Garden Route.

Southern SA’s forests were almost logged to destruction, but the Knysna forest remains largely unspoilt.  Its now preserved as National Park though the hardwood is still selectively logged – something I thought a slightly odd concept.

Finally to Addo, which is the home of the Addo Elephant National Park.  This is a fenced reserve (as they all are in SA, including Kruger).  It has been a major conservation success story with the local elephants rescued from extinction.  They are a strange genetic mix – the females are almost all without tusks and the males all have small tusks.  Probably the result of selective hunting in the early 20th century. All these shots taken from the window of our VW Polo rental car

Kudu:

Leopard tortoise:

Lions were introduced to the park in 2003.  This guy had been badly beaten up in a territorial dispute the night before (hence the open wounds on his face):

I’ve been back from Tanzania for a week and finally I have a gallery of nature pictures online.  Still to come is a gallery of people pictures from the trip, including those taken on a visit to a Masai village.  This was a highly productive safari and I’m delighted with the pictures.  The gallery is taken from the end of safari slideshow – I still have lots of other pictures to edit.

View the gallery here