Uploads from Zul Bhatia1, with geodata

Runner, Regent's Park

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:26:47 -0700

One of my favourite places to visit in London is Regent's Park. The herons there are really tame as a few people feed them and there is a lot of other wildlife that is quite approachable too.

I had been there a few hours and decided to have a change from wildlife and snap a few candids of joggers / runners. There is a lot of hit and miss of course and no time to compose shots as they whizz past, but I quite like this one with her look of concentration and totally unaware of the photographer, Taken at the 400mm end of the 100-400 lens at 1/640s

Klipspringer pair, Serengeti NP

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 14:35:36 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

Near Lobo Lodge, northern Serengeti, Tanzania. These were very obliging animals, often posing for us albeit briefly

Klipspringer silhouette

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Sat, 01 Jun 2013 13:35:12 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

One of the highlights of our safari to the northern part of Serengeti NP is that Klipspringers are relatively common here, often perching on top of roadside rocks such as here. Such beautiful animals, although you can see any detail in this shot!

RSPB Lochwinnoch volunteers

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Sun, 26 May 2013 01:55:42 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

At the Nature Reserve where I work, we are blessed with 100+ different volunteers each year. Quite a few are Zoology students at Glasgow University, so when I was photographing their graduation ball last week, it was a rare opportunity to get a group shot, because of course they all have different times and days when they come in to the reserve to help. A couple of the ones who were at the ball could not be found when I was taking this photo, so this is not even all of them.

Thank you to those pictured (Louise, Craig, Ryan,Claire, Agnieszka, Sam & Rosanna) as well as the many, many others from Glasgow Uni that have helped us out. You are all inspiring young people and I wish you all the best for your futures. One of these has already landed a job with RSPB.

Graduation Ceilidh, Glasgow

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:58:23 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

I have been the official photographer at two Glasgow University Graduation Balls in the last week. A very hectic time, but very rewarding. I enlisted the help of one of our sons, Omar and he enjoyed it too. He was surprised how 'hot' the science graduands were!!

We set up a mobile studio and were busy for much of the evening there, but as there were two of us, I was also able to capture some of the dancing action. It was very challenging as the area was dimly lit, action was fast and furious and there were so many people on the dance floor.

Redpoll, Lochwinnoch

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Sun, 19 May 2013 07:11:01 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

The redpolls in the garden have been amazing. There are usually a few around at times, but last week (when I was away down south) my wife Jenny counted 32!!! Even today, there must have been at least 15 with some stunning breeding-plumaged males too. The males acquire their red / pink through feather tip wear / abrasion (rather than moult), so they are highly variable even at this time of the year.

I repositioned the niger feeder next to this Rhus typhina (Sumach) and was able to get pics at the minimum focus distance of my 100-400 lens (just under 3m). As the tree is in a pot, I was able to manoeuvre it to give me an uncluttered background. The most distracting things in this part of the garden are the large number of tulips which Jenny planted last spring. I didn't think she would take it too kindly if I razed them to the ground when she was away (gone to Eigg with a few friends).

Redpolls were everywhere including less than a foot from me! I concentrated my lens on a small part of the tree.

Nana, African jewellery

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:02:03 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

I first met Nana at an event in Glasgow a few years ago. We swapped contact details and kept in 'light touch' via Facebook. She is Iranian and has very striking eyes and I thought she would make a great jewellery model and she was.

This shoot was to show off some African jewellery that I buy when in Africa and my wife Jenny sells to raise money for a Tanzanian charity that she volunteered for when we lived there. We have such a large collection of jewellery, fabrics and crafts that we are planning to have a big (hopefully!) fundraiser in the summer and sell a lot. Our son Omar will be selling some of his art and giving a commission to the charity. I will sell some wildlife prints too. I will invite all the models and if you live nearby, I hope you can come too.

The colours on the bracelets are of the Tanzanian flag.

King eider, Aberdeen-shire

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Fri, 10 May 2013 14:02:06 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

Last week I gave a talk to the Deeside Camera Club. One of the highlights was having several distinguished world-class scientists in the audience, the most famous being Hans Kruuk. It was Hans who studied the spotted hyaena in the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania at night and discovered that they kill more of their own prey than lions did and that lions often scaveged off them! Until then, hyaenas were just thought off as just scavengers. After the talk, Hans came up and thanked me for the talk (about Tanzania) and we had a brief chat. It was an honour to meet him. I had known of his work and read many of his papers over many years. I also discovered that the just retired, legendary Glasgow Uni Professor of Zoology, David Houston, was one of Hans's students!

I stayed the night with an old friend / ex-volunteer of mine, Harry Scott, and we went birding the next day. What should we stumble across on the Ythan Estuary but this beautiful male king eider! Years since I had seen one and this one was within photographic range too!

Rameet, African jewellery

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:36:12 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

Rameet has featured on several of my photos and I had a shoot with her recently. See www.flickr.com/photos/zulbhatia/8692640157/in/photostream

Rameet kindly modelled some African jewellery that I buy when in Africa and my wife Jenny sells to raise money for a Tanzanian charity that she volunteered for when we lived there. We have such a large collection of jewellery, fabrics and crafts that we are planning to have a big (hopefully!) fundraiser in the summer and sell a lot. Our son Omar will be selling some art and giving a commission to the charity and I will sell some wildlife prints too. I will invite all the models and if you live nearby, I hope you can come too. I shall be posting the odd photo from my little project to show off the jewellery over the coming weeks.

Here Rameet has really piled on the jewellery! Her brother cropped it a bit and she put it on her Facebook. It got 318 'likes'!

