- Photographed both leopard and wild dog in Botswana - both lifetime ambitions!
- Treated myself to the new Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8 L IS II USM Lens
lens - mini review below - Created a Facebook page
- Have over 140 followers on my Twitter account
- Earned over £320 in microstock, 160% of my £200 target
- More prints available for purchase on Photobox
A huge thanks to friends and family whose positive encouragement has helped me tremendously.
Happy New Year!!!
Happy New Year!!!
Botswana/Zambia - October 2010
In October, I was lucky enough to go to Botswana, as well as pop into Zambia to see the Victoria Falls. You can see more of my photos on my Facebook page, but here are a couple of shots I'm happy with (except for the cropping on the first!):
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II USM
I've had the 70-200 F/4 non-IS lens for several years and it's been a great travel companion to some amazing places like Costa Rica, Namibia and the Arctic. It's light, relatively small and can generate superb quality images. However, it had its drawbacks for wildlife photography, predictably being lack of image stabilisation and only an f/4 maximum aperture. In wildlife photography, making the most of light is essential as it's often in low-light when animals are most active. In fact, I'd hired the soon-to-be-replaced Canon EF 300mm f/2.8 L IS USM Lens
for a couple of the trips (from the excellent Lensesforhire.co.uk).
for a couple of the trips (from the excellent Lensesforhire.co.uk).
The new Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8 L IS II USM Lens
wasn't cheap (I got it from Jacobs for £1700), but it's an amazing lens. The improved depth-of-field has been great and four stops of IS incredible. I use it on a EOS 40D, so am not really doing it justice, but in terms of an upgrade for wildlife photography, I couldn't recommend it highly enough.
wasn't cheap (I got it from Jacobs for £1700), but it's an amazing lens. The improved depth-of-field has been great and four stops of IS incredible. I use it on a EOS 40D, so am not really doing it justice, but in terms of an upgrade for wildlife photography, I couldn't recommend it highly enough.
Facebook Page
As part of trying to build a social media precence, I've created my own Facebook page, allowing a wider audience to see some of my photos. It's early days at the moment, but something I hope to develop next year.
Twitter is great and on numerous occassions, it's alerted me to something going on in London which I've popped out to photograph Feel free to follow me to keep-up with my photographic expolits...
Microstock
Well, my foray into microstock continues and it's not been too bad a year, beating my £200 annual target to earn £321.21. Of course it's not enough to give up my day job, but with a portfolio of between 60 and 100 photos on four main active sites, it certainly helps contribute towards near equipment. Here's the summary for 2010:
| ShutterStock* | $142.36 |
| iStockPhoto* | $188.82 |
| StockXpert | $15.28 |
| Dreamstime* | $50.06 |
| DepositPhotos* | $20.80 |
| BigStockPhoto* | $03.00 |
| TOTAL ($USD) | $420.32 |
| Fotolia* | £41.00 |
| TOTAL (£1=$1.50) | £321.21 |
| % of £200 target | 160.60% |
