SanDisc 2021 – Sacred Nature – with Kickstarter for issuu

Share Your World Sacred Nature: A Photographer’s Guide

by Jonathan and Angela Scott

Share Your World with SanDisk Extreme Team

All photos by Jonathan and Angela Scott Graphic design: HĂĽkan Andersson Text editor: Laura Graf All images and text in this book are under International Copyright Legislation.

Any violation of the International Copyright Legislation will be reported to the International Court of Justice of International Copyright Legislation

Share Your World There are 8,475 languages spoken around the world but there is only one language when it comes to photography – it's called the joy of photography.

I have the pleasure of inviting you on a visual journey together with SanDisk and the members of our SanDisk Extreme Team. Enjoy amazing photography and learn the tips & tricks behind some of the members' best images.

We want to inspire and give you the opportunity to strengthen your photographic skills. And maybe our Share Your World books are the gentle push you are missing to lift your photography to the next level.

Our books are also celebrating passionate photographers from around the world who capture fleeting moments on our SanDisk memory cards and safely preserve them on our storage mediums.

There are those who claim that a single image tells more than 1000 words, I claim that it speaks on behalf of 8,475 languages.

Yours sincerely Brian Pridgeon Director Product Marketing, Content Solutions

Share Your World with SanDisk Extreme Team

Sacred Nature

A Photographer’s Guide

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Interview

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Why We Use SanDisk

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Iconic Photos

People love to take pictures. We want to open your eyes to the possibilities for taking better pictures – to become a photographer rather than a snapper! It’s not about the equipment – it’s learning to see with your camera and understanding your subject, it’s about having something to say, about not stating the obvious. Neither Angela nor myself studied photography – we learnt in the field. Along the way we discovered some short cuts to becoming better photographers. Our specialty is wildlife and travel photography. Be versatile. Study all genres: lifestyle, food, sports, documentary, portraiture. Ask yourself “how did they achieve that effect – what lenses were they using, where did they position themselves for the shot, did they use fill-inflash or natural lighting? It’s all here. Time to step up.

Jonathan & Angela Scott

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Tips & Tricks

Share Your World with SanDisk Extreme Team

Jonathan and Angie Scott:

Inspire, Educate, Conserve

SanDisk Extreme Team members Jonathan and Angie Scott have been calling Kenya home for decades. With a base both in the capital Nairobi and the Governor’s Camp in the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, the two photographers are always one step away from their next adventure.

A rocky start to a successful career Angela was born in Egypt and moved to Dar es Salam, Tanzania, at the age of four, spending her childhood exploring the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park where her family went on safari.

Hence, she was breathing Africa from an early age. Jonathan’s journey to Africa was a bit more arduous as he traveled overland from the UK, spending four months on the road covering 6,000 miles. As his travel companion he chose a Canon EF body, a rock-solid camera body with shutter priority that took lots of knocks and never let him down – contrary to the lens. Due to his limited funds, Jonathan could only afford an 80-250mm Tamron lens and adaptor and little did he know that synchronization didn’t happen automatically. Two thirds into his trip Jonathan took his precious black and white films to be processed as contact sheets. When he picked them up, 99% of them were underexposed and black as the night, “The lens aperture had remained closed down to a pin-hole at f32. All those wonderful sunsets and sunrises, colourful village scenes, and my first photos of the big cats in the Maasai Mara were gone.”

Reconnecting people to nature

“There is magic to Africa. It is the birthplace of mankind – it feels like home and there is nowhere better to photograph wildlife.” Jonathan and Angie Scott in the Maasai Mara, Kenya.

Jonathan began taking photography seriously when he started living in the Maasai Mara permanently in 1977, while Angela started out early, asking her father to build a dark room for her below the stairs when she was a child. Since then, they both came a long way. In fact, they are the only couple to have won the overall award in the prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition as individuals – Jonathan in 1987 and Angela in 2002. Not being shy 7

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That is the key – to be hungry for knowledge, you have to keep learning.

