Photo By Deon De Villiers

“The photo was taken in the Madikwe Game Reserve, South Africa. This is the place I have called home for the past 6 years. I live there because wildlife photography is my passion and I gave up my career to spend some time in the bush as a resident, not just a weekend visitor. I used a Canon EOS-1D Mark II with a 300mm 2.8L Series with ISO 160, f2.8 and shutter speed at 1/5000. I was shooting in Aperture Priority and I kept it wide open to stop the movement of the animal. I had always wanted to take a shot of an antelope jumping in the air, but because I am normally the driver of the game drive vehicle, “the guide”, I never got the opportunity. Luckily I was in AP mode and already set on the lowest setting due to the light not being the best that morning, so the camera dealt with the settings as soon as I lifted it up and fired off a couple of shots. My second surprise was also to have a picture of a male antelope – bear in mind that there is always only a single male animal with horns like this ones in every herd. A herd comprises of females and youngsters with a single dominant male, and the females do not carry horns as they do not fight for dominance.” - Deon De Villiers