Welcome to this, the index page for some of the images I've been fortunate to make over the past 20 years. This page was designed for viewing at 800x600 resolution.

Prior to my emigration to Australia I lived in South Africa in the particularly beautiful Western Gauteng. I had the privilege of being able to visit several wildlife reserves/parks not only in that vicinity, but also in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. I've included some of the photographs taken in those reserves, together with images from around the world. (Each of the photographs has a hyperlink to a larger image, with technical as well as location detail where available. The main pages load in about 30 seconds, but the enlarged images take much quicker, as they've by then been preloaded.)

Camera bodies and lenses have varied through the years, but Minolta has always been my favourite - the XG1 purchased in 1980 (with money intended for study purposes!) was followed by an X700 in 1982. The X700 was my standard for the next 10 years, until it too was replaced by a 7xi and a 9xi in 1992. When the 700si and 800si came out (in 1993 & 1997 respectively), I happily switched to them, and am still using the 800si. I briefly experimented with the Canon EOS 1 & EOS A2E after my gear had been stolen, but although they were super cameras, they just did not have the "feel" that I so enjoyed in Minolta. When I was offered a Nikon F5 and Nikon 80-200/2.8 in 1999 when I was on my way to photograph the FIG Tumbling and Trampolining World Championships, I grabbed the opportunity as I thought the high speed and other technological advances of the F5 would be indispensable. About half of the shots at the Championships were made with the Nikon but after the first week I ended up returning to the trusty 800si as I just felt more comfortable with it - and I sold the F5 a few weeks later. At the next World Championships in Denmark in August 2001, I experimented with the Canon EOS 3 and a Canon 100-400 IS lens, and although the handling of this combination was very good, I again returned to my trusty Minolta. I suppose the moral of the story is that one should stick with the equipment you are comfortable with - that way all of your attention is on the taking of the photograph!

I've been fortunate to travel all over the world, from the tip of Africa to the Far East, from the desert of Namibia to the snow of Canada. My most recent trip was to the nether regions of Russia, and also to St Petersburg and Moscow. I've accordingly added a page for Russia, on which I've also included some tumbling photographs.

All images © Colin Pretorius