David Lloyd Wildlife Photography

One of a mating pair, shortly after a kill, a little after sunrise. This male is scenting the female nearby. The light breeze and morning light played out some nice texture variations onto his flowing mane.

Embracing the Wind

Elephant Matriarch, Masai Mara, Kenya.

This is the colour version of the black and white one I uploaded here last month.

Elephant Matriarch

We found this mating lion pair on the last day of a trip to the Mara last November. As it appears, he is besotted with her, only this time she was having none of it, and all he got this time was a scratched nose for his trouble.
This was one of three images that made the final round of judging in the Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition this year.

Lovestruck

This picture graces the cover of this year’s <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/temporary-exhibitions/wpy/photo.do?photo=2755&category=49&group=1">Wildlife Photographer of the Year</a> annual along with the specially commended award in the competition. After twenty years of collecting and admiring the books, I now find that I’m on the front of one. Needless to say, I was quite delighted.

The potential for the picture was there when I saw this giraffe flick out his tail with the one on the horizon present, but I'd missed it initially. I waited for what felt like an eternity before he did it again all the more hoping the distant one would stay put. Eventually, the tail flicked out, everything else stayed in place, and I got my picture.

And I almost gave up myself, from fatigue from holding the heavy 400mm lens in position for the whole duration.

There's more about the book and competition at <a href="http://www.nhmshop.co.uk/all-books/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-portfolio-21/product.html">WPOTY Portfolio 21</a>.

A Flick of the Tail

When things get tough with the light - or lack of light - you can always chop your shutter speed down to 1/5th of a second and follow the subject. It's not as difficult as it might seem, and it's a lot of fun too.

Leopard Movement

A young female leopard under the undergrowth in the Masai Mara, Kenya. This is Bahati.

Leopard

On Safari in the Masai Mara near sunset.

On Safari

During dusk at Linyanti in Botswana, we’d already lined up some elephants approaching single file, but given we were likely to see these again, we decided to visit a lone male lion which has just appeared instead. The light had become appealing at five-thirty, and we’d been with the lion for barely ten minutes when a leopard took his place at the base of a nearby termite mound.
And just when we were thinking how nice it would be if he were to sit on top of the mound, he promptly jumped up and sat on top of it.

I recently learned that this leopard was well known in the area by the name of 'The Magician'.

The Magician

This is Ron, one of Notch's sons, which, together with three others, form the the most well known lion coalition in the Masai Mara. His other sons are Caesar, Notch 2, and Grimace.

There are pictures of Notch and Caesar here on my 500px timeline. I've a little more about this picture on my website <a href="http://davidlloyd.net/2012/12/05/a-lion-called-ron/">here</a>.

A Lion Called Ron

There's nothing quite like an elephant's eye looking into your own.

Sentience

A Masai giraffe, licking its lips. Masai Mara, Kenya

Giraffe

On initial appearances, this is an imposing looking matriarch. However she was really more interested in the little green plant that was at her feet. She did keep at least one eye on us for the whole time though.

Elephant Approach

This is possibly my favourite portrait of Notch, and I’ve posted it here because I could see no point in it languishing on my hard drive unseen by others. It seemed such a waste otherwise.

Notch is the one of the largest and is the oldest lions in the Masai Mara at about 13-14 years of age. His age is attributed to the fact that he is constantly in the presence of one or more of his four sons, who all bear varying semblances of himself.

Please also see: <a href="http://davidlloyd.net/posts/">davidlloyd.net/posts/</a>.

Notch

This small part of a 10,000 strong crossing over the Mara River last September featured one wildebeest who found himself facing the wrong way while trying to make it to the other side. The surge of his fellow wildebeest made it near impossible to turn. I watched for a while, but eventually lost sight, so I did not know what became of him.

Mara Meleé

It is such a challenge sometimes to negotiate the foliage when photographing animals. This lion cub seemed to know my intentions and hid behind the only piece of grass on the mound.

Lion Cub

African Buffalo

An elephant calf with family at Amboseli, Kenya.

Elephant Calf

Amahoro means 'peace' in Kinyarwandese.
This is a female(?) mountain gorilla of the Amahoro Group of Rwanda. Males and females are notoriously difficult to tell part, but gorillas can be identified by their nose patterns. So if anyone can identify this one for me, I'd be grateful :)

Amahoro

A female cheetah on the Masai Mara plain during the annual migration last August. She was with her two near-fully grown cubs who are just out of frame.

The soft background was achieved using a wide lens aperture and the tips of the grass were blurred by the breeze and a relatively slow shutter speed.

Mara Cheetah

A zebra pair, from last August in the Masai Mara. They often pose this way, for protection mainly. The sky was clear and the background was free of interruption, so this one was hard to resist. I uploaded black and white version of this one about a month ago.

Zebra Pair

One point five million wildebeest cross the Mara River every year on the way to or from Kenya and Tanzania. On this occasion, some 10,000-15,000 traversed at this point in the river, taking almost an hour and a half to pass. What a photograph cannot capture is the sound, and I also think any photo would find it difficult to catch the mayhem involved as well.

We were fortunate enough to be on the riverbank itself during the crossing, those foremost animals were only a few feet in front of us.
Alas, when we got there, I realised I'd left my wideangle in camp, so had to make do with a 70-200 zoom. It was an effort to catch this scene with that lens, which forced me to opt for a portrait orientation. Luckily for me, it was a mistake that lead to a most satisfying picture that I may not have caught otherwise.

After the passing a dozen or more wildebeest remained in the river, either by drowning or having been trampled to death.

This was undoubtedly the highlight of a recent trip to the Masai Mara in Kenya. I’ve witnessed river crossings of some 1,000 wildebeest of ten minutes or so duration, but this one clearly was much more memorable.

Taken using a Nikon D700 with a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens at 70mm, f/9.5, 1/250 and ISO 400.

Maramania

Lion Profile

While photographing an older male leopard in Kenya, this seven month old cub surprised us all by bundling out of the bushes having been called by the elder one, its brother as it happens, who was baby sitting while mother was out hunting. We were fortunate, cubs are seen infrequently, and I don't think there are many things to photograph that are cuter than leopard cubs.

Leopard Cub

This was the very last picture and one of my favourites of a one hour session. Just as I’d taken the picture I'd become distracted while securing a footing, he came quickly forward, surprising us and nearly knocking me sideways. Stepping shin deep into mud to avoid him, he brushed by, splitting our group of eight on the way through.

He is the second silverback of the Kwitonda Group, in the Parc des Volcans in Rwanda, which we visited in March 2008.

Kigoma

A zebra pair, from last August in the Masai Mara. They often pose this way, for protection mainly. The clean background and sky suited the contrast of zebras' stripes, and I think this translated well into black and white.

Zebra Pair

A young lion cub, one of several, were using a fallen tree as a jungle gym. I took this at midmorning during an overcast day, which was ideal for watching lion pride activity because without the heat of the direct sun, they’re less likely to be snoozing under the shade of trees.

Lion Cub

We had a nice view up through a hole in the undergrowth to this leopard who was grooming itself. It was getting dark too, which necessitated an ISO setting of 5000.

Mara Leopard

Elephant Matriarch, Masai Mara, Kenya.

Elephant Matriarch (BW)

This is a young Australian estuarine crocodile, about a foot and a bit long. It's captive, I took it while visiting Butterfly Creek in New Zealand last July.

What struck me, apart from its cold clammy feel, was its jewel-like eyes.

Crocodile Eye

These lion cubs were watching their mothers hunt. While families of lions are known as prides I'd advocate that a group of young ones be referred to as a crèche as it seems so appropriate.

A Crèche of Lions