Canon "error 99" - 11 December 2008

On our recent trip to Botswana one of the Canon 1Ds Mark II started behaving oddly.  When trying to take a sequence of shots the camera would freeze and up would come the message "error 99".  This was rather tedious when shooting pictures of Lions cubs playing in front of us! At one stage we thought it may be the heat, but were not sure.

On our return to London we took the camera down to those nice people at Fixation.  Back came the answer; shutter needs replacing.  All shutters have a limit on how many shots you can take.  In the case of these cameras it is 150,000 shots.  We have had these cameras about 4 years and we now think that is how many shots we have taken.  So earlier this week after being relieved of £600 for the two repairs, we have these bodies which should last another 4 years ... perhaps!

In the interests of ensuring our clients have the chance to try our the best equipment, we have managed to buy two Canon 5D Mark IIs.  When Adam rang up Warehouse Express he was told they had backorders of 250 bodies and only 200 were being delivered before 31 December.   Luckly one of our good contacts in Japan, Toshi, went out hunting and found two bodies and two spare batteries.  These arrived two days ago, just in time to take to Antarctica!  We will give a full report on our return. We are very excited thinking about taking videos of Penguins diving into the sea and so forth.

Julie and Adam

Botswana 2008

This year's Botswana's trip had a number of surprises.  On arrival at Savuti we found the Savuti Channel flowing.  This is a first for something like 24 years.  Simply astonishing.  So instead of seeing dusty elephants coming down to the small waterholes in droves, we found wading lions (and apparently swimming Cheetah), trying to get to their usual side of the Channel, and a variety of diverse wildlife not ordinarily seen at Savuti.  And then at Duba, we had magnificent lightning storms, a lazy and uncoordinated Duba lion pride but lots of dusty elephants!  All in all, the diversity of wildlife was outstanding - we have updated this site with our trip report and some of the hundreds of photographs taken.  

We're now getting prepared for Antarctica - this will be our second expedition to South Georgia, the Falklands and the Antarctic Peninsula.  We set off in two weeks and in the meantime we are hoping to get our hands on two of the new Canon 5D Mark 2.  We have contacts scouring Japan for us, given the wait list everywhere else.  So, it's a bit of a nail biter before we get away...

Very tragic news in Mumbai of course.  Words fail during times like these.  

Hoping you are all well and safe.  

Julie and Adam

Finland: bears, wolves, mushrooms and berries! - 31 August 2008

Friday morning before the Bank Holiday weekend saw us meeting up in Heathrow Terminal 1 to catch the Finnair flight to Helsinki. A couple of hours at Helsinki airport allowed us to have a light dinner before the flight up to Kajaani. We were picked up and asked if we wanted a good night's sleep or straight to one of the hides. We looked at each other, grinned and all agreed we were there to see bears so straight to the hide please. Just after midnight in pitch dark we made ourselves comfortable in the hide and settled down for a few hours sleep.

Next morning we sat looking into the mist at about 4.30am and suddenly saw a bear appearing from the trees straight across from us.



High ISOs and we were snapping away .... then someone spotted something else ... although we continued snapping at the bear. Then we recognised the other animal. It was a wolf! Then another bear appeared from the left and we had to make some choices. The light was getting better and the sun was clearing the mist away and we had a fantastic first morning in the wilds of Finland.



After about 8am the bears disappeared to go back to sleep and we were getting hungry. We were picked up and taken back to base camp where we had a great Finnish breakfast before heading for bed at about 10am! Up for a 4pm dinner (meatballs, cheese and and some great juices) and then taken to another hide. This evening proved to be madly busy. Bears were appearing left and right and more wolves! We were snapping away and all of us managed to get some great images. As the sun was setting the bears were walking right up to our hide and one looked right in. Scary! As we tried to sleep in our sleeping bags we would hear the bears splashing in the water but it was too dark to get any shots by then.



