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2013-04-03 13:07:46 (6 comments, 4 reshares, 45 +1s)

On Safari in the Masai Mara, Kenya.

For #elephantwednesday  curated by +Louisa Catharine Forsyth, +Diego Cattaneo and +Matthias Haeussler 

2013-04-03 13:08:14 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 39 +1s)

Cheetah Spray These two cheetahs, a mother and son, could do no more than sit out one of the heaviest downpours I'd ever seen.

For #wildlifewednesday  curated by +Mike Spinak  and +Morkel Erasmus 

2013-04-04 17:04:33 (12 comments, 7 reshares, 73 +1s)

Just a giraffe. Simplicity shines.

For #africantuesday curated by +Dick Whitlock  +Grobler du Preez and +Morkel Erasmus and for #wildkenya  curated by +Guy Dekelver 

2013-03-31 15:55:35 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

It's a bit annoying that Google+ profile cover pictures look fine in a web browser, but it gets cropped down on the iPad / iPhone. For example mine looks fine on a browser, but the head and tail are cut off on the iPad / iPhone.

2013-03-31 14:32:54 (9 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

I've posted to a couple of Google+ Communities for the first time. It seems that you can only post to one community at a time, unless I repeat post for each of theme, which means I get a double posting in my timeline (and maybe yours too). That doesn't seem right, unless I am missing something. Anyone?

2013-03-29 19:23:39 (10 comments, 3 reshares, 47 +1s)

Once you've experienced it, there's nothing quite like an elephant's eye looking into your own.
D800E & 70-200mm f/2.8. 1/640, f/4.0, ISO 1600

2013-03-29 19:23:58 (7 comments, 5 reshares, 59 +1s)

These lion cubs were watching their mothers hunt. While families of lions are known as prides I'd advocate that a group of young ones be referred to as a crèche as it seems so appropriate. They're of the Marsh Pride and took it one morning last month while on a ten day trip in the Masai Mara.
Nikon D800E & 400mm f/2.8. 1/400th, f/2.8, ISO 200

2013-03-29 20:11:48 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Many late nights have resulted in this, a design makeover for my website. I've now full screen gallery slideshows and print buyers should now get a better idea of what a print looks like.
See what you think of it at davidlloyd.net

2013-03-06 12:26:29 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 52 +1s)

If the lion is the king of beasts then the leopard is the king of cool. Here is just one of several from last month in Kenya.

For #wildlifewednesday curated by +Mike Spinak and +Morkel Erasmus 

2013-01-19 15:06:31 (14 comments, 17 reshares, 100 +1s)

London Snow Yesterday I went down to Richmond Park (I live nearby) to take advantage of the falling snow. After nothing after half an hour of walking around I found a herd of about twenty stags. The snow continued to fall and I was able to spend some three or four hours with them.
#snow #deer #richmondpark  

2012-12-05 18:29:41 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 40 +1s)

Rhino in Charge This rhino did not like our vehicle in its presence, so what began with a little trot towards us became a charge, albeit it a bluff one, as he held up as soon as he was close. Close enough though. This was the last picture of a sequence and is full frame uncropped. Needless to say, we left him be immediately afterwards.

For #wildlifewednesday curated by +Morkel Erasmus and +Mike Spinak

2012-12-05 20:49:04 (21 comments, 17 reshares, 75 +1s)

A Lion called Ron This is one of my favourite lion portraits and I feel it doesn't deserve languishing on my hard disk unseen anymore. It's the kind of wildlife portrait I like, simple and straightforward. Ron is one of Notch's sons.

For #africantuesday  curated by +Dick Whitlock, +Grobler du Preez and +Morkel Erasmus and for #wildkenya  curated by +Guy Dekelver 

2012-11-28 10:33:24 (10 comments, 4 reshares, 60 +1s)

One of the boys of the Mara for  #wildlifewednesday  
curated by +Mike Spinak and +Morkel Erasmus 

2012-11-26 12:55:44 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 43 +1s)

Mother Love: A cheetah with her last remaining cub, last month in the Masai Mara, Kenya. This mother had so much patience to endure the endless attention of her only cub.
#cheetah #cub #masaimara

2012-11-25 21:49:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Space is running thin now for places on my Masai Mara Great Migration Photo Safari next August. Follow this link to find out what we are offering...

2012-11-25 15:05:16 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 26 +1s)

This is a young Australian estuarine crocodile, about a foot and a bit long. It's captive, I took it while visiting Butterfly Creek in NZ last July. What struck me, apart from its cold clammy feel, was its jewel-like eyes.

2012-11-25 13:24:00 (4 comments, 6 reshares, 41 +1s)

A cheetah with her last remaining cub, last month in the Masai Mara, Kenya. This mother had so much patience to endure the endless attention of her only cub. Cheetah cubs have a mortality rate of up to 90% and occasionally a mother may even lose all of her litter. This one is a little older now, so hopefully it won't suffer the same fate as its siblings.
#cheetah #cub #masaimara

2012-11-22 19:07:05 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)

Here's an example of a picture from the Nikon D800E at ISO 5600 taken on a dark rainy day (with a 400mm f/2.8 + 1.4 converter @ 1/250 and f/4.8)

This camera is continuing to surprise me, I wasn't banking on performance at such high ISO's but as you can see, it's pretty good, it's not just about the crispness of the image but for its colour retention at high ISO's as well.