– Jonathan Scott any animals left that the couple hasn’t captured with their cameras. However, Jonathan is dreaming about seeing – or even photographing – a snow leopard, while Angela would love to go to Patagonia to photograph mountain lions. According to the couple, it is vitally important to try to place your animal subjects in the landscape, making them a detail in their natural environment. “As tempting as it is to want to get up close to take portraits you can do that back home at a zoo”, Jonathan says.

Maasai women singing and dancing: Maasai Mara, Kenya: We love to visit our Maasai friends to photograph their colourful ceremonies. Each stage in their life is marked by different rites and rituals and we keep a close check on where and when a ceremony might take place, sleeping in our vehicle at the village to embed ourselves in the joy of the occasion. This dance was the perfect time to use a wide-angle lens and low angle to capture the whole scene, with the upraised arms of the women giving energy to their movements.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII, EF16-35mm f/2.8L II USM, 1/500 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100

of the limelight, Jonathan has presented numerous wildlife television programmes for the BBC and Animal Planet. The couple has published 36 books and recently founded its own Non-Profit called the Sacred Nature Initiative (SNI) to help reconnect people to our planet through words and images, insights and inspiration. “We want every child to learn the vital importance of their natural environment.”, Jonathan states and continues, “Loving and respecting nature is not an option. It is essential. We do not own nature. It is not a commodity for us to simply use and abuse. We have to plan for the long-term well-being of all life on earth.”

Big cats as a lifelong obsession Big cats have been Jonathan and Angela’s lifelong obsession. “Is there anything more beautiful or beguiling – the mix of beauty and the predator?”, Jonathan ponders. After decades in the business there are hardly 8

Be more adventurous and keep learning “A great friend and fellow photographer Mitsuaki Iwago once told me to ‘be more adventurous’. Living and working in the Maasai Mara it was easy for me to just photograph what I saw, more interested in recording behaviour than being creative”, Jonathan recalls. But then he fell in love with Angela who forced him to see the light – both in real terms in understanding the power of light but also to constantly push himself to go beyond the obvious. As Jonathan explains, photography is all about discovering ways of seeing, the sense of sight, of looking. It is no good simply trying to replicate other photographers’ work.

He says, one should study other people’s images but develop one’s own way of seeing.

They both remember many occasions when they have felt they could have done better. That is what kept them motivated and wanting to head out on another photographic adventure drawing on the benefit of the lessons they had learned.

There is no excuse for being unprepared With years of experience, Jonathan knows what aspiring wildlife photographers should pay attention to: The internet is full of detailed advice on destinations and the

Spotted Hyenas fighting, Musiara Marsh, Maasai Mara NR, Kenya: There is nothing like dust and/or water splashing to create a sense of action and energy. These hyenas were squabbling over the remains of a hippo carcass. Angela wanted to photograph with back light or side light to create a heightened sense of atmosphere.

Canon EOS-1DX MkII, EF600mm f/4L IS II USM, 1/1000 sec, f 4.5, ISO 80

There is no retirement if you love photography.

– Jonathan Scott

Coalition of 5 male cheetahs brings down a wildebeest calf, Maasai Mara NR, Kenya. We all love to witness the big cats hunting and to have 5 male cheetahs targeting wildebeest together is highly unusual. The largest male coalition we had seen prior to this was three male cheetahs we called Honey’s Boys. Angela has captured the heart of the action with her long telephoto lens cropping in tight for real impact. You don’t need to include all of the cheetahs bodies. It is all about the intensity of the males smothering the wildebeest.

Canon EOS-1DX MkII, EF600mm f/4L IS II USM, 1/1000 sec, f/4, ISO 1000

changing seasons, the best places to see particular species. Wildlife photography is all about being in the right place at the right time. It is essential to know ahead of time that the vehicle you are going to be travelling in is ‘photographically friendly’.

Hire top guides with years of experience in the environment you want to visit, who know the animals intimately, and are used to working with photographers and understand light. It will save time and effort in getting the shot. You need to select the best locations for your camps, lodges or houseboats, and to travel at the right time of year. “And promise yourself to bring back a handful of images that are different from what others have produced already”, Jonathan emphasises. • 9

Share Your World with SanDisk Extreme Team

For their adventures Jonathan and Angie need equipment they can trust.

