Anthony Stark Photography

29/11/2025

This little Cape Bushbuck came right into camp at The Hide in Zimbabwe. Luckily, I had my camera at the ready, and we had an impromptu photo session.

Remember to support small businesses this year when shopping for the holidays! You can check my bio for a link to my prints.

This is the website of Anthony Stark. Shop for nature art, wildlife art, sky art, and more. Designs are available to purchase as canvas prints, framed prints, posters, greeting cards, apparel, and other products. Anthony Stark is an avid traveler and photographer, having traveled to all seven con...

15/10/2025

It takes quite the effort to get wildlife photos! This was the ride to the airstrip in Botswana ... water was coming into the floorboards :) Join me this Friday, October 17th, and see some prints at the Washington Train Station.

ARTIST RECEPTION
Friday, October 17 (6 pm to 7 pm)

EXHIBITION DATES
October 11 - November 7

The exhibition features my work along with that of artist Ginny Blankenship.
Prints will be available for sale at the exhibit.

Washington Train Station
301 W Front Street
Washington, MO 63090

02/10/2025

I’m excited to announce a Gallery Exhibit of my photography at the Washington Train Station in Washington, Missouri.

ARTIST RECEPTION
Friday, October 17 (6 pm to 7 pm)

EXHIBITION DATES
October 11 - November 7

The exhibition features my work along with that of artist Ginny Blankenship.
Prints will be available for sale at the exhibit.

Washington Train Station
301 W Front Street
Washington, MO 63090

10/05/2025

I’ve been traveling the last two weeks, with two more to go! So far, I’ve been in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and now in Botswana. I truly love this continent. The people are wonderful, the landscapes are beautiful, the wildlife of course brings me here - and the pace of life is so nice. There is some self-imposed lack of sleep, but that’s on me :)

My main stay the first week was at The Hide in Zimbabwe. It was everything I’d hoped for. I didn’t see as much of the fast action I saw in the Maasai Mara in Kenya, but the everyday life of wildlife getting back and forth from watering holes and foraging. A crazy amount of elephants, several species of antelope (including my favorite, the kudu), baboons, lions, the elusive wild dogs, and so many wonderful birds. I got to do some Astro as well, with some of the darkest skies I’ve been under.

Spent a couple days in Victoria Falls, with a view from both Zimbabwe and Zambia (so much mist, I couldn't really get the epic full falls shots). In the evening I took a ‘doors off’ helicopter ride, to get some aerial shots. It was great!

I just finished up my last full day near the Chobe River in Botswana. This place is unreal. The highlight has to be a cheetah and leopard interaction ending in a chase. I’m off to the Okavango Delta in Botswana tomorrow.

I hope to get some edited wildlife/landscapes when I’m back home, but for now, here are a few photos of the trip so far.

29/10/2024

Purple Martin (Progne subis)—This is an image of a female or immature male Purple Martin taken at a local lake near my house. Adult males have a darker purple color on their full bodies. At the lake, there are some houses built specifically for them, and at the right time of day, they’ll catch the sunlight pretty well as they bank to enter their nests.

I enjoy the challenge of bird photography, and birds in flight - for me, at least - are the most challenging from a technical aspect. With a small and fast-moving subject, it helps to have the right light, camera body, lens, and a little luck if possible. It’s also quite useful to have a good understanding of bird biology, behavior, etc., to try to anticipate where certain species may be and how they might behave when they’re there (for a certain time of year, location, and depending on if the bird is feeding, raising young, building a nest or whatever other activities they may have to do that day).

Photo taken in St. Louis, Missouri, May 22, 2024.

Sony A1, FE 600mm GM w/ 1.4 TC, 840mm, f5.6, 1/2500, ISO 320

28/10/2024

Topi (Damaliscus lunatus) - One thing I noticed pretty early on in my wildlife travels is how quickly species that I haven’t seen before become ‘common’ to me. It can happen in a day (and sometimes hours if they’re in enough numbers wherever I happen to first encounter them). Some animals I’m familiar with, I just may not have seen one in real life. Some I may know by a different name or haven’t seen particular subspecies patterns or colors before. And some, I’ve never seen anything like it. Those are the ‘what in the world is that’ kind of animals - for me, those are usually underwater, where, unfortunately, you can’t really ask your guide real quick :) When it comes to antelope, there are just too many for me to reliably know which is which for most of them (there are 91 species in total, by the way, and 71 of them can be found in Africa).

