Male Tiger strolls towards me..

Hi all, for my first post, here's a picture of my favourite animal taken in October 2005 in Bandhavghar National Park, India. Photographing wild tigers is my obsession. This picture is heavily reduced in quality and size. Taken with a Nikon D2X and Sigma 70-200 F2.8 HSM.

Thanks for posting. I sure would like to photograph wild tigers, that looks like a lot of fun.

How may times have you photographed "wild" tigers?

Do you have any more shots to post? I'd like to see more. . .

Wow. Shooting a wild tiger with a 70-200 lens! That's close! What a thrill that had to be, this one has quite a gash down his nose! I'm with Tony I'd love to see more of your tigers.

Many thanks for all your kind replies.
I've been to India 4 times, just a short visit to the parks in 1990. Then I returned in 2004/5/6. 2005 was my first real tiger photography "safari". I spent 4 weeks there between Kanha and Bandhavghar National parks. Unfortunately Kanha was closed for almost 10 days due to bad weather. Last year I spend 6 weeks in Bandhavghar and took approximately 7000 pictures, about 6700 with tigers in them. I shoot with 2 NIkon D2X cameras, using Nikkor lenses, the 70-200F2.8 AFS VR and 300F2.8 AFS VR. I have started selling limited edition signed framed pictures. You can find some of my 2006 pictures at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/drivingtoperfection/sets/72157594390966653/

Hey John,

Welcome to NWP. We just completed an interview with John Isaac, a fellow who photographs with Olympus equipment. He is currently in India photographing the tigers (he will supply some images for us after he returns from the trip).

When you say you are on Tiger Safari, what does that mean specifically (I hope that is not a stupid question). These are all entirely wild, yes?

James

Thanks for the welcome James.
All the tigers are wild, they can easily climb into the back of the Maruti jeeps if they want to. I hate Zoos, they seem to be so cruel.
I travelled to India in 2005 and 2006 just for the tigers, they're my obsession. The nearest I've been is about 2 metres. I was charged by a female during my last trip and that was scary because it was so unexpected. Unfortunately I was changing cameras when it happened so no pictures.

Some beautiful images on your flickr site, I'm a bit envious. In about 1978 I did an elephant trek in Nepal, we only saw one tiger, and I can recall the fear factor quite clearly. It was a fantastic way to see the wildlife though. Understand your feelings on zoos: I know there are 'good' zoos doing real conservation work, but even in those the conditions are so often depressing.

Most impressive collection of tiger images on your site, John. I have visions of one of them leaping into an open jeep and having photographer for lunch!

Tigers are such beautiful and awesome creatures and I envy your opportunities to observe and photograph them in the wild.

Welcome to the forum.

Dick:)

Those pics are awesome- and I thought I was nuts...........