Photography Spotlight with Daniel J. Cox in Madagascar

Image copyright Daniel J. Cox. All rights reserved.

The fun of Mirrorless Monday is that so often I have no idea until the day before what we're going to be sharing. My buddy Daniel J. Cox is in the SCU spotlight today. Our relationship is an industry testimonial to the great friendships that come out of everyone's mutual love for the craft.  

We met through Panasonic. Daniel is a LUMIX Ambassador, and we were first introduced to each other at a LUMIX meeting several years ago. Since then, Sheila and I have caught up to Daniel and Tanya on their turf in Bozeman and on our turf, here in Florida. Daniel's no stranger to SCU, and over the years I've shared a number of great images and articles.
 
Daniel and Tanya run one of the best travel companies in the country, Natural Exposures. He regularly shares outstanding information on travel, photography, and technique on The Corkboard Blog. Just click on the banner below to take a scroll through one of the most diverse blogs in photography.

Find out more about Daniel with a click on today's spotlight photo. Then follow him, along with the rest of the LUMIX Ambassadors. They're one of the most diverse and creative teams in photography. Keep tabs on their adventures. You'll never be disappointed. 

And, check out the primary gear Daniel was shooting with in Madagascar with a click on any of the thumbnails below. Panasonic's tagline is Changing Photography, and they're doing just that!

LUMIX G LEICA DG VARIO-ELMARIT Professional Lens, 50-200mm, F2.8-4.0

LUMIX G9 Mirrorless Camera Body, 20.3 Megapixels plus 80 Megapixel High-Resolution Mode

LUMIX G LEICA DG ELMARIT PROFESSIONAL LENS, 200mm, F2.8

by Daniel J. Cox

This Verreaux's sifaka is just one of the many lemur species I photographed last month in Madagascar. Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island and about the size of Texas with a population of 25 million people. With this many people there is very little room left for lemurs.

This was my first trip to Madagascar with the new LUMIX G9 and the two new lenses, the Leica 50-200mm F/2.8 and the Leica 200mm F/2.8. Both came in very handy, but as with all wildlife, the zoom has serious advantages.

Clear back in the mid 80’s I bought my first professional zoom lens, the Nikon 80-200mm F/2.8. I was told by many I was crazy to shoot a zoom for professional work. But even then I rationalized that even IF a zoom was slightly less sharp, I would capture so many more images based on quality composition and the ability to change perspectives that I would easily out produce any lens that gave me a slightly better optical resolution. I was right. I built an entire 40 year career on zoom lenses.  Fast forward to today and I’m doing it again, this time with even better zooms but also a smaller more nimble camera in the Lumix micro four thirds system. 

The key to any successful wildlife image is often eye contact. This sifaka had connected with my lens in a perfect stare where I was able to capture not only the varied colors in his pupils but the minute blood vessels as well. There is so much detail with this lens the tiny little ticks at the edge of his eye were imperceptible to me while  I was taking this picture. It wasn’t until I brought the image up on my computer I saw these tiny parasites getting a free ride.  It’s all about the details when shooting Leica glass on a LUMIX body. 
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