This photo is straight out of camera with no cropping or any adjustments made at all. Wouldn't it be nice if they all turned out like that?

Little bee-eater, Serengeti NP

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Sun, 05 May 2013 11:54:16 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

Common and widespread in Tanzania in small numbers, nevertheless they are stunning birds and this individual was particularly colourful and allowed a very close approach by our vehicle.

Pity about the branch above it's head. I know I could go in to Photoshop and remove, but this is what I saw!

This one was taken in the Northern Serengeti, not far from Lobo Lodge.

Rameet

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 11:24:13 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

Rameet has featured in my photostream several times as I have been photographing her for over four years. She was in the shortlist of Miss Scotland (but pulled out because she didn't want to pose in swimwear), became the Miss India Scotland last year and recently flew off to Mumbai to film in a Bolywood movie! She wanted some fresh pictures, so we had a shoot yesterday. It was a hoot!

Her brother, himself an up and coming singer was up for a few photos too. Their mother was also present, as was a stylist. I like this particular photo as it demonstrates her (& my!) liking for bright colours and is a fun photo. She also absolutely rocked some African jewellery that I asked her to model, but more of that later.

Spotted hyaena, Serengeti NP

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:42:34 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

Early one morning, we were treated to the classic scene of lions at a kill surrounded by a few hyaenas trying to get in on the act.

It was widely believed that the lion was the King of the Beasts and that hyaenas were scavengers. A Dutch scientist (Hans Kruuk) studied the hyaenas at night (mainly in the Ngorongoro Crater) and discovered that the hyaenas killed probably more than the lions, but were driven off their prey by the lions! Bad reputations stick though and many people still despise hyaenas!

Southall, London

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 13:53:32 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

Southall is an amazing part of London to visit, with a very high population of people from the Indian sub-continent. As my sister lives in nearby West Ealing, I have been to Southall many times. It's great sampling the various foods, popping in to shops / bazaars and just people watching. Always busy and very colourful.

This picture is a candid, of course - a genre I am very fond of.

Nuthatch, Ayrshire

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 07:40:12 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

Been very busy at work, as two colleagues have left and I have a lot of extra end of the year tasks too. But I had today off (first Saturday for nine weeks!) and it was a beautiful day too.

Got up very early (before 6am) and headed down to Rozelle Park with my friend Pauline with the primary aim of photographing nuthatches. Wasn't easy and they played us a merry song and dance at times. We watched them mating a couple of times (too distant to photograph) and we managed some nice close shots too. I like this one particularly. Because it was sunny, exposures were tricky to avoid burnout, so some compensation was necessary. This has resulted in quite a dark background. No Photoshop here and hardly any cropping.

Nuthatches are such stunning birds and it's great to see them colonising this part of Scotland so rapidly.

Black-headed heron, Serengeti NP

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:12:50 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

An ID trap for the unwary as it is the size and looks of a grey heron (which is also common in Tanzania) but clearly distinguished in this picture by the black head and hindneck contrasting markedly with the white throat and foreneck.

It is also well known for occurring in much drier habitats than grey heron and often found far from water.

Here's one in flight www.flickr.com/photos/zulbhatia/6726749305/in/set-7215762...

Mother & baby hippo, Tanzania

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:51:28 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

One of the highlights of our Northern Tanzania safari is a visit to the Retima Hippo pool in the Serengeti NP.

Numbers at the pool vary significantly between years (even though we go in the same month [February]. I am assuming it depends on how much other watery habitat is available nearby and therefore how dispersed they are . In 2013, there were at least 300 present - probably the highest number I have ever seen there. They are all concentrated in a very small area, so there is lots of action and 'banter'. Despite the powerful 'dungy' smell, the belching, farting and throwing of their dung about by their tails swishing vigourously as they go (the hippos, I mean), it is still a very popular excursion as they are so amusing to watch.

Here we have a mother and baby. Isn't the baby cute?

Lioness and buffalo, Ngorongoro Crater

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 12:18:35 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

On the face of it it looks like the lioness is stalking the buffalo with a view to a kill, but in actual fact the lioness is trying to get back to eating from a kill (also buffalo) that the buffalo herd have disturbed her off! This was a perfect opportunity to get this sort of shot as just beyond the lion is a small drop (small river there) which makes her stand out and the buffalos are on lower ground. The 390mm focal length has compressed the perspective too.

Lions do of course kill buffalos (which are much,much heavier than lions), particularly here in the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. They do this by hunting co-operatively and often at night

Lilac-breasted roller, Tanzania

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 08:54:59 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

A stunning bird and quite common & widespread in Tanzania. After the first couple of days, people stop thinking it's anything special!

Still difficult to get close to for photography of course, but this one stayed put as we got nearer and nearer in the vehicle at Tarangire NP

Amanda, Electric Frog

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:40:34 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

Over the course of doing club-type events in Glasgow, I have got to know the make-up artists from Smujj quite well and they are very tolerant of me snapping away.

It makes a change from the darkness, very loud music, smoke and strobes of the DJs and live bands too!

The Traynor Sisters

nobody@flickr.com (Zul Bhatia1) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:17:58 -0700

Zul Bhatia1 posted a photo:

Another one from the Easter Electric Frog event. These two are sisters of the main organiser, Brian. The three of them are very nice people indeed and it's always a pleasure to meet up with them again.

A great weekend, although I did feel knackered on Monday night after getting to bed just before 3am on Sunday night and working on Easter Monday when the reserve was absolutely mobbed with 100+ children enjoying our Easter Eggstravaganza activities!