From Africa to Antarctica:

We cannot risk losing our precious images On their adventures around the world, Extreme Team members Jonathan and Angela Scott encounter all kinds of extreme situations. Fortunately, their SanDisk equipment has their back at all times.

We operate in extreme temperatures on our travels from Africa to Antarctica and are away from home for months at a time in search of great images. The financial costs are significant, and we cannot afford to risk losing our precious images. Our equipment is often subjected to a rough ride, so we need highly reliable storage systems to safeguard our life’s work. SanDisk Compact Flash Memory Cards offer us just that. They have never let us down over many, many years.

High speed and high capacity Our SanDisk Extreme Pro C Fast 2.0 Memory Cards come in various sizes from 16GB up to a whopping 256GB’s. These are perfect for stills and video with their high capacity storage and fast shot -to-shot performance featuring transfer speeds of up 160MB/s, shot speeds up to 150 MB/s and write speeds of 65MB/s for professional grade 10

Wildlife photography is full of rare and fleeting moments so a reliable storage medium is key.

video capture in 4K and full HD. This means we can shoot hours of video and 1000s of still images on assignment. When we are photographing wildlife in action we use high speed motor drive modes of up to 14 frames a second in RAW. So it is essential we don’t run out of space on our Flash Cards, or for our camera to be unable to download the images to the Flash Card fast enough to capture the whole sequence.

Storage you can trust SanDisk 256GB cards give us that kind of certainty. They have never let us down.

Each evening we download the images to our laptops and then back them up on to a SanDisk Extreme PRO®.

Jonathan & Angie’s favorite products SanDisk Extreme Pro C Fast 2.0 Memory Cards, 256 GB. Phenomenal storage capacity and performance. And the SanDisk Extreme PRO® Portable Solid State Drives are so small, portable and reliable, the smallest and easiest to transport items in our rucksacks! Gold.

Portable Solid State Drives come in 1TB and 2TB storage capacities and are shock, dust and water resistant.

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Jonathan and Angie Scott's

Iconic Photos Jonathan and Angela Scott probably cannot count how many photos they have taken during their career. But they surely know which are the most iconic ones.

Enjoy the following selection of images and the story behind them.

Wild dog chasing wildebeest, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

Rather than shooting at 1/1000 of a second for a pin-sharp image, Jonathan chose a slow shutter speed of 1/60th of a second and panned to keep the wild dog in frame while taking multiple shots (high speed drive) to create a sense of movement through a mix of blur and sharpness. He made sure of a nice clean background, avoiding termite mounds that would have appeared as dark blobs in the background.

Canon FI , FD200mm f/2.8, 1/60 sec, f 2.8, Kodachrome 64 rated at 80

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Share Your World with SanDisk Extreme Team

Elephant family drinking in the Luangwa River, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia.

This was Angela’s award-winning image in the 2002 Wildlife Photographer of The Year Competition. It has a painterly quality to it. There is nothing you would change. The composition, the light, the reflection, the grey heron – perfection. This image was all about planning; visualising the shot and executing a plan.

Jonathan and Angela were in Luangwa National Park to photograph leopards for a book – it is one of the best places in Africa to see these spotted cats. On the first evening after the sun had already set they saw elephants coming down to the river and crossing. They asked their guide if this was a common occurrence and he told them it was a daily event. Angela said, “This is the shot!” So each day after an early search for the illusive leopard the two photographers returned to the same spot along the river and set up on the river bank. Then one morning, it all came together, with the grey heron adding that extra element you always hope for, providing tension and a focus of attention for the elephants. Angela’s angle was perfectly chosen to cut out the wall of mud bank behind the elephants.

Canon EOS-1V, EF500mm f/ 4L IS USM, 1/250 sec, f4.5, ISO 160

Leopard emerging from her den, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

This shot is complete. It tells a story of the wonder and mystery of seeing a wild leopard as this mother leopard emerges from a rocky fortress where she has hidden her two young cubs.

The composition is perfect, giving a sense of the place where the leopard lives – her environment – and the way the leopard has paused on a pedestal of rock at the entrance to the cave, mirroring the contours of the rocks behind her, gives it tremendous energy.

