Wildlife Photography Course
Images & Text by Finlay MacDonald, Age 11

They say a picture tells a thousand words.
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Having never been on safari before I was keen to learn how to properly capture those exciting moments with my new camera. So when Anne-Marie told me that there was a photography course I was keen to take part!

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That night I met Andrew. The man that would be teaching me how to make the most out of my camera and use it properly. An enthusiastic teacher with the patience of a saint!

In the morning instead of going out with the rest of my group (my mum and my little brother), I headed out with Andrew in our own private vehicle and got a one to one session with him.

The thing he said that he thought was the most important was composition. Let the animal walk into the frame. This means that if the animal is facing right put it on the left and if facing left put it on the right. We were lucky enough to be able to see the wild dogs as one of our first animals and I managed to capture some great shots due to Andrew’s help. We then went on to see two lions taking an power nap next to the leftovers of their breakfast feast, an unfortunate buffalo. Other sightings included giraffes, a warthog and a guinea fowl in tree. What a morning!

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I enjoyed my first session so much that I asked Andrew if he could take me out a second time but in the evening. So the next evening Andrew came with my family and taught me about night time photography. For example – what to put my ISO to and how to use the camera with artificial light created by the vehicle’s spotlight. We were very lucky with our finds as we saw a brown hyena with the remnants of a zebra in it’s mouth. We also saw a herd of elephants out on an evening stroll with their newly born calf and two lions that had just killed a wildebeest. This was especially exciting as we had tried to track them down earlier that evening but when they saw Jenna, our amazing guide, they darted off.

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I had a brilliant time with Andrew and extremely enjoyed my stay at Jaci’s Lodge!

Finlay MacDonald (age 11)

Edinburgh, Scotland

Visited Oct 2016

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