Next morning Adam was up first at 4.30am and whispered "everyone up ... bears". It was still quite dark but right in front of the hide a bear was 'posing' then suddenly something spooked him and he raced across a shallow lake spray flying all over the place. More bears appeared and we managed to get some more shots as the light improved. Most of the time the bears were tolerant of each other and indeed of the wolves. Sometimes they would get aggressive and there would be some growling and teeth baring!


By 8.30am the bears had disappeared and we walked up to the road to be picked up for another fine breakfast. We were not so tired this time so we spent a little time photographing the mushrooms and berries which littered the forest floor around the cottage.



For our last evening we returned to the hide we were in on the first morning. More bear action all evening and we managed to get more shots than we expected. Lots of great bears until the light faded at about 9pm. Back to base for the luxury of sleeping in a bed! The base camp is an old logging cottage which is right by a beautiful lake. There was a sauna following which a few of the Finns jumped into the lake. We all wimped out and had hot showers!



A 4.15am wake-up call on our last day to get us back to Kajaani airport for our early morning flight. On the way home we managed to spend a few hours in Helsinki, tried the excellent tram system, fed some seagulls in the harbour until we were told off and then a spot of lunch before the flight home.

A plug for Finnair which was really excellent. No trouble with our rather extensive (and expensive) handluggage!

Great trip, short but lots of action. We will be returning in June 2009.

Julie and Adam

Recovering pictures from corrupted flash cards - 30 August 2008

As we arrived back from Finland earlier this week (blog report soon to appear) I tripped up and fell flat on my face. Never mind the cuts, bruises or my face ... I dropped the camera bag! That evening we were downloading our cards and Julie's Sandisk extreme III 16Gb card showed NO photos on it. Not at all good. Two possible causes: first my having dropped it and secondly that most of the shots were taken on a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II and then the card was taken out and put into a Canon 5D. This seems to break the index and corrupt the card.

Julie tried to recover the images using Lexar's image rescue program which has serviced us well in the past. This took ages to review the card, (we're talking hours), and then told us it could recover only 135 images. This was hopeless as we knew that there were hundreds of bear and wolf shots on the card.

Quick research suggested that Sandisk's RescuePRO might do the trick. $34 later it was on our main Mac. Within an hour it had recovered 719 images from the card. That is 584 more than using Lexar's program.


Lessons for us:

1. It was a short trip to Finland so we had opted not to back-up the photos as we went along. Never again.

2. Swapping cards between two different models of camera is not advisable.

Clearly, RescuePRO highly recommended!

Adam

India expedition 2009 - 8 August 2008

In March 2009 we will be returning to India for another Tiger special. But there will be more, temples, villages and fantastic opportunities for people shots. You will be able to find a description of the trip on the top left of our home page.

Why india? Rather then what we say, this is what the French scholar Romaine Rolland said: "If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India!"

We will visit four reserves, three specifically to maximise the chances of photographing and watching one of these:



If you want any further details, give us a call or send an email ... we cannot wait!

Julie and Adam

Printing on the HP Designjet Z3100 - 26 July 2008

Prints from the HP Z3100 have proved very popular. In our recent trip to Uganda and Rwanda Wendy won the competition to print off 20 feet of shots. She was round a few weeks ago and produced some absolutely stunning prints on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper. This has a matt finish with a textured surface and is now our standard for most of our commercial work.

Shortly after Julie came back from Svalbard she was asked to assist with an office renovation, The owner of the business wanted some coooool matching prints of the cold north to suit the company's own coolness! We ran off a set of trial prints, the owners loved them and we went into full scale production. The results are really stunning. Few monitors are able to match the quality of a professionally produced print. We do wonder if some people miss out on some of the magic from their shots simply because they only look at them on an iPod, their blog or on a computer screen.

This is the one the owner liked best:



All our clients can use our printers to produce stunning prints and indeed we encourage this.