I've a little bit more about this camera on my website at davidlloyd.net/2012/11/16/nikon-d800e-400-vr/

#Nikon #D800E

2012-11-22 16:14:08 (5 comments, 5 reshares, 22 +1s)

Wetapunga! Giant wetas are among the world's largest insects, and last July I realised an ambition to photograph one on a visit to New Zealand. Wetas are common in New Zealand, giant wetas are rare, and of the several species of giant wetas, wetapunga are the largest.

I have more on the wetapunga including a short movie at my website at davidlloyd.net/2012/07/31/wetapunga/

2012-11-20 08:26:19 (9 comments, 3 reshares, 39 +1s)

An African Buffalo closeup. These old guys never bore me photographically, they're always offering creases, wrinkles, scars and character.
This picture illustrates a growth or something burrowing over his eye, which must make him even more irascible.

+African Tuesday curated by +Morkel Erasmus,
+Dick Whitlock and +Grobler du Preez  #africantuesday     

2012-11-19 12:14:12 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Recently I was able to bring together two long awaited Nikon items, a new Nikon D800E camera and a new 400mm f/2.8 VR telephoto. Here are my first impressions (with an unexpected surprise). #Nikon #D800E

2012-11-19 12:10:34 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 30 +1s)

More tusks, a black and white one this time. I'll never bore of elephants, the photographic possibilities are endless along with the fact that I could watch them forever. #elephant #tusks

2012-11-10 13:08:03 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 39 +1s)

The only place for this ornament is right here on the face of its original owner.

2012-11-09 14:31:52 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Join me to photograph the greatest wildlife spectacle on earth, the annual migration in the Masai Mara in Kenya in August 2013. We'll photograph river crossings where crocodiles lie in wait for the wildebeest to cross, elephant, leopard, lion and cheetah and if we’re lucky, black rhino.
We’ll stay in a private mobile camp, set aside especially for our group in what may well be the best location in the Masai Mara, right on one of the main river crossing points itself. Please follow the link below for details.

2012-09-18 23:29:07 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

New Website URL For what it’s worth, my website’s URL is now www.davidlloyd.net (it was www.davidlloyd.info). While any saved bookmarks should redirect to the new one, it would probably pay to update them anyway.

2012-09-12 19:42:04 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 31 +1s)

RIP Kwitonda - The sad news of today is that the lead silverback of Rwanda's Kwitonda group has died. Kwitonda was the first mountain gorilla I photographed in Rwanda in 2008. But having said that, he appeared to have died of natural causes, living to a good age of about 40 years. There's more on Kwitonda here at https://www.facebook.com/gorilladoctors

2012-08-22 17:12:58 (6 comments, 10 reshares, 60 +1s)

A young cheetah looks up to mum - one more for the cute cub theme. This is from last week's trip to the Masai Mara. This is for #wildlifewednesday  

2012-08-21 13:56:22 (4 comments, 4 reshares, 40 +1s)

Here is a wee leopard cub, trundling after mum during the last morning of our trip to the Masai Mara, taken just three days ago. It reflected a near identical experience of last year, where we also saw a wonderful leopard cub sighting, in similar light, on the last morning of our trip then.
For #africantuesday  curated by +Morkel Erasmus & +Johan Swanepoel 

2012-08-04 18:40:17 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 19 +1s)

Five wildlife photography tips you've never seen before: I’ve endeavoured to create a list that, hopefully for some of them anyway, you may not have encountered before. I hope you find it useful :)

2012-07-25 03:24:20 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 16 +1s)

Wetapunga ! This month I ticked a box and visited and photographed the wetapunga, or giant weta, in New Zealand. The wetapunga is said to be the heaviest insect in the world and can weigh anything up to 50 grams. It is the largest of the 11 species of giant weta, and of all the 100 plus species of weta endemic to New Zealand. This is my little memento.

2012-07-04 14:11:39 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 47 +1s)

Here's another African Buffalo for today's #wildlifewednesday
Because I cannot decide between the this one and the black and white one, I'll upload this as well. Which one do you prefer?

#wildlifewednesday  is curated by +Mike Spinak and +Morkel Erasmus 

2012-07-04 14:02:57 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 28 +1s)

An African Buffalo. Seeing as it's a popular subject for today's #wildlifewednesday  I thought I'd contribute my own. This was taken in the Masai Mara, Kenya in 2009.

