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Archive 2015 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

eyelaser
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

Many of you have seen the whole sequence but there are enough newer members that might have missed this series and just like Nat Geo Wild...reruns, reruns, reruns....so here is the whole sequence (we have video too but I'll save that for another snowy Sunday). If I was ever hoping to get something in Nat. Geo this would have been it...next lifetime

We started watching this guy at about 7:30 am and the least occurred about 11:30...not too much in between. The instigating factor that lead to the leap was a small mixed herd of impala and kudu coming to feast on the red flowers that fell at the base of the tree. As the sun rose in the sky the temperatures sky rocket and to get out of the heat of the safer but scorched plains they head for the shade of the trees....the last few seconds of this sighting were about the most tension filled I'd ever experienced...knowing I had but one shot at this. This was photographed with a Canon 1D2, 70-200 2.8 back in 2007. So the close ups of the leopard on the kudu are heavy crops which hold up ok for an 8 mpx camera. And to allay any fears, no one was hurt in the making of these images except maybe for the leopard's ego.
Eric

1 Male leopard in tree staying out of the heat
http://eyelaser.smugmug.com/photos/i-8K96v6z/0/X2/i-8K96v6z-X2.jpg

2 Leap
http://eyelaser.smugmug.com/photos/i-tDpw49X/0/X2/i-tDpw49X-X2.jpg

3 Leap 2nd image
http://eyelaser.smugmug.com/photos/i-95zZtFQ/0/X2/i-95zZtFQ-X2.jpg

4 Leap 3rd image
http://eyelaser.smugmug.com/photos/i-xhsqnZn/0/X2/i-xhsqnZn-X2.jpg

5 Successful landing
http://eyelaser.smugmug.com/photos/i-g6hpMKq/0/X2/i-g6hpMKq-X2.jpg

6 Houston we have a problem...picking the biggest kid in the playground to bully is not smart
http://eyelaser.smugmug.com/photos/i-fFgLD2C/0/X2/i-fFgLD2C-X2.jpg

Feb 22, 2015 at 09:20 AM

morris
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

This is a delight to view again Eric. Your patience paid off, I don't know if I could have waited for this to happen.

Morrs

Feb 22, 2015 at 09:26 AM

David Leask
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

Awesome! Thanks Eric

David

Feb 22, 2015 at 02:51 PM

JimLittle
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

Amazing series!!

Feb 22, 2015 at 03:11 PM

birdied
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

Never tire of seeing this wonderful series ! Great work Eric.

Birdie

Feb 22, 2015 at 03:17 PM

arbitrage
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

Great series Eric. You are one patient guy to wait this out for an entire day. Are you sure NG doesn't want this?

TFS
Geoff

Feb 22, 2015 at 04:59 PM

Doug Maclean
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

The first shot is a great photograph.The others are a great chronicle of a really cool and timeless scene played out in the wild time after time.But not great photographs in the "technical" sense.In the interesting holy crap sense they are amazing.Love them,My 2 cents

Doug M

Feb 22, 2015 at 06:58 PM

Plinian
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

Wow, Eric! I guess I must be a newer member because I don't recall having seen these before. Series whole is definitely greater than the sum of parts; the narrative definitely adds to the overall impact.

Is that a termite mound?

Greg

P.S. Still not sure what a "least" is. I thought you meant "feast", but after seeing the last one in the set, I wonder if there's a sequel.

Feb 22, 2015 at 08:15 PM

ScottHM
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

Glad there are reruns...sometimes you miss the classics if you don't get a second chance.

Feb 22, 2015 at 09:30 PM

surfnron
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

Still amazing Eric ~ Ron

Feb 22, 2015 at 11:38 PM

kmunroe
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

surfnron wrote:
Still amazing Eric ~ Ron

Feb 23, 2015 at 04:42 AM

eyelaser
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

Thanks everyone! It was truly a once in a lifetime sighting and was thrilled to have captured it. There were so many issues in trying to get the photograph including the backlighting, the foliage in front of the diving cat, the distance and trying to capture the whole scene knowing that there was going to be a significant loss of detail when cropping in at the end. I was shooting with a Canon 1D2 at that time and at 8mp knew I was going to be somewhat challenged but at the same time was thrilled that it was able to track through the trees and give me decent focus. The fps rate was pretty good for that time period but still, in the days of 10-12 fps I would have been able to get quite a few more frames...c'est la vie. There was nothing I could do about the back lighting and even with today's photoshop I am unable to make these images look substantially better. The ultimate accolade I have gotten in the past is that people were sure this whole scene was photoshopped! To this day, I have yet to see a similar photo published and count my lucky stars to have been there and had the patience to wait it out.
Eric

Feb 23, 2015 at 08:13 AM

bnelson
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

Super action series
brad

Feb 23, 2015 at 08:30 AM

eyelaser
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

bnelson wrote:
Super action series
brad

Thanks....4 1/2 hours of fishing and 1.5 seconds of catching

Eric

Feb 23, 2015 at 09:58 PM

skibum5
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

wow

(btw, my single spotting of a leopard could be imagine like your first shot.... only with the bushes covering everything other than for a single spot

So I've seen a leopard's spot, not sure if that counts as having seen a leopard or not

)

Feb 23, 2015 at 10:49 PM

dallvr
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

Amazing sequence!!!

Feb 24, 2015 at 06:54 PM

cmxchuck
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

WOW, wonderful set. Thanks for sharing

Feb 24, 2015 at 07:04 PM

eyelaser
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Safari Sunday...It came from above

skibum5 wrote:
wow

(btw, my single spotting of a leopard could be imagine like your first shot.... only with the bushes covering everything other than for a single spot

So I've seen a leopard's spot, not sure if that counts as having seen a leopard or not

)

Thanks and sorry you didn't manage to see a complete cat...good excuse for a return visit though!
---------------------------------------------

dallvr wrote:
Amazing sequence!!!

Thank you...It is quite fascinating what happens and most of the time we are not there to witness or document it.
---------------------------------------------

cmxchuck wrote:
WOW, wonderful set. Thanks for sharing
Many thanks....it was and still is a memorable sighting.

Eric

Feb 25, 2015 at 07:48 AM


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