02 Wildlife - Aperture Priority

You know, this morning I woke up,
it was about 6 o' clock,

and I didn't know what to expect.

I mean the weather forecast is
quite cloudy today, as you can see,

and I actually thought
to drive up the hill,

to the mountains, to see
the wonderful sunrise,

but instead,

all of a sudden there was this
herd of elk and moose

coming out from the forest.

I took my camera and ran into the field,

and I saw them coming towards
me in the rising sun.

Sometimes I think, if the weather
conditions are not perfect,

"Why should I go out taking
landscape photography?"

But you know, these special times,

they are a challenge, but delivering
wonderful shots at the end.

With photographer Henry Stober

Aperture Priority

What a wonderful situation
to see these big animals,

some of them up to two meters,
with their big horns there.

It was still dark;

you want a fast shutter speed to make
sure the movement of the animals--

you want to capture them,

and so I used an ISO of
about 4, 5 and 6 000 ISO,

and a little bit of depth of field,

with my lens, like 6.3,

very close to the animals.

The cameras, normally, are set
at a wide-balance that will be okay

for during the day.

But in the mornings,
everything seems to be still blue.

I'm shooting towards
a more yellowish color.

Going up on five six, five seven,

sometimes even on 6 000.

And you know,

how could you demand from a camera,

to know exactly what situation you're in?

I normally shoot manual everything,

except the auto-focus,

to have full control on the shot.

We're surrounded here,

with natural forest, open plain;

and, you know,

a bear could come out any second.

But normally a bear wouldn't
attack a human being.

In Africa,

it's totally different.

There are animals that
would attack human beings.

When there are situations
where I cannot leave the car,

there are numerous things you can do:

Either you have a tripod
that is big enough

to put it on your seat next to you,

roll down the window,

and get as much
out of the window as you can

to have a great range
of angles of the situation.

Other people use bean-bags,
which I often do,

if I get the camera off the tripod,
I need to get to a different angle.

Patience is important.

And sometimes it takes hours.

I had numerous situations

where I saw the animal,
but the light wasn't perfect.

I had to come back the next day,

the next two or three days,

but it pays off!

Because after all,

even though you may not get
the reward in a perfect shot,

you are there among the
animals and nature.

That's the life of a photographer,

and I don't want to miss out on that.

I want to be right in the middle,
having a main chair,

among the beautiful creation out there.

The challenges in early morning
photography, is of course, first yourself,

because you're simply not there,
still some sleep in your bones.

But if you really, closely listen
to the audio of nature,

it starts with a small bird,

chirping somewhere,
you hear the first animal,

and then everything seems
to increase in noise,

and then the nature awakes.

And then you wake up yourself, normally,

you're not there, fully concentrated,

but with the wildlife, with the nature,

you're getting awake slowly,

and getting adjusted to the
beautiful creation out there.

Whatever you're trying to accomplish
in your life, in photography,

think about who created all
that beauty out there.

And for me, I found my solution,

in God creating this world,

as a gift for me,

and I'm so happy having the chance,

and the talent, to go out there,

to capture all this beauty
of planet Earth.

Aperture Priority