The leopard is nervous, every muscle ready for flight or fight, alert to possible danger or the opportunity to hunt.

The image speaks to the viewer of wilderness and the wonder of nature.

Canon F1, FD 70-200 f/2.8

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Cattle Egrets squabbling over a place to perch on the back of a wildebeest, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

The lighting is perfect – early in the morning and almost backlit. Angela took this at a fast speed of around 1/1000th sec so it is pin sharp. But it is the light coming through the birds outspread wings that gives the image its edge.

Angela was insistent that they didn’t just get caught up in trying to get another conventional image of the wildebeest herds on migration – she was looking for something different and found it.

Canon EOS-1Ds MkII, EF500mm f/4L IS USM (with 1.4 Extender), 1/500 sec, f 8, ISO 200

Wildebeest crossing the Mara River, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

The perfect composition with late afternoon light (partially backlit). Dust and splashing water add to the energy and atmosphere of one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth. Jonathan and Angela took lots of images that day but this was the shot because the silhouette of the wildebeest calf jumping in to the water is clean and unobstructed. It is a picture that tells its own story.

The two photographers love to try to create a sense of place with their wildlife images – not just portraits. It is so important to vary your shots to cover the whole story of what is happening.

Canon T90, EF70-200mm f/2.8 1/500 sec, f 5.6, Kodachrome 64 rated at 80

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Notch and a younger male relative squaring up to one another, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

Notch was a legendary pride male, firstly with the Marsh Pride (2005-07) and then with the Paradise, Serena, Rekero and Ol Keju Rongai Prides at various times up to his death in 2012 at the age of 12. We called Notch’s younger male relatives and companions Notch’s Boys. These 5 young males and their older companion were a force to be reckoned with. Angie took this photo early one morning down on Paradise Plain during a tense interaction between Notch and his 5 young relatives.

Notice the nice clean background with shallow depth-of-field and keeping the emphasis on the action – closing in on the head shot. You don’t need to see more of the lions’ bodies – it is all about their expressions and those 6cm canine teeth!

Canon EOS-1D MkIII, EF500mm f/4L, IS USM, 1/400 sec, f 5.6, ISO 400

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Share Your World with SanDisk Extreme Team

Sunrise over Musiara Marsh, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

A misty morning after rain the previous evening creates atmosphere and mood to the dawn. Angie used her Canon EF 70-200mm F/2.8 zoom for the best composition. Zoom lenses are of such high quality today and give the photographer flexibility for framing and composing the shot. The image came alive when a flock of Sacred Ibis flew across the pink sky adding the perfect extra element to the topi antelopes and impalas standing in the mist.

Canon, EF70-200mm F/2.8 Maasai men dancing at their homestead.

Maasai Mara, Kenya.

The brooding sky, low angle and action combine to create an eye-catching image.

Canon EOS-1DX, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 1/500 sec, f 4, ISO 2000

One of Honey’s Boys – a coalition of 3 brother cheetahs – chasing down a wildebeest calf, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

Angie panned with her Canon EF 500mm F4L lens with a shutter speed of 1/400th sec. It is always hard to capture these kinds of moments. The action often happens with predator chasing its prey away from your position. Capturing the moment when both predator and prey are in the same frame and same focal plane (i.e. both sharply in focus) is a tough call. You have to think ahead to try to predict where to position the vehicle for the end of the chase. In situations like this Jonathan and Angie always focus on the predator and keep tracking it in the hope for the twoshot. You want to use AI Servo tracking mode to help keep the subject in focus and shoot at the highest drive speed possible – up to 12-14 frames a second with the Canon 1DX MkII. Canon EOS-1Ds MkIII, EF500mm f/4L IS USM + 1.4 Extender, 1/400 sec, f 7.1, ISO 100

The Marsh Pride during a rain storm, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

There is no such thing as “bad” light. Jonathan and Angie love photographing when it rains and their professional Canon equipment has dust and rain seals to protect the cameras and lenses. You can purchase inexpensive lightweight rain covers too so you can keep shooting.

