My days on the game reserve-where it started

This article will describe how I got started in wildlife photography. When I was younger I was a boy scout in South Africa, getting all the way to springbok scout. This naturally lead to a love for nature, wildlife, anything outdoors really. So when I finished schooling, I went and studied game ranch management. But like most 18 year old's, I actually had no clue what I enjoyed. Psychology teaches us today most teenage brains don't actually have the capability to understand the consequences of their decisions. So asking a 18 year old to determine a 3 year degree minimum that will set them for the rest of their life is not exactly a wise thing to do. If I had the opportunity again, I probably would have spent more time doing some self reflection and discovering what I enjoyed. Even now as I right this, I cant really say what I enjoy at this moment. beyond design and photography.

But being on the reserve gave me a few opportunities, such as taking up wildlife photography in South Africa. I started with a little bridge camera, eventually upgrading to a entry level DSLR. Being there on a daily basis gave me the opportunity to see things most people don't, and do things some dreams of, like having a sleeping zebra on my lap after it got darted to be transported to another game reserve. Or the day we were surrounded by about 50 buffalo that were being bred for an auction to other reserves. fun times at least. So while being there does offer its experiences, just because something is exciting and fun, doesn't mean it fulfills a persons desires. its important to be happy in the situation, regardless of what other people think about it.

I opened up some of my old toys recently for my one year old, and it brought back good memories of building legos, train sets etc. Maybe I should take inspiration from Sheldon......do we have a train experience in South Africa? nope. But this eventually lead to me finding out if there is a way to make this into a business opportunity. So I did some research and found out about places like zazzle and teepublic that you could sell your designs through. When I started though I had no design skills whatsoever, I basically uploaded all my photos and thought the money would just roll in. That didnt happen. So I started playing around with gimp, some of my designs were terrible, but everything is a learning process. from my wildlife photos of giraffes, zebras, rhinos, buffaloes, lions and more, we have been able to create multiple African wildlife themed designs on custom printed items like shirts, mousepads, mugs, postcards and more through our partnerships. Don't forget about our wrapping paper and gift bags as well. perfect for the wildlife lover as a reminder of their African safari. but this is a long term project, and we will be always going to new locations and developing our design and photography to always be better at the craft and deliver new ways to see the world and all it has to offer.