Toronto Photography Meetup Group

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... onths.html

Wildlife photographer Greg du Toit was so determined to capture the perfect image of wild lions drinking he sat submerged in their watering hole for three months.

Balls of steel I tell you

The lions don't scare me as much as the parasites and worms.

talk about perseverence and dedication. What I can't understand is why a raft/blind set up couldn't work.
Most parasites aren't bad if you diagnose them in time. I once drank well water in Mali for a week under the mistaken belief it was being filtered properly. I discovered from the filter owner that he had borrowed the filter from his sister before he left. he had no idea these filters had to be changed. He had no idea when/if it had ever been changed as his sister was away at the time he borrowed it.
Parasites, ameobic dysentary and few other scary things were treatable. Perhaps this guy should have got himself tested BEFORE it got to the point that he pee'd blood. yuck.

I thought that was kinda dumb. He could have worn a nice thick rubber suit or find some way to properly insulate himself. He could have built something in the middle of the watering hole.

Yeah, a nice thick rubber suit in the African savannah is what he needed. He would've died of heat exhaustion way before the lions got to him.

He would have been fine since he was submerged in water. My point was he shouldn't have needed to risk his life for photographs.

The SOB was lucky that that watering hole did not have crocs or alligators as well!

I admire his dedication but what's wrong with using a motion trigger sensor?

Think the water temp would have been pretty warm. That's way beyond what I would do for pictures, but then again I don't do it for a living.

It's a watering hole... no crocs there

feh. watering hole? no crocs?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

Some parts of Africa the prevalence of schistosomiasis is around 80%.

This guy seems to possess more chutzpah than brains. Thank God he made it home alive.

I wonder why a long lens on the other side of the watering pool set way down low wouldn't work pretty much the same? It is only 20 sq meters big. Kudos to him, very nice shots.

LOL, maybe he could only afford a 70-200. Honestly, you'd have to be crazy (apparently we know he is) to submerge yourself into a scummy watering hole.

With a wetsuit you get wet so not much protection against micro size parasites getting you. He'd have to wear a drysuit and in that heat, he'd probably pass out from heat exhaustion. Heck I start feeling overheated on a dive boat up here in a dry suit. I can't imagine being in one in 40+

There was something in the article about the lions recognizing the human form, something they would presumably do if one was on a platform. Dunno...

That was not a watering hole.

That's why I suggested lying down on a raft behind a blind. He spent several hours trying to get the shot and couldn't figure out a better way. Mind you he may have been in a remote place without access to building materials for a raft and he may have shown up unprepared unable to return to get what he required. Determination, perseverance, and parasites.

The second line of the article states that he tried blinds and digging trenches but none of that worked.

yes, but not a blind lying down on a raft on the water. l suspect he didn't have access to anything that could be fashioned in to a floating device. Or he didn't want to lay out in the hot African sun for that long.

love all the advice people are giving based on experience doing this sort of thing... ;P

true, and the guys is probably pretty experienced at this. However, the result was him picking up a bunch of nasty things along the way.

I would have gone with a remote controlled boat with a camera mount to float into the water and take pics from the comfort of his van or blind 200 feet away. I think his dedication overtook precaution in this case. Some people are just like that.

Touch

what is wrong with a long usb connect to a laptop with live view and hide in a cage nearby much safer that way. I admire his work though but there are smarter way of doing so I think

hee hee yes, it is easy to be an armchair critique.
That said, the photographer was setup in the Rift Valley of Kenya. I have been camping in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia and photographed crocs and hippos in lakes there. Hippos claim more lives than the big cats do. I only had a 70 - 200 lens - talk about unprepared but it was the best gear I had at the time. I did so from the safety of a motorised boat but I would never have crawled in to the fetid waters of the Great Rift lakes or rivers. I suspect he arrived unprepared to do the task for that specific shot (something he conceived of while he was there). Once there, he did not have access to the materials he needed. There's no Henry's or Home Hardware in the Rift Valley.
Actually this post reminded me of a videographer I met when I was down there. He was setup in a small village without any electricity near the Omo River. He walked around wearing only short shorts and a bandana and was body painted in mud. He had his video cam on a tripod and video'ed himself engaged in various local activities i.e. swinging from a rope in to the river with local boys, 'renting' cattle from locals so that he could attempt to run on the backs of cattle lined up for him (a local Hamer marriage rite) and even drinking river water from a dried gourd ect. We dubbed him Tarzan but I have no idea of he is still alive. When I read about the photographer in the OP I immediately thought of our Belgian Tarzan.

My take is completely different. From the article I get the feeling the photographer is very experienced and knowledgable and tried a number of conventional things that just didn't get him the shots that he wanted. Its one thing to hide in a blind while animals are out and about but from watching nature documentaries they are especially wary when drinking. This photographer just happens to be the type of person willing to do anything to get that perfect shot.

"Wildlife photographer Greg du Toit was so determined to capture the perfect image of wild lions drinking he sat submerged in their watering hole for three months.
The defiant photographer had endured a year of failed attempts at getting the right picture after building hides and digging trenches near the animals' drinking spot.In a final desperate effort, the 32-year-old decided to take the plunge and climb into the murky pool with his camera and ended up contracting several tropical diseases."

Perhaps. We all see the world through different eyes. He may have been experienced, but even the most experienced can be unprepared. When I was in southern Ethiopia far from any store let alone any form of electronic communication I met many experienced photogs and travellers lamenting a few things they'd wished they'd brought. This guy may have been prepared for 99% of the shots he took. Maybe prepared for 100% of the shots he envisioned he'd take when he arrived. I suspect he just wasn't prepared for the shot he could have died attempting. Maybe it was something he conceived when he was there and realised he was unprepared for it. I was swayed in to thinking he was unprepared for the shot at hand because he had neither a flotation device or brought blinds. He had to build the blinds himself. The other factor that lead me to that conclusion was the naivete he had towards the possible medical conditions he was afflicted with. I am no expert on either tropical diseases or wildlife photography but if inflicted with visible worms I would definitely have taken better precautions, behaved differently (avoided submerging myself) and definitely would have sought out medical attention long before I started to piss blood.

Either way we are reading a third party account. With a brief account like this one, we essentially are given a few dots and are left to try to connect them the best we can. Who knows how much embellishment was done after the fact to increase his image either by his own account of the experience or the media that sensationalizes to sell copy. But you're right. One can clearly envision him being very experienced.

I wonder if he thought of the possibly tragic irony while digging the ditch - that it may also be his own grave. I don't imagine being caught in a ditch by a pride of wild cats is the best place to be.
He's a lucky guy with big cojones.

As quoted and bolded above, the guy had already been trying for 1 year, and had tried all sorts of other methods.

I see what he's trying to get at, and I can't think of another method to do the same without leaving yourself exposed to a 200lb predator... yum, meat on a raft

The look he's going for is special, you cannot get a water-level shot without being just above the water. Every inch higher changes the look considerably.