Canon EOS, EF500mm f/4L IS II USM, 1/1000 sec, f 4, ISO 250

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Share Your World with SanDisk Extreme Team

Exclusive insights

Tips and Tricks At SanDisk we have carefully selected a team of high-end photographers who are all masters of their craft. In this section, Jonathan and Angela Scott share the techniques behind their images.

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Saddle-billed Stork (females have yellow eyes, males have dark eyes) in Musiara Marsh, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. The way Angie has cropped tight on the head of the stork, positioning it to one side rather than in the centre of the frame, gives the photograph its punch. The shallow depth of field really focuses all your attention on the bird.

Canon EOS-1D MkII, EF500mm f/4L (with 1.4 Extender), IS USM, 1/125 sec, f 5.6, ISO 160

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Two male lions on Paradise Plain, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Jonathan and Angie love to capture the landscape – the natural environment of their subjects. These male lions (2 of 5 males known as Notch’s Boys) were down on Paradise Plain hunting wart hogs. Angela saw the chance to capture an iconic image of these great warrior predators set against the brooding sky. It is tempting to want your subject to look directly at the camera. But the power of this image is the intensity of their gaze leading the eye into the picture. This is one of their best-selling images for travel brochures and calendars, evoking the magic of Africa, the allure of a safari, the power and majesty of big cats and the wonder aching beauty of the savanna.

Canon EOS-1Ds MkIII, EF70-200mm f/4L IS II USM, 1/250 sec, f 4.5, ISO 1000

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Bull buffalo framed by red oat grass. Portraits are just one of a range of shots you should aim to take when on safari. You want to think like a journalist.

You are telling a story of a place or a particular animal or giving an overview of what an adventure it is to be on safari: close-ups, mid-shots, wide angles and landscapes. The key to great animal portraits – particularly big impressive animals like buffalos and elephants – is to get eye-to-eye with them.

That means low-angle. You can get down on the floor of your vehicle to try for that. Jonathan and Angie have no doors on their Land Rover 4x4 safari vehicle. They replaced them with canvas sides that can unzip/velcro shut, allowing them to lie on the floor of the vehicle while shooting concealed behind the canvas. Angela’s shot of this bull buffalo really captures the power and weight and strength of these impressive creatures. The way the bull is looking alert, beautifully framed by the long red oat grass, gives it a painterly look.

Canon EOS, EF500mm f/4L IS USM, 1/125 sec, f 5.6, ISO 200

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Fish eagle and saddle-billed stork fight over a catfish. Angie loves the rich birdlife around Musiara Marsh close to our stone cottage at Governor’s Camp in the heart of Marsh Pride territory in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Photographing birds allows Angie to get away from the crowd and settle into the zone.

It is a form of meditation for Angie, just her and her subject, enjoying being in the moment and working at obtaining great images. You have to put your heart and soul into your images.

This photograph was taken during the rainy season when the Marsh becomes flooded in places and fish eagles and saddlebilled storks fight over the prize of giant cat fish wriggling around in the shallow water.

Canon EOS-1DX, EF200-400mm f/4L, IS USM (with 1.4 Extender), 1/1250 sec, f 9, ISO 640

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Male lion standing tall at sunrise. When Jonathan and Angie frame their images in the viewfinder they always think about how they might use the shot commercially. Will it work as a double-page spread in a book or magazine or as a greeting card? So, as they have done in this image, positioning the lion to one side not only works compositionally for greater interest (rather than placing it in the centre of the image), it gives the image space to breathe and the lion room to stare out across the grasslands. And it also works for the magazine editor who wants to place text opposite the lion. So the photographers deliberately left room for that eventuality. Silhouettes are very powerful.

Jonathan and Angie often try to get a low angle to put the subject cleanly silhouetted on the horizon showing the whole body.

Canon EOS-1D MkII, EF300mm f/2.8L IS II USM, 1/1600 sec, f 3.2, ISO 125

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Male silverback Mountain Gorilla, Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda.

Don’t forget to vary your shots. One easy way to do that is to shoot vertically. When you do, remember to leave space at the top of the image – it might make great front cover material for a book or magazine. So leave room for the editor to put a title at the top. We all love to capture action and when this silverback stood up to threaten a rival male in his group it created a powerful image illustrating the size and strength of one of our closest relatives. When things are happening quickly it is better to have a zoom lens allowing for flexibility in composition rather than a straight telephoto that locks you in to a particular shot. With a zoom you can start with the wider view – lock on the focus – and then tighten your shot. If the action comes closer you can widen out again and still have a chance of capturing the final moments.

