The Amazing Birds of Tanzania

When we talk about the wildlife in Africa, most people do not think about birds, but trust me, they have some amazing birds on this continent. Having spent another month in Tanzania, I thought I would share a variety of my favorite bird photos with you all.

Here are two Ring-Necked doves hanging out on a branch together.

I have been to Tanzania numerous times and, up until this last trip, had never seen the Red-and-yellow barbet. They are awesome looking birds.

We saw this group of barbets on a termite mound, having a snack.

(Almost all of the photos in this blog post were taken with the Canon 1D X Mark II and Canon 200-400mm lens.)

It is not uncommon to see Ostriches running around in Tanzania. They are really large and very fast!

Look! A two-headed ostrich!

For the first time, we got to see baby ostriches.

You just know that I had to try motion panning them as they ran.

This is the Lilac Breasted Roller, one of my favorite birds of all times.

Look at those colors!

This roller was soaking up the last of the sunlight at the end of the day (hence the really golden light on the bird and the wood).

There are birds of prey in Tanzania, and although they are not colorful, they sure are majestic.

Right as I was taking images of this bird, it moved away from the water and opened its wings.

This Secretary bird was taking a stroll on the Serengeti.

This is a Southern Ground Hornbill on top of a termite mound.

Vultures are everywhere in the country, and easy to spot as they feed on discarded carcasses.

Here is a vulture coming in for a landing.

It was the end of the day and we were heading back to our camp, when our driver spotted this owl in a nearby tree. We had perfect evening light on the bird.

This dove was hanging out amongst the acacia thorns.

Here are two Grey Crowned Cranes criss-crossing each other while eating.

As we drove around on safari, we were searching for a Hornbill with perfect sunlight on its bill, to accentuate the bright orange color.

This is a Blue-Brested Bee-Eater. Try saying that three times fast!

This guy was about to have a frog for lunch.

This is a Secretary Bird, which typically hunts for its prey on foot.

Another favorite bird of mine is the Superb Starling.

They have unbelievable colors and can be found all over the region.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the many birds from Tanzania. For someone who never thought of himself as a "birder", I am sure becoming one after my many trips around the world.

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If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
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Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Europe, Asia, India and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.

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Annual UCSF hospital prom for their teen patients

At this time every year, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital hosts the annual hospital prom for all their teen patients. Many of the kids miss their own high school proms due to severe illness and compromised immune systems. This is their chance to have their hair done, get dressed in new clothes and have fun within the safe environment of the hospital.

For those of you who have been regular readers of the blog, you may remember seeing this in past blogs. UCSF puts on this event with countless people and companies donating their goods, time and money to make this happen. This was the sixth time that I have volunteered to capture this event and I am continually inspired by these kids.

As they entered the hospital (or came down from their room upstairs), they were photographed by my good friends at Studio Booths. It was a rare time for the kids to head down the hallways of this building with big smiles on their faces!

Each teen got a corsage or boutonniere.

I saw these two girls admiring their flowers and grabbed this shot.

Big smiles from everyone - kids and volunteers alike.

There is no shortage of personality with the nurses at UCSF (who photo bombed this shot).

This year's theme was "Under the Sea".

While the kids are having fun, their parents are treated to good food and adult music in a separate room.

The kids dance party, with DJ and thumping music, was a lot louder than the adults room. That was until the DJ stopped the music and called everyone's attention to one young lady.

It turns out that this lovely girl was celebrating her 18th birthday at the prom. They surprised her with a cake and sang happy birthday to her.

A great birthday moment that she won't soon forget.

There is a quieter "resting room" where the kids could get their faces painted and they put their message on multiple banners.



I saw my two favorite nurses dancing with this young lady in her wheelchair and had to get this photo.

They even got her up and dancing for a little bit. I love the reactions in this photo. This is what the prom is all about; trying to forget their hardships for a little while and just enjoying themselves. 

Another teen who was not going to let a wheelchair stop her from having a blast.

This young man was on the dance floor from the first song until the last one. He is one of those kids who can dance all out and not be concerned about others opinions of his moves. I am jealous that he can do that. He was busting moves from Michael Jackson to Bruno Mars.

The dance ended at 10pm, but I always stay late to get a shot of these awesome hospital volunteers who make this possible. Their selflessness and dedication to not only their jobs but to the kids is absolutely apparent and I tip my hat to them.

I look forward to doing this again next year.

__________________________________________________________________________
Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!
__________________________________________________________________________
If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
__________________________________________________________________________
Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Europe, Asia, India and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.

__________________________________________________________________________ 

Chasing a rainbow all the way home

On Thursday, I was driving back home after taking portraits of a client. While taking the portraits, we had a variety of sunshine, clouds and a pretty good amount of rain. We managed to get some nice photos and I was back in the car heading south. For almost the entire drive, I had an amazing rainbow in front of me.

As I always teach that for a really good photo, you need a good foreground and background. In other words, I prefer not to take just a photo of a rainbow. I prefer to have more in the shot.

I was driving down Highway 280 and was hoping for a shot of the rainbow with the old Stanford Dish. I saw this and pulled over to the side of the road, put the Canon 1D X Mark II and Canon 70-200mm lens out the window, and got this photo.

I drove up a little farther on the highway until I saw this shot with the trees and cows as my supporting subjects.



Ultimately, this was the photo I wanted most. You may recognize this tree from a photo I took many years ago. It is the lone tree on a hillside, and a site that I see quite often. But not like this! I really like this photo but wanted to see what it looked like with a closer crop.

I really love this photo and it is my favorite from the evening.

This composition was interesting to me as well, but once again I had the fence in the shot.

Using the adaptive healing brush and clone tools in Adobe Photoshop CC, I went in and removed the fence and other distractions from the photo.

Thirty minutes later I arrived at my house and still had the rainbow in sight. I walked down my street to one of the blossoming cherry trees and framed this shot with the rainbow behind the blossoms.

I tried a variety of different compositions...

I went inside my house to tell my wife about this beautiful rainbow, and when we got back outside, it had turned into a double rainbow. Just for fun (and since I had the 70-200mm zoom lens on my camera), I decided to put the DSLR down and take a wide panorama shot with my iPhone. I did a little bit of retouching in Photoshop and ended up with this photo. Not too shabby for a cameraphone picture.

This beauty of nature not only let me capture some pretty photos, but also made a commute in traffic way more interesting!

__________________________________________________________________________
Subscribe to the Jeff Cable Photography Blog by clicking HERE!
__________________________________________________________________________
If you are interested in purchasing ANY equipment, please click here to go to B&H Photo, as I get a referral from them if you enter this way. It does not change the cost to you in any way, but it helps me keep this blog up and running.
__________________________________________________________________________
Check out my upcoming photo tours to amazing places around the world. I have photo tours to Africa, Costa Rica, Europe, Asia, India and more. And Canon will loan you any gear you want for FREE for any of my tours.

__________________________________________________________________________