Ancient Relic

500mm, 1/640s, f/5, ISO250

Believe it or not, this is one of the region’s stars – at least for avid bird-watchers. The shoebill (sometimes known as the whale-headed stork) is a particularly prehistoric-looking bird found in swamps and wetlands throughout central Africa, but because of habitat destruction and hunting there are only between 5000 and 8000 left. In or near the Gorilla Highlands region, the best (and as far as I know, only feasible) place to see them is in Murchison Falls.

Photographically, whether your subjects are humans or animals, if they are not placed in the middle of the photograph then it is usually a good idea to have them facing into rather than out of the frame. The reason for this is quite simple: we are instinctively curious about what the subject is observing. In this case, our eyes are first drawn to the shoebill itself, then towards the left, following the shoebill’s gaze.

Don’t miss our extensive interview with Marcus and head to his website for even more.