Canon EOS-1DX MkII, EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, 1/60 sec, f 7.1, ISO 4000

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Female cheetah in star grass at sunset. The Golden Hour when the light is low and warm in the sky only lasts in Africa for around 10 mins after the sun rises and 10 mins before it sets. This is perfect for shooting sidelight and backlight to really create atmospheric and moody images. Jonathan and Angie sometimes shield the end of the lens hood with a sheet of black plastic to extend it and reduce the flare when shooting into the light.

Canon EOS-1DX MkII, EF600mm f/4L IS USM,1/320 sec, f 5.6 ISO 400

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Maasai women singing and dancing at their homestead, Maasai Mara, Kenya. Jonathan and Angie love to photograph their Maasai friends.

The key to creating interesting images of people is to first up spend time chatting and familiarising yourself with the location and your subjects – without taking pictures. As exciting as it all may look, don’t start firing away with your camera before greeting and introducing yourselves. Ideally you want your human subjects to relax; better still to forget that you are there – to ignore your presence. That takes time but it's worth the investment. Jonathan and Angie visit the same villages again and again. That enables them to come away with something different and a greater understanding of the life of the Maasai community. Angela’s image works because of the strength of the diagonal composition. By tilting the camera so the line of women stretches from one corner of the frame to the other is an easy way to create something different.

And Angela got down low to put the women against the blue sky making for a nice clean background. Travel magazines love these kinds of images. But remember that it is becoming more and more a requirement to get permission – in writing or spoken on your video – if you want to use images of people you photograph for commercial purposes.

Canon EOS-1Ds Mk3, EF24-105mm f/4L IS II USM, 1/500 sec, f 8, ISO 100

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Male lion in rain storm, Maasai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.

Rainy days aren’t an excuse to stay back at camp or put your cameras away. Bring rain covers for your gear when you make a safari to Africa. Jonathan and Angie’s Canon professional equipment comes with dust and water proof seals to protect it.

Knowing the behaviour of your subject really helps in situations like this. The photographers knew the lion would shake his mane once the rain stopped.

So they set the position they wanted to shoot from and chose slow shutter speeds – anything from 1/60th sec down to 1/5th sec. They set the drive mode to High Speed Drive to obtain as many pictures as they could in each sequence. The moments at the end of the mane shake are often the ones that work best. At that point the lions face is motionless and will appear sharp in the image while the water is still flying through the air with dramatic effect.

Canon EOS-1DX, EF500mm f/4L (with Series III x1.4 Extender), IS II USM, 1/60 sec, f 6.3, ISO 1000

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Share Your World with SanDisk Extreme Team

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Inspiration from the Greats. Be inspired by the work of other photographers. Discover what makes their work different, then develop your own style.

Learning is a lifetime's quest. The work of the truly great photographers is timeless, regardless of subject matter or medium, black-and-white or colour; they forge a connection that strikes a chord at the deepest level, often reflecting the very essence of humanity and the wonder of nature.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 1/125 sec, f/9, ISO 200

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Seeing the Light and learning to See. Early morning and late evening are best for rich warm colours. There is nothing so dull and boring as "flat" light with the sun positioned directly over your shoulder – no textures, no shadows, no modelling of your subject. Shoot with the sun coming from the side of your subject (side-lit) or from behind it (back-lit) for more emotive and powerful images. When the light is right it can transform your subject. Think about an elephant's wrinkly skin, a tapestry of folds, wrinkles and blood vessels. But when the light hits the elephant square-on your see none of this; the wrinkles disappear, bleached out by the directness of the light. Canon EOS 1D MkII, EF500mm f/4L IS USM, 1/250 sec, f/8, ISO 100

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Equipment. Wildlife photography demands long telephotos. I predominantly use the Canon EF200400mm f/4L (with built in x1.4 Extender), IS USM telephoto zoom. With the flick of a switch I can engage the Extender without taking the lens off the camera and getting dust on the sensor. Angie's workhorse is the EF600mm f/4L IS II USM Series 2 telephoto. In addition to this, we love the razor-sharp EF800mm f/5.6L IS USM for extreme close-ups and bird photography. We also love the Canon wide angle zooms: EF 16-35mm and 24-105mm Series 2, IS - and the EF 8-15mm Fish Eye. Sometimes you see a shot and it is impossible to reach your equipment tucked away in a rucksack. Buy a point-and-shoot such as the Canon Powershot series and carry it with you everywhere.

