The story behind the shot
As some will know Andy was fortunate to have received an honours award recently for two images in the Natures Best Photography Africa awards this year. News we were delighted to receive. One of which was this shot of a magnificent bull elephant as it strode toward a waterhole in Botswana.
So how did he get such a low angle shot, without endangering both the elephant and himself?.
Well, the story all starts back in the UK last year when Andy decided to develop his own remote camera, specifically to capture elephants. Granted remote cameras are nothing new to the photography world. Some photographers choosing to risk putting their camera uncovered on the ground and some contraptions that house a camera and are mobile, with electronic motors and wheels. Both having their own advantages and disadvantages.
With a plan in mind to photograph elephants from a low angle perspective he wanted to develop a housing that would not disturb the behavior of the animal, yet whilst protecting valuable camera equipment from a kick from 6 ton of elephant. So a balance of protection and subtly was needed.
Andy being an incredibly talented individual when it comes to practical matters disappeared one afternoon up to a local workshop he had use of. A few hours later he came back with a first prototype of his own custom built remote camera housing.
He started by forming several sheets of 1.5mm ply and laminated a number of sheets around a mold to create the top of the housing. The base was then fixed to the top housing with a mounting plate fixed inside set at certain degree to mount the camera. Then the rear access door was fitted along with the front panel. Internally the housing was sound deadened to reduce the noise of the shutter and the exterior painted with a natural color to blend into the environment. With a few careful calculations during the build process he designed the housing to take a load pressure of 2-tonnes. This would not withstand the full weight of an adult elephant but sufficient protection should any elephant chose to investigate the object.
In the field we were sensitive to the environment and also maintaining the elephants natural passage through the bush, rather than seeking a reaction from the elephant to the camera. He therefore placed the camera on the ground. Lowering it from our vehicle along elephant’s trails that crossed with the vehicle tracks. The camera was then triggered from a remote from inside our car which had a good range to enable us to park some way back from the elephant.
The result was as hoped, a low angle view of these incredible animals as they passaged to vital water sources. Granted not every shot worked, sometimes the camera having a few ‘focus’ issues. However, on the whole we ended up with a great catalogue of images for the first run. Each time after this Andy made tweaks to the camera settings until we were happy with the results. In nearly all cases the elephant happily marched past the camera with little reaction. Just on one or two occasions stopping to smell before continuing on.
Indeed the camera was put to the test when an elephant inadvertently clipped the housing, sending the housing and camera contained flying into the air. Causing no harm at all to the elephant, who barely seemed to have noticed!. The housing proved to withstand this, with just a small dent, to the side, although causing a little damage to the lens hood as it landed back on the ground and knocking out the auto focus. A moment we both held our breath as to what state the camera would be in when we retrieved it!
In all we were delighted with the results, in addition to achieving an ‘honour’ in the competition another image from our time with the camera will also be featured in the forthcoming ‘Remembering Elephants’ book. A showcase of beautiful images from over 60 wildlife photographers. A fabulous project raising vital funds to combat elephant poaching and one which we are hugely proud to be involved in. Please check here for more details of this project.
For more images taken with the remote camera please check out our African Elephants image gallery here