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Loot EksteenNombre: Loot Eksteen
País: South Africa
Introducción: Hello to everyone and welcome to my intro page. I live in Empangeni, situated on the east coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa. It is ±16km from Richards Bay, which is one of the main export harbours in South Africa.

I have been a regular visitor to TrekNature since early 2005 and have learned lots from you lovely people. As an 'outsider' I admired the photos, notes, and critiques, but since I only had a film type camera I was not prepared to join in as a full member and then to scan whatever material I wanted to post. Eventually, 21 December 2005, I received my digital camera and so a completely new world opened up to me. The next episode had finally begun.

During my "film" days I used to cover a lot of weddings, but my favourite remained wildlife photography. Nowadays with digital I purely concentrate on nature photography and I will shoot anything worthwhile that comes my way.

Since I'm only a stone throw away from the well-known Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, I obviously spend a lot of my spare time there. I am very fortunate to be an honorary officer with the Ezemvelo Kwa-Zulu Natal Wildlife.

My beautiful wife and I share our love for nature and photography. She is my prime supporter, critic and advisor. Since she has discovered the "Shutter release button" on my Sony DSC-H9 and I can hardly stay ahead with downloading all the photos she captures. It was also a case of "Bye, bye Sony". So, now you have another husband and wife team on the site.

I would like to extend a BIG thank you to Robert Brown (inspirator) and Adam Silverman (creator) for this fantastic site.

Welcome to my Personal Galleries:
A study in Arachnology (Spiders & Scorpions)
A study in Botany (Plants)
A study in Entomology (Insects)
A study in Geography (Landscapes)
A study in Herpetology (Amphibians & Reptiles)
A study in Ichthyology (Fish)
A study in Mammalogy (Mammals)
A study in Ornithology (Birds)

Touched by Nature This is another personal theme which for obvious reasons are very dear to me. I really hope you will enjoy it as much as I did when I captured these photos and when I wrote the notes. The notes are perhaps the more important aspect here and in order to explore or appreciate the "Touched by Nature" topic to its fullest you have to read the notes to get the story behind the photo.

In conclusion, some final thoughts (updated 15/03/2007):
- I enjoy honest, useful, and positive critiques and will not get mad, because I learn from them. Even if you are still a newcomer to photography or the site and still unfamiliar with critiquing it is always possible to be sincere and constructive.
- Speculative, destructive, or derogatory critiques I frown upon, because it is negative and usually do not convey any learning at all.
- If you're not sure about a certain aspect within my photos you are most welcome to ask the question and I will respond with an open and transparent answer or explanation.
- I will endeavour to critique other members in the same manner (you know, the old "Do unto others..." story).
- I will not critique any members who do not contribute towards the critiquing system and simply use TrekNature as a photo dumping or image sharing bank. Critiquing is an essential element of this site. This has nothing to do with points harvesting so I'm not concerned whether such member critiqued me or not. It entails the bigger picture to inculcate cohesion within the spirit of the site.
- I normally do not critique any photos without notes unless it is a newish member, and then I will only do it to call upon or motivate such a member to a full participation of the site.
- The TrekNature mission or purpose is quite clear: To learn about nature and photography through the interrelationship between the two. If there are no notes or no critiques it is impossible to achieve this mission or purpose.
- Please feel free to critique me in whatever language you prefer. This is an international site and it's not limited to the exclusive use of the English language.
- Lastly, a tad of humour has never hurt anyone. I can take it, but I can also dish it out. So, lay it on me, but do expect to receive it in kind.

Equipment List

Cameras:
Canon EOS 450D Digital Rebel XSi + BG-E5 Battery Grip
Canon EOS 350D Digital Rebel XT + BG-E3 Battery Grip
Sony CyberShot DSC-H9 (15x Optical zoom)
Sony CyberShot DSC-HX1 (20x Optical zoom)

Lenses:
Sigma 150-500mm APO f/5-6.3 AF Ultra DG OS HSM
Sigma 170-500mm APO f/5-6.3 AF Ultra DG Aspherical Telephoto Zoom
Sigma 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Macro ASP DG Wide Angle & Telephoto Zoom
Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom
Canon 60mm EF-S f/2.8 Macro USM
Canon 55-200mm EF f/4.5-5.6 II USM Zoom
Canon 18-55mm EF-S f/3.5-5.6 USM Zoom IS
Canon 18-55mm EF-S f/3.5-5.6 USM Zoom
Marumi 58mm Close-up lens set
Marumi 62mm Close-up lens set

Teleconverter:
Sigma 1.4x APO Tele Converter EX DG

Flash Systems:
Canon Speedlite 430EX
Canon Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX

Data Storage:
Flashtrax 80Gig Portable Hard Drive - SmartDisk FTX-XT80
Thunderbolt CameraMate CF Card Reader
SanDisk Micromate SD card reader
Puremedia 2Gig High Speed CompactFlash
I-Pro 1Gig Professional Ultra High Speed CompactFlash
SanDisk 1Gig Ultra I High Speed CompactFlash
SanDisk 1Gig Ultra II High Speed CompactFlash
SanDisk 4Gig Extreme III SD memory card (4 off)
SanDisk 2Gig PRO Duo Memory Stick (5 off)

Accessories:
Canon Remote Switch RS-60E3 cable release
Canon Remote Control RC-5 Infra red release
Sony Remote Control RMT-DSC1 Infra red release
Lenzz Rezzt bean bag

Tripod Systems:
Manfrotto Tripod 190D
Manfrotto Monopod 679
Manfrotto RC141 head
Miembro desde: 2006-01-23
Cámara: Cannon EOS 350D, Canon EOS 450D, Sony Cybershot DSC H9, Sony Cybershot DSC HX1
Nota: Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5408 W: 592 N: 3643] (10005)
loot is a favorite of 122 members.
Vista: 21124
Public Groups: Member: Herptile Lovers, Honest critiques / comments, Landscape and seascape
Favoritos: 46 members [ver fotos] [leer críticas] · 83 photos
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Title: Primordial ScreamSony Cybershot DSC HX1
Primordial Scream (46) *
loot Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5408 W: 592 N: 3643] (10005)
South Africa
Title: Wingless FlightSony Cybershot DSC HX1
Wingless Flight (68) *
loot Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5408 W: 592 N: 3643] (10005)
South Africa
Title: Wild, Wild AfricaSony Cybershot DSC HX1
Wild, Wild Africa (70)
loot Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5408 W: 592 N: 3643] (10005)
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