Adam and Julie

Svalbard - Spitsberg: Polar Bears and Ice - June 2008

Just back from a week on the good ship Origo, breaking ice and exploring Svalbard's waters. In search of Polar Bears of course, and yes, we were successful. We had two separate viewings, the first from a distance, a mother and young one near their Seal kill from the evening before. We attempted to get closer through the ice but the ice started to close around us and the captain wasn't happy so regrettably we had to back out of the ice, but not after firing off some shots at least. A bird flew over and the mother, ever alert, looked up and sideways and then, with the noise of Origo in reverse, the two took off across the ice and we were unable to find them later.

Our second viewing was during breakfast a few days later. The bridge had called us up out of bed earlier, around 6.30am, and we all rushed up on board but were unable to find the captain's Polar Bear. We gave up and sat down to breakfast at 8am, but part way through breakfast someone saw our Polar Bear coming up out of the water and onto the ice. Of course no-one caught that on camera, but we were all up on deck pretty quickly and had a great session, firing away as the Polar Bear, probably a two year old male, advanced toward the ship. It looked as if we were going to get a paws on the side of the ship shot, but one of our group accidently banged their tripod on the railing and our Bear ran off in alarm, occasionally rolling in the snow when it was further away. Needless to say, everyone was disappointed and one person very embarassed, but it was pure magic while it lasted!



The sea ice stopped us from heading around the top of the islands and exploring the eastern side but we spent the week exploring the fjords on the western side. The ice landscape was enchanting and it was impossible not to try your hand at landscape photography. Having said that, we didn't see as impressive ice sculptures as we have seen in Antarctica but we believe it is possible to see these in some of the fjords further north. There were many sea and migratory birds, fabulous Walrus and Seals and it's a very impressive one week trip, we saw a lot, compared to Antarctica for which you need three weeks.

Please keep an eye out for a full trip report plus additional photos which will be on this website within the next 10 days and we are researching a return trip for June 2009 or 2010 in a small vessel, either to Svalbard or to Greenland or both so please let us know if you are interested in principle, as we will only be taking a very small group.



All the best.

Julie and Adam

Bears in Finland; 2nd recce! - 18 May 2008

Just back from a second recce to northern Finland, Bear watching of
course. I have to say I am very impressed with the warm hospitality,
great food and of course wildlife opportunities in Finland.
The airfare to get there is a bit of a stumbler given it's so close -
you can fly to Dubai for about the same price! But once you're
there, everything is affordable.

On this trip we sampled a reindeer burger which was cooked on an
outdoor grill, Finnish style and we ate around the grill outdoors in
+2C but it was one of those memorable meals, a bit like a picnic
lunch in the African bush, right up there with life's magical
moments. We spent two nights in two different hides, both were
excellent in their own way and you will see from the following
photographs, the light conditions are quite variable. The hides were
delightfully warm and well set up for photographers and artists,
(more on that later), and people just wanting to view the Bears.



On the first evening we only saw a couple of Bears and from some
distance but it was quite a special viewing - the setting was great
and I was in a two person hide with a Dutch artist called Erik Van
Ommen. Quite a magical, cold arena for the Bears to come into and a
bit of a wait, keeping really quiet of course because Bears are
incredibly shy and this is the start of the season. By the end of
the season, in August, just before they start thinking about
hibernating again, they are pretty brash and come much closer to the
hides.



We had two Bears come into view, initially we were training
our binoculars to find them and then we switched to looking through
our lenses. I'd start firing off some shots and behind me I could
hear Eric's pencil working furiously. There was another Bear
appearance after a couple of hours waiting so in between viewings I
took a look at Eric's drawings which are impressive. You can see
these on his website:

http://www.erik-van-ommen.nl/

The second hide produced quite a lot of Bears coming and going and
they were closer. Even though they were closer, they were still
quite difficult to shoot because they are so large and brown and the
light is a bit tricky. Their behaviour is interesting as they seem
to saunter mindlessly most of the time and then become quite intent
with their foraging for food. They then scurry off quite quickly,
rarely looking back so it's a bit of work getting eye contact and an
interesting shot.