#wildlifewednesday  is curated by +Mike Spinak and +Morkel Erasmus 

2012-06-01 10:50:50 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 26 +1s)

A Cheetah's Lookout Seeing a cheetah on an anthill in the late afternoon sun against a gunmetal sky just as this one was usually means a lot of pictures. But she never faced us once, and this was one of the rare views of her face that afternoon.
For some reason I decided to upload two pictures to 500px today :)
Follow this link to view at full size on 500px

2012-06-01 10:09:16 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 21 +1s)

A Cheetah's Sunset He was one of three brothers, and I caught him watching the sun go down one evening in the Masai Mara.
Follow this link to view at full size on 500px

2012-05-29 17:53:42 (13 comments, 11 reshares, 66 +1s)

A Leopard Cub While photographing an older male leopard in Kenya, this seven month old cub surprised us all by bundling out of the bushes having been called by the elder one, its brother as it happens, who was baby sitting while mother was out hunting. We were fortunate, cubs are seen infrequently, and I don't think there are too many things that are cuter than leopard cubs.

This is for #africantuesday which is curated by
+Morkel Erasmus and +Johan Swanepoel

2012-05-22 16:15:41 (7 comments, 4 reshares, 55 +1s)

Bedhead This male lion showed his displeasure as he popped his head up briefly from his sleep to see who we were. He was irritable and dishevelled so I called him Bedhead.

This is for #africantuesday
curated by +Morkel Erasmus and +Johan Swanepoel

2012-05-21 17:41:51 (12 comments, 6 reshares, 46 +1s)

Wildebeest Crossing Last August we witnessed a few wildebeest river crossings from near our camp in the Masai Mara. This one added a few elements like the maribu storks (with vultures if you look closely) and the morning mist. By mist I mean dust mostly, but it was 6:30am in the morning so there was still a little dampness around. It was dark too, and I had to use an ISO setting of 6400. I wouldn't have dared tried settings like that a few years ago. (BTW, I made this a 1200px wide image, so it's worth a click on.)

This is one for +Monochrome Monday #monochromemonday

2012-05-16 12:27:01 (8 comments, 6 reshares, 45 +1s)

A mother and calf, Masai Mara, Kenya, 2011. It was difficult to get a good clear sighting of her calf. This protective mother never let her little calf venture towards us, and eventually she shooed her away from us.

This is for #wednesdaywildlife curated by +Mike Spinak, and
#elephantwednesday curated by +Diego Cattaneo, +Louisa Catharine Forsyth and +Matthias Haeussler

2012-05-15 17:16:53 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 43 +1s)

Dead Acacias Here's one more for +African Tuesday, a Dead Vlei picture I took some three years ago in Sossusvlei, Namibia. I saw it as a challenge to make a black and white one after seeing so many (good) colour ones of the same place. I think it appears almost apocalyptic this way.

This is for #africantuesday
curated by +Morkel Erasmus and +Johan Swanepoel

2012-05-15 13:36:48 (13 comments, 13 reshares, 66 +1s)

Grooming Lions There were two young lions grooming each other within a pride of about twelve, then a far-off one noticed, wandered over, and put her own head right between those of these two. And those two duly obliged and carried on grooming the new arrival. All I really wanted now was this one to look right at me, and for the split second that she did, I took their picture.

This is for +African Tuesday curated by +Morkel Erasmus and +Johan Swanepoel #africantuesday

2012-05-11 19:37:03 (18 comments, 7 reshares, 66 +1s)

Sossusvlei Dune I guess I saw this as a challenge to make a black and white of a traditionally very colourful subject. Sossuslvlei, Namibia.

2012-05-10 18:13:30 (14 comments, 12 reshares, 86 +1s)

I note that it's Threatened Thursday today, so here's something that not everyone realises is threatened, the African Lion. Sadly we usually only realise that animals are endangered when it is almost too late. There were once 200,000 lions in the 1960s, and now there are only 20,000 today. It's the result of loss of habitat, conflict with human and livestock populations and the very preventable one of trophy hunting.

But with 20,000, hopefully it won't be too late, and organisations such as LionAid are making the public and our governments aware. So if you've a minute, do visit www.lionaid.org and see what they are doing to help.

#threatenedthursday

2012-05-09 12:53:15 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 15 +1s)

I'm on 500px at 500px.com/davidlloyd
This is the best way to get eyes on your pictures.

2012-05-09 04:31:40 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

Some recent appearances in various print media.

2012-05-09 04:24:18 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

Announcement: The Black & White Circle

Come Monday, I'll share my validated and revised Black & White Circle (BWC) with excellent photographers that produce great monochrome images. You don't want to miss that one.

If YOU want to hop on the B&W train, do the following:

1. Help spread the word and reshare this post. Why? If you think you should be promoted, you should be willing to do the same for your fellow photographers.

2. Ask for inclusion in the comments.

3. Make sure that you share your own original B&W photography in your feed. If there are too many reshares of other peoples' work, irrelevant YouTube clips, animated GIFS, blog post teasers etc., I might not add you to the circle. The BWC is a validated quality circle that should bring people... more »

2012-05-09 04:19:47 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

I'm on the other side too at facebook.com/davidlloyd.wildlifephotography

2012-05-03 20:52:40 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

A few of my B&W pictures are in the Telegraph today.