Why Is It Important Not To Be Rushed In Taking Pictures?

Why Is It Important Not To Be Rushed In Taking Pictures?

Although this blog is referring to Africa, it applies no matter where you are photographing in the world. Every awesome picture you admire, is not a mistake. Planning has gone into that picture from having an understanding about light etc . One key factor is important and it is often over looked and that is time. having time and not being rushed.

When Vicki and I take people to Africa, one of the key aspects with what we do there s to give the guests time at each place. Not to be rushed, not to spend 5 minutes and then move on. Here we look a simple subject and talk about that the high quality of the image that you can see in this blog is a result of having time and not being rushed.

You’ll always hear Africa Running Wild Safaris stressing the importance of not being rushed while on Safari. Why is that? Some of the most rewarding moments come in Africa when you have the time to sit still and to be quiet. You can arrived up at a place and there appears to be nothing happening at all.

You could be at a waterhole and it is totally empty of animal life. You may be there for 15 minutes and still nothing.It can be very tempting to move on. Then all of a sudden, animals appear from no where and before you know it, you have all the activity that you could wish for. Having A class guides with you will help with those choices of either moving on or staying. Knowing how to read the moment with what is happening around you is so important. A class guides can do this.. Knowing the sounds of the animals,the alarm calls from creatures that alerts of a predator being close by are all important skills to have.

Or you could be on one of our boat trips on the Chobe River and the guide, who has eagle eyes, spots the smallest of birds , with a fish in its mouth. The call is to slowly move the boat in, be quiet and see if the bird stays or flies. If the bird stays then you have an amazing moment with the wildlife to see this little bird eats the fish.

This is what took place in these pictures. ” Killer” our awesome guide who has the biggest heart of hearts, spotted the Pied Kingfisher with a fish in its beak. What was amazing in this story was  that ” Killer”, our amazing guide spotted this bird along with the fish from so far away that neither of us saw it. That’s the advantage of having such great guides who knows their craft. At Africa Running Wild Safaris we do pride ourselves on having the best guides that we are aware of.

We shut the motor off and the boat glides in, everyone is quiet and we were able to spend the next 20 minutes either watching or taking pictures of this amazing scene that took place in front of us. It was a mirco moment but an important one as Africa is not just about the big events but also about the small moments that all are a part of Africa.

It was a special moment that left us all in awe to be able to watch the a moment in the  life of the Pied Kingfisher going about its business. This was only possible as we were not in a hurry and we had the flexibility in our program to be able to spend time with this event and not to be rushed.

Africa Running Wild Safaris prides itself with having time and never rushing you with your African Experience.

With the boats  and our guides that we use, we will often glide into a small waterways  and in this case, the Pied Kingfishers were just flying about and we noticed that they were coming back to the same perch. We were all quiet and we would have been less than 5 metres from their perch and the end result is what you see below.Once again, it is having time. If you were on foot, you would struggle to get this close. Here we were , in our small boat, just cruising in, waiting, being quiet .We were able to get these wonderful portrait shots and being so close gave us wonderful images.

The images below reflect another moment where we were able to pull the boat up. Sit and watch and the end result is that we came away with wonderful images of the Pied Kingfisher just sitting and chirping. Once again , this was only possible as we were not in a hurry and we never are. The purpose of Safaris with Africa Running Wild Safaris is to give you the best possible African Experience and part of that comes to having time up your sleeve.

Notice where the light is coming from. Notice how the bird is lit up evenly by the sunlight. Notice that you are not shooting into the sun for the picture. This comes from having good teachers, good guides who are on the same page and having time to make sure it all comes together. The next time you are thinking about Africa, consider us if you are wanting to actually see your subjects in good light and not just looking into the sun. You don’t have to be into photography to enjoy Africa Running Wild  Safaris, you just have to have a desire to experience Africa.

The above shots where taken by all of the guests, not just Vicki and myself. How were the guests able to take these pictures? Answer – Having people who know the importance of having time and not being rushed.

When you see a lovely picture from Africa, most of the time it is a result of having time and not being rushed. We cannot stress that enough. The above also applies no matter where you are photographing around the world.