Learning to respond quickly with the right settings is all part of the journey. Canon FI , FD500mm f/4.5, 1/60 sec, f 4.5, Kodachrome 64 rated at 80

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Putting in the hard yards. Processing and cataloguing your images are the final steps. It is essential that you but keep on top of your workflow. Doing so will save time and money. We use Lightroom and for fine tuning, Photoshop CC. Canon EOS-1D MkII, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM, 1/60 sec, f/8 ISO 800

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Visualising the shot. Making the transition to becoming a photographer is all about visualising the images you want to take. Plan the photograph in your head, dream of what you would like to capture, the way you would like the composition to be, what angle you would take it from, the light you would wish for. We drive around the Maasai Mara where we do much of our big cat photography looking at the landscape and visualising the perfect subject in the perfect setting in wonderful light. Then we store that thought in our memory waiting for it to happen. When that leopard is right where we hoped it would be, lying out on the branch of a much-loved tree, we are ready to make the most of the situation. It becomes second nature to constantly think ahead.

Canon EOS 5D MkIII, EF70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM, 1/320 sec, f/7.1, ISO 2000

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Save the moment

Explore our world

At SanDisk, we not only strive to provide you with the best gear to safely store your photos and video footage, but we also want to share inspiring images and the passion of photography that we all have in common.

It doesn't matter if you are a professional photographer or casually snap photos with your smartphone, everyone is invited to be a part of our visual adventures.

Patrick Bellair Meet the SanDisk Extreme Team The SanDisk Extreme Team has been carefully selected by SanDisk and consists of the best photographers within their industry. The members are award-winning photographers in, for instance, wildlife, wedding, fashion, or landscape photography – here you can see four of them.

Visit the SanDisk Extreme Team's website and social media channels for more inspiration and information. https://shop.westerndigital.com/en-ie/community/ extreme-team

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Light & shadow Beauty photography has its own unique challenges as it seeks perfection in many ways. French photographer Patrick Bellair knows how to capture anything from hair to make-up in the most glamorous way.

Photo by Patrick Bellair

SanDisk - Trusted by the Pros Visit our SanDisk online shop to find our latest products and great prices. For a look behind the scenes and to stay up-to-date, follow us on social media. www.sandisk.com

Kirill Umrikhin Underwater windsurfing If you can imagine it, it exists.

Photographers like Kirill Umrikhin challenge the status quo of photography with their out-of-the-box thinking.

Photo by Kirill Umrikhin

Liz Kreutz Lance Armstrong at the 2017 Epic Rides.

How do you document the life of big athletes both in the sparkling limelight and their private life behind the scenes? Liz Kreutz has spent years walking on the fine line between the two extremes.

Photo by Elizabeth Kreutz

Marcus Bell Weddingscape Marcus Bell is known for the beautiful combination of wedding portrait and gorgeous landscape but also manages to turn even a photo taken at the most boring and mundane location into a work of art.

Photo by Marcus Bell

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Sacred Nature Volume 2: Reconnecting People to Our Planet

A large coffee-table book showcasing the beauty & wonder of our planet in 288 pages of black & white and color fine art photography.

With your help, Sacred Nature Volume 2: Reconnecting People to Our Planet (HPH) will be a beautiful 288-page fine art wildlife photography book, supporting the protection of our planet and its priceless wild places. This book takes the ethos of the first volume and applies it to the whole planet - to our savannas, forests, deserts, mountains, oceans and polar regions. Jonathan & Angela's intention is to reveal the wonder and beauty of our world, instilling a sense of awe and concern for its well being. kickstarter.sacrednaturebook.com/go