Anyway, here are some of the shots taken, some snow still on the
ground. Let me know what you think and please keep in mind our next
trip to the Bears in August, our last Bear trip for the year. The
details for the trip are at:

http://www.shutterspeedtravel.com/finlandaug2008.asp

The conditions will be different then - much
warmer with brighter light, almost 24/7 so lots of viewing hours over
three nights. There will also be time for beers and laughs and some
photo viewing and workshops so please let us know ASAP if you want to
join us. The dates are August 22-25.

Getting ready for Spitsbergen and Polar Bears in June now! Watch
this space...

Hope all is well with you all.

Julie

2009 Expeditions - 27 April

We hope you are out there enjoying your photography. We have been spending some time planning our 2009 Expeditions and wanted to share them with you. If you have an interest in any of the following and would like to be sent the details as soon as we have finalised them, and before the itineraries go up on the website, you may want to send us an email to register your interest (without commitment). Some of the trips will be for 4-5 clients only so this is our way of giving you the heads up.

Bears in Finland

We will be returning to Finland to photograph wild bears for 3 days. We stay overnight in hides within 700 meters of the Russian border. The bears are attracted by carcasses that we arrange to be placed in front of the hide. The bears come in the early evening and can stay until the morning. At this time of year of course it does not really get completely dark and so this is a good chance to photograph and just observe some of Europe's largest wild animals up close and personal.

Dates are being finalised but it is likely to be in May. If you like the sound of a short trip over a long weekend to a wild part of Europe to shoot Bears, this is for you! There is still availability for this trip in August 2008 as well, the itinerary was posted last week and can be seen at the Current Expeditions section.

Bonobos in the Congo

Over the 2007/08 Christmas period we led a trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC"} with the sole intention of photographing Bonobos for a week. As many of you know, Bonobos are one of the five species of great apes and are only found in the DRC. Bonobos are similar to Chimpanzees, but have a very different social model as well as some distinctive differences. We will be leading another expedition in 2009 when we intend to spend most of our time in a reserve managed by an excellent charity which should give members of the Expedition five full days of shooting these fantastic animals. We are one of the very few tour companies to travel to the Congo to see these amazing primates and we know anyone who joins the trip will enjoy the photogenic nature of the Bonobos and their accessability, ie there's no hard trekking or restriction to an hour's viewing on this trip!

Dates are being finalised but it's likely to be sometime between July and September. If you want a unique portfolio of an animal very few photographers have seen, let along photographed, this is for you!

Polar Bears in the Arctic

We are still finalising the ship arrangements and dates here but in the early Summer we will be leading our group to explore the pack ice and the ice cap of the Arctic in search of Polar Bears, Walrus, Seals, Seabirds and Whales. Traveling with people really in the know and on a small ice strengthened ship, we will be focusing on getting in to where we can get the best wildlife experiences the region has to offer. The atmosphere will of course be relaxed, the food superb and informative lectures will be held whilst we are at sea. Availability will go quickly so if you are interested in seeing Polar Bears we'd encourage you to register your interest early, before the itinerary goes up on the site.



Orangutans in Sumatra

The only great ape to be found in Asia is the Orangutan. Wild Orangutans only live on the Islands of Sumatra and Borneo. We will be running a recce trip to Sumatra to check out the viewing, accommodation and transport. We have already been speaking to our contacts and cannot wait to see these creatures from within two yards! We will be offering our existing clients the chance to come on this reconnaissance trip as we know they will not mind roughing it or the occasional blip.

Some of these trips will fill up very quickly. If you would like to express an interest and ensure your name is on top of the list, please email Julie on: julie.calvert@shutterspeedtravel.com

Happy shooting!

Julie and Adam

Wolverine, Finland - 6 April 2008

Wolverines are the largest member of the Weasel family and is a very stocky and muscular animal. Whilst they live in isolated Northern areas, they are quite rare. In Finland there are only just over 100 Wolverines left in the wild. They are very aggressive animals and in Lapland have been known to bring down Reindeer, which are many times their size. They also are known to eat the carrion left by Wolves.

We saw this one during our recent trip to Finland. We saw it running across the frozen lake toward our hide and it then spent about 30 minutes behind us eating some of the frozen pigs that are left out to attract Bears, Wolves and Wolverines! Eventually it crept in front of the hind and presented itself to us. As you can see, this one has been in the wars with a scar above its right eye.