Throughout our game drives, I saw several of these antelope with unique markings standing on little hills across the savannah. I asked my guide about it, and she said they were standing on termite mounds to get a better view of their surroundings. I love the markings of this subspecies. They have dark areas on their faces and legs, and those on the face make it a little extra challenging to get decent exposure for a photograph.

On the flip side, I’ve noticed a more optimistic observation as well. After I’ve seen a few of a species and start to enter the “oh, I’ve already seen these before” valley, it changes to noticing little details about their looks, behavior, and social structures. I have to say, that this part is just as fun and interesting for me as the initial sighting.

Photo taken in Maasai Mara, Kenya, October 18, 2022.

Sony A7RIV, 100-400 GM w/ 1.4x TC, 560mm, 1/500 sec

25/10/2024

Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea) - When planning a trip, I typically start with one country, and after getting an idea of how long I may spend there, I try to add two or more around it if possible. In 2023, I had initially planned Costa Rica but was able to add Belize and Guatemala. I was really excited to visit Black Rock Lodge in Belize, known for birding.

It had rained quite a bit in the days leading up to my stay, and the creeks and rivers leading to the property were flooded. For me, the more remote a location, the happier I am :) We made it through some flooded rivers and across a makeshift bridge that had been built hours before arrival. They were taking canoes across before the bridge was built - which I wasn’t looking forward to with all my camera gear. After a long day, though, we made it safely, and it was one of my favorite destinations on the trip.

One morning, we went back toward the town of San Ignacio to an open field with a host of different bird species. This was the first time I’d seen a Little Blue Heron. I love their colors, and I was excited when one landed on this angled stump. It was a magnificent day: just me, my guide, and a bunch of bird species I hadn’t seen before!

Photo taken outside San Ignacio, Belize, November 18, 2023.

Sony A7RIV, 100-400 GM w/ 2x TC, 800mm, f11, 1/1250 sec

22/10/2024

Philmore (Felis catus) - This is my dapper Russian Blue buddy, Philmore. I thought it might be fun to post it the day after my most recent lion pic from a safari in Kenya :)

Often, when I get a new piece of camera gear, if I’d like to test out a new method, or if it’s just too cold out, Philmore becomes the unsuspecting subject of my lens. Here, he’s giving his best “blue steel” modeling pose.

There is a little method to my madness: I typically post pictures of Africa and the Middle East on Mondays (Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, and Jordan), whatever I’m doing in the States on Tuesdays, and Central America (Costa Rica, Belize, Guatemala) on Fridays.

Photo taken St. Louis, Missouri, February 2, 2024.

Sony A7RIV, 100-400 GM w/ 1.4x TC, 560mm, f10, 1/30 sec

21/10/2024

Lion (Panthera leo) - It was my first full day on an African Safari, and we, of course, had to see if we could find some lions! By 6 o’clock in the morning, before breakfast, I had seen a hippo right across the small river from my tent (see one of my earlier posts). Leaving the campground at around 7:30, we saw a baby giraffe feeding and a very close jackal. So, I felt we had a pretty good start. Little did I know how much wildlife I’d get to see over the next several days.

Within an hour, we had found part of a pride of lions. A lion, a lioness, and their cub were resting under a tree. This was the first wild lion I’d ever seen on the first day of the first safari I’d ever been on. Needless to say, it took me a while to get my photographic senses about me - I was just taking pictures from any and every angle, thinking they would get up and run off. Once I realized they were in no hurry whatsoever, I had the sense to ask my guide if we could get some different views, specifically, a side profile (again, see an earlier post) and a 3/4 portrait shown here.

These are such majestic and beautiful animals. It was definitely a bucket list type of day :)

Photo taken in Maasai Mara, Kenya, October 17, 2022.

Sony A7RIV, 100-400 GM w/ 1.4x TC, 560mm, 1/160 sec

18/10/2024

Panamanian white-faced capuchin (Cebus imitator) - Costa Rica has four species of monkeys that can be seen in the wild. One of them, the Panamanian white-faced capuchin, is probably most popular as the companion to the “organ grinder” and, more recently, as Captain Barbossa’s sidekick “Jack the Monkey” in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.

I saw this troop of monkeys at Playa Nacascolo, a white-sand beach in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. They were very active - this one was quite curious and came in close to see what I was up to.

Photo taken in Playa Nacascolo, Culebra Bay, Guanacaste, Costa Rica, December 6, 2023.

Sony A7RIV, 100-400 GM, 140mm, f6.3, 1/1600 sec