I first went to Botswana in September 1999 and made a promise to myself that one day I would return. After a six year absence I found myself back again, in November 2005. It all seemed rather familiar it's as though I'd never been away.
On my first visit I was using Minolta cameras and lenses, whilst I had no complaints about the equipment, it was however the thought of using Canons Image Stabilizer lenses that persuaded me to make a complete change. I am now a total dedicated Canon user. My other major change was to buy a Canon EOS 1D Mark 2 digital camera just before this trip. It was my intention to still go with film and my 2 EOS 1V cameras and to use the digital camera sparingly, after all I I'd hardly used it.
However because of the dry and dusty conditions I decided to use my digital camera, it was, to put it mildly, a steep learning curve, what's more I didn't expose a single roll of film. Despite the tough conditions with midday temperatures getting up to 115f 44c the country was desperate for rain, many of the animals were at the very edge of life. Needless to say in these conditions it's extremely uncomfortable for us humans, and at times taking photographs was almost impossible.
In these galleries you will see a selection of images taken from the following parks. Moremi, Kwai River Campsite, Savuti and Chobe. With regards to Chobe there was an outbreak of anthrax which controlled our movements, however we did manage to get to the Chobe river where we managed to photograph both birds and animals.
All my images were downloaded first into Raw Shooter then into Photoshop CS2.
© Barrie H Kelly