As you can tell from this photograph, it was very cold and snowing at the time, but the Wolverine's thick coat is able to protect it from the hostile climate of Finland. We were delighted to see it!

We are finalising our next guided trip back to Finland when we expect to see Bears and Wolves - it will be a great time to see them and the hides we will be using really are second to none. Please keep an eye out on the website over the next two weeks when the details of the August trip should be up.

Julie and Adam

Finland - 100 hours in a hide - 24 March 2008

We have just returned this evening from a really amazing eye opening 'recci' to Finland. We travelled there to assess conditions for running a Bear, Wolf, Wolverine and birding photographic expedition in '08 and '09.

After flying to Helsinki, an internal flight north, stocking up on provisions at the local supermarket (cheese, local bread, pasta etc), then a 150 km car journey, then a mile in a snowmobile (steered by Adam ... very scary) we arrived at our home for the next 100 hours. The hide was in No-Mans Land which is a mere 700 metres from the Russian border. It was one of the best hides we have ever seen. Despite being about -15 degrees outside, the oil stove kept us warm inside and a small meths cooking stove warmed up our pasta. The only downside, no running water or toilets! THAT was the one time requiring us to race out into the cold ...

We were there in the low season. The bears were still fast asleep in their dens. They wake up usually in early April when the snow melts and runs into their nests. They wake up VERY hungry having lost about 40% of their body weight over the winter. From April until perhaps October they are out and about before settling down to sleep again for the winter. The wolves had been heard just before we got there, but aside from some tracks we did not see any. Once the Bears are out, the Wolves tend to follow them, sharing the meat that the bears find.

The highlight for us was seeing a Wolverine really close up. These are very strong and quite fierce creatures ... photos to follow.

Our expeditions will be to the same area, but in the "high season" where there is a very good chance of getting pretty close to the bears. We will be staying in an old logging camp, each evening being left at the hide to wait for the bears to come down to eat the carcasses which are left to attract them and returning to camp for hot showers, hot food, charging batteries etc the next morning. Relax round the camp during the day, a sauna if you dare, a big dinner and then back to the hide. We cannot wait!



A view here of the hide we bunkered down in and Julie on watch! More to follow.

Julie and Adam

Snow in Finland - 20 March 2008

From the heat of Africa to the snow in Finland; sometimes we think we are mad! This morning we are off to Finland. We are travelling close to the border with Russia (for which permits are required. Very Jason Bourne) to a remote hide. No electricity no running water (very, very Jason Bourne). We will stay there for the best part of a week simply waiting to see what comes by (very, very, very Jason Bourne). Depending on the season this includes Wolves, Bears, Golden Eagles, Wolverines, Woodpeckers etc, etc. So when packing, we put away our hot weather clothes from Uganda/Rwanda and brought out Arctic gear. Given there is no electricity, no computers, chargers, cables, adaptors and other gizmos. Hence we are traveling light. Just the 600 F4, the 500 F4, three Canon bodies and the Hassey.

Current temperature where we are going as we write this .... -14 c with snow is forecast for the next three days!

Julie [Bourne] and Adam [Bourne]

Gorillas - 17 March 2008

A few shots of the Gorillas that we like. As you can tell from these, some of the conditions were ideal and some were somewhat challenging. Whatever the conditions, being with the Gorillas was a real privilege. All these photographs taken with medium length lenses.



and another we love.



It is fair to say that it sometimes rained!



Looking at these photographs really reminds us of the unique pull primates have over man.

Julie and Adam

A beautiful country - 17 March 2007

Well, we (with the help of the wonderful Steff) managed to get our Blog to take some photographs. So we can show you a few of our photographs from the expedition.

This was the view each morning as we climbed above the clouds on our way to the Gorillas. As you can see that particular morning it was not raining!



It makes us want to fly straight back!

