BonaManzi. Zululand. KwaZulu Natal. South Africa

Located in the heart of Zululand is Bonamanzi, a privately owned, 4000ha game reserve. Bordered by a World Heritage site, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, in the east and with Hluhluwe Game Reserve a short drive to the west, it's easy to see why we've selected Bonamanzi for our Zululand Photographic Safaris. It also happens to be widely recognised as one of the best birding destinations in Southern Africa.

Accommodation is in delightful air-conditioned thatched chalets, all with en suite bathrooms, set in stunning gardens that warthogs, nyala, impala and other animals consider their home. Image evaluations and Photoshop work are done in their fully equipped conference facility adjacent to a large open air dining area. Dinners are both splendid and varied – inside during inclement weather or el fresco otherwise, sometimes in the bush sometimes in camp.

These 3-day workshops take place over a weekend, with registration and an introductory talk (including a slide show) on the Thursday evening and then a full day on Friday and Saturday and a half-day on Sunday.

The following aspects will be covered on the workshop:

Equipment required is as follows:

• An SLR Digital Camera preferably with removable lenses (a fixed lens camera will work but will limit what one can do to a certain degree). An advanced point and shoot camera will be fine for beginners, but it should have a fairly long lens, as we will be doing some wildlife photography (e.g. Canon SX10 or SX1 Nikon S60, P80 or P6000 or something similar).
• Zoom lenses – the selection is broad but at least 2 zoom lenses are recommended, one wide angle and one medium to long telephoto, which should preferably have some form of image stabilization.
• A flashgun.
• A sturdy tripod.
• A laptop computer with either Photoshop or Photoshop Elements loaded on to it. This is essential. Instruction will be in Photoshop Elements 6. It is recommended that you have some form of backup medium - DVD's or a portable hard drive. We will have copies of Photoshop for sale at the workshop and also free versions of various other programs available to load onto your computer.
• A memory card reader or computer cables to connect your camera to your laptop.
• The charger for your camera/s.
• Memory Card/s.
• The manual(s) for your camera(s).

Programme:

Thursday
16:00 . You will need to arrive at Bonamanzi in the early afternoon and we'll meet in the conference centre at about 16:00 for registration and for setting up computers. We'll then have an introductory talk and show, and a very quick look at Photoshop in preparation for the action on Friday morning. Pre-dinner drinks will be served in the lounge, raised on stilts overlooking a picturesque waterhole - the perfect spot for sundowners.

Friday
05:30. After a 05:00 wake-up call we meet in the dining room for coffee, rusks and muffins, departing in Thompson Touring and Safaris' vehicles for a game drive.  We'll go slowly, stopping at various points of interest along the way as we work the area, shooting images of animals, flowers, trees and scenery until the light "goes" about 2 hours after sunrise.

We return to base and download our images onto our computers. Participants then select 3 images to include in the evaluation session. By this stage everyone is getting hungry thanks to the early start so at about 08:30 we head into the dining room  for a scrumptious breakfast.

After breakfast, the day continues with discussions, Photoshop tutorials and image analysis (this aspect is critical - we work with your images, looking at composition, impact and technical details).

A light lunch will be served in the Lalapanzi restaurant at about 12:30 and we'll have an hour or so  break after lunch.

The sun sets around 18:30 and so at 15:00 we'll set out into the field to again do more practicals. Locations depend to a large extent on weather conditions so we'll make the call on the day but it will probably be to the Endomeni Cat Project where we'll have the opportunity to photograph African Wild Cats, Serval, Cheetah and Caracals. We'll return to Bonamanzi for drinks, an informal discussion on the day's events and dinner.

Saturday
05h30 . The same routine as the day before: A 05:00 wake-up call and we meet in the dining room for coffee, rusks and muffins before departing for the western shores of Lake St Lucia at False Bay. This is a real treat! This area is not usually available to day visitors but we have been lucky enough to secure permission to do this. The sunrise through Hell's Gates (the ridge of ancient sand dunes separating False Bay from the main lake) can be particularly stunning but the real reason for going there are the 65 million year old fossils of bygone animals - extinct ammonites, inoceramids and other bivalves. More than a hundred different species of fossils have been recorded and we'll be there at sunrise! Imagine the images...! Breakfast will be waiting for us when we get back to Bonamanzi at around 09:00. As was the case on Friday, we'll break at around 12:30 for lunch and a spot of free time.

We work through the rest of the day much as we did previously, with analysis, discussions and practicals. In the late afternoon at about 16:00 we'll be joined by one or two young models who will pose for us. The Bonamanzi gardens are very beautiful and we'll spend some time in them, working with the models. We will use different lenses, looking at what effect lens choice has on the image, how to pose people and use changing vantage points to achieve different effects.
Pre-dinner drinks will be served once again in the lounge overlooking the waterhole where an informal discussion of the day's events will be held.

Sunday
07:30 . An early breakfast today 7:30 or 8:00 and then into the conference centre to analyse the images from the previous day's model shoot. This time, because of time constraints, only 2 images are submitted by each participant. After the evaluation session we look at how to edit a portrait in Photoshop, using layers to enhance skin texture, eyes and mouth. We wrap the workshop with Sunday lunch served under the trees at about 13:00.

Workshop Dates: To be scheduled...

Workshop Cost : R7125 Sharing or R7925 -00 Single. Non-Participating partners sharing:
R3 485.00-00

Note:The cost of the workshop includes accommodation, food, teas and coffees, comprehensive course notes and a certificate of completion of the workshop. Drinks and extras are for your own account.

Contact Us to book your place on this exciting and information filled safari.