Monkeys at Ranthambore National Park - Rajasthan, India
My trip to Ranthambore National Park was an incredible experience. Though i unfortunately missed seeing any wild Tigers i got to see a number of other wild animals in their natural habitat. Due to weight restrictions i opted against taking my large telephoto as i couldn't justify the significant weight for limited use.
Getting the right balance of photography gear vs versatility is a challenge. The other challenge i faced on this trip was that i had been suffering from some significant lower back pain in the weeks leading up to this trip around Rajasthan so i made a choice to travel as light as i could with just the one DSLR body and three lenses. The lense I ended up using for about 70% of my shots was the 50mm F1.4 which is an incredible lense. The other two lenses i brought on the trip was my 14mm aspherical fish-eye and a versatile 28-70mm F2.8 Sigma EX series zoom.
This shot of a mother and her young offspring was taken on the 50mm as the Monkeys stayed remarkably still as the Canter bus rolled alongside.
This is a shot from about a while ago when hiking in the Porongerup Ranges in the South West of Western Australia. The Porongerup Ranges are right next door to the more famous Stirling Ranges though without the crowds and just as equally beautiful. There are some challenging hikes that are of about 4 - 5 hours return to the summit. It was on my way down from the highest peak that i twisted my ankle quiet badly.
The bad part of this was obvious. I was about an hour and a half walking away from the car with a twisted ankle and a 8kg Camera backpack as well. The good part came to me when rolling on the ground in pain i saw these flowers below hanging to the edge of the "cliff" from a ground perspective. I thought the square* composition suited the image.
* I also had to crop the image as the pain in my ankle clearly left me slightly delusional and the horizon was crooked.