Julie and Adam

Uganda and Rwanda - Chimps and Gorillas - 15 March 2008

Gorillas and Chimps Expedition - What an Adrenaline Rush!

Hello

We are just back from our expedition to Uganda and Rwanda. We are almost finished writing up the trip report which will go onto the site soon! We are having a little trouble with our server and unfortunately cannot upload our photographs as yet, GGGRRRRRR!

Highlights for our clients were:

1. Treking Chimps in Uganda for two days. The Chimps are really noisy and when moving along the floor of the rainforest they are always screaming to let each other know where they are and what they are doing. The photography was really difficult as the light is pretty poor but we managed to get some good shots of some of the males looking up from the jungle floor, staring in fact and waiting their turn with a female who was "in heat". Racing along to keep up with them on one particular day with bodies and lenses weighing us down was exhilarating and bloody hard work to say the least, but what fun and it certainly got the adrenaline pumping as much as watching a Lion kill.

2. Treking the Gorillas in Uganda for two days and THEN Rwanda for three days AS WELL. This was really hard work - I don't think our group will mind our saying we were not a group of Olympic athletes! But we were all determined to see what we had come for and we came, we saw, and we conquered those treks! Some days we think awards were deserved! It was all good fun though and the pictures our clients were able to get are really very impressive. We provided the opportunity, and they, to their credit, provided the rest.

Uganda Gorilla treks (2 treks): The second day was the hardest. It was raining, we had to cross a raging river, and the last climb was very hard. We eventually caught up with the Gorillas and to our delight the sun came out and we were treated to a wonderful display by the Silverback (yes, he beat his chest), some of the young and the entire family stretching out along a valley. We came back tired, wet but on a complete high! We also had the opportunity of photographing a group of Gorillas in the rain which was quite beautiful and serene.

Rwanda Gorilla treks (3 treks): This was much easier. The views were great and we all managed to get a good portfolio of really interesting shots. On our first trek, we were sitting more comfortably than usual on a bank looking down at a female and a baby when without any warning a blackback (young male Gorilla, but BIG) walked past the front of the group, brushing our legs, it then turned, took one look at Marian, decided she was the one and slapped her on her leg. Marian, if not all of us, will be telling this story for years. We all managed to do what we had been told to do in the briefing ie we kept remarkably quiet during what was a phenomenally exciting wildlife encounter but once we were out of the forest.... what a high!

Prize giving on the last night of our trip saw the overall prize for consistently good photographs from every trek going to Wendy. The prize being five yards of printing from Shutterspeed Travel's 24inch HP printer - this will allow Wendy to print poster size on art quality paper, we are looking forward to the results. Murray and Lisa also won prizes, but what goes on tour stays on tour!

A great, great trip. Please take a look back at this blog at Easter when hopefully our server issues will have been solved and the photos will be up here in the Blog. Our full trip report and the library database photos should be on the site then as well.

Julie and Adam

B&H New York - 3 February 2008

For those who are ever passing through New York, B&H is a photographic store that is as good as anything in the world. It's scale gets bigger each time we go. This afternoon they had 62, yes 62, staff working behind the counter giving advice and selling kit. The shop has some sort of conveyor system which takes goods from a warehouse, to the customer for checking, then to the exit where the kit is given to you [after you pay]. At about 3pm we counted 24 customers a minute being serviced. That is well over a thousand an hour. Despite all this speed, the service is good, the staff we met knew their stuff and we left very satisified.

We were only buying some small items of kit for our Uganda and Rwanda expedittion including Kata waterproof camera covers in case it is raining when we get to the Gorillas!

Julie and Adam

Thoughts on moving to Hasselblad - 26 January 2008

I have been a Canon SLR user for over 25 years, starting with a film camera called an AE1-Program, a fine robust camera. These were the days of manual winding and before auto-focus. I moved away from slide film to digital for our first expedition to Uganda and Rwanda back in 2005.

I have alway liked printing off my best shots. This started in the late 1970s with the Cibachrome printing process to today's very high quality inkjet printers. We have settled on an HP Z3100 for our large prints. This was reviewed on Luminous Landscape and received high praise. It is quite easy to use, and what we really like is trying out some of the really interesting matt papers.

For our recent expedition to DRC to photograph Bonobos, I took the [expensive] plunge and purchased a Hasselblad digital camera. My Canon digital cameras have 16.7 megapixels, the Hasselblad had 39. For me the key was giving more details AND more accurate colours.

So, after an expedition to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which was hot, humid and mucky, my initial thoughts:

Negative points:

1. The Hassey has only one autofocus sensor, while my Canon has 45 points
2. The Hassey's autofocus is much slower and less sure than that of the Canon
3. The Hassey has limited exposure options
4. The Hassey is not really built for our sort of outdoor expeditions. Opening the flap to insert a memory card reveals bare circuit board. Combine this with rain and I would expect to see some smoke! It does not have the same sort of seals that the Canon professional models have.
5. No really long lenses are made [as yet] for the Hassey. The longest is 300mm, which is roughly the same as a 240mm on a Canon.
6. You need lots of memory! I was using three 8Mb cards a day!
7. No image-stabilisation on the lenses.
8. Limited ISO range, a maximium speed of 400ASA.

The Positives:

1. A fantastic viewfinder which is really bright.
2. When I was able to take shots without camera shake the quality is absolutely outstanding and the detail recorded is extraordinary. I am able to produce prints 24" wide and 40" high with colours that have real impact and amazing detail. To me far, far better than my Canons.

So overall I am really pleased. We are off to Uganda and Rwanda in a few weeks which will really test the Hassey and me. I will be reporting back!

Adam

Travel tip for DRC; One Dollar notes - 21 January 2008

The Democratic Republic of Congo has a few surprises, even for experienced travellers. To our amazement one Dollar bills are not generally accepted by anyone! Five Dollar bills and above are fine, but not singles! No real idea why this is the case. Perhaps fear of forgeries? Anyone who knows why, let us know!

Julie and Adam

Bonobo photographs - 20 January 2008

As you will see from the site, we have now processed most of our photographs from our Congo expedition and are pretty happy with what we produced. If you go to the home page of our site you will find a link to the trip report from the Congo and also a selection of photographs for your perusal. We really were bowled over by the trip, the country, the reserve and the Bonobos. Absolutely amazing.

Adam has been busy printing of some large prints from the HP Z3100 printer for our gallery. We have moved away from gloss paper and currently are using Hahnemuhlephoto rag paper. This has matt finish, but with texture. The paper really suits some of the darker and moody portraits which Adam really likes producing.

Julie and Adam

Bonobo heaven - 4 January 2008

After all his passport adventures, Adam was glad to arrive in Kinshasa on Saturday evening. Julie and Jean collected him from the airport and drove straight to camp. Tip for other travellers to DRC; bring your yellow fever certificate as they do want to see it. The last time Adam was required to show his certificate was in Tanzania over 20 years ago.

Anyway, we have been shooting non-stop for the past five days. Highlights for us have been:

1. We spent a few hours this morning tracking a small group of Bonobos. This was quite hard going as the jungle is very dense and thick. However being able to shoot these fantastic animals in their natural habitat was very special.



2. Taking shots from one of the local bateau (or boat) is great. Some of the Bonobos come down to drink, some to wash and some to play. We found a place where the bravest wade up to their necks to get to the other side.



3. Simply observing the Bonobos behavior is wonderful. Their play, the youngsters running round and chasing each other, endless sex, feeding and grooming. It is like a combination of East Enders, Dallas and other soap operas - high drama with lots of high pitched squealing.



The internet speed here is too slow to post our shots on the blog, but we will produce a trip report which we will post to the site and we will will also update the onsite database with additional photos.

This trip has been surprisingly tough on equipment. No dust, hard knocks or rain to contend with but the humidity is very high and some of the Bonobos are in the habit of throwing mud, fleas and other muck at us as we try to take shots.

Great trip, excellent charity which is doing much to support the cause of Bonobos in DRC and hopefully some great photos.

Julie and Adam