Hailing from Bulawayo, Shaun McMinn is African Bush Camps favoured videographer. Having been ferried into photography at the tender age of 13, a young Shaun took the opportunity to learn a lot from his brother whilst on family holidays. After school, McMinn studied Photo Journalism for a year and then graduated with a degree in Filmmaking.
Shaun, like all other photographers and videographers, has his own style, which he describes as the portrayal of a story or experience of what is happening without influencing the subject; he captures nature and wildlife in their truest forms.
“The best part of being a photographer is the travelling,” says McMinn, “and seeing new places and meeting new people, making new friends and experiencing the natural world”. There are many great photographers out there; David Lloyd, Ray Collins, Russel MacLaughlin, Shannon Benson, Morgan Maassen are all unique at what they do and McMinn falls under their social media following. Social media often has the power to engage you and Shaun uses inspiration from those posts to put himself into the position of that photographer and imagine how they captured it. The process from start to finish inspires the videographer to get out there and do what he loves to do.
When the Zimbabwean local isn’t photographing and filming, he is always in pursuit of his next adventure. His passion for photography and videography is obvious and his thrill-seeking personality led him to his most memorable assignment. Tracking and filming Cecil the Lions’s cubs and females immediately after the iconic lion’s tragic death was a project the Zimbo will never forget. There had been extreme speculation as to what was going to happen to the pride, especially when they disappeared into the bush for days on end. McMinn was successful in his patient efforts to track the elusive pride after the several days and felt an overwhelming sense of relief to find they were alive and well. For the next year to come, McMinn returned to the pride to film and monitor their progress.
McMinn enjoys filming time lapses of nature and his favourite subject could, he says: “quite possibly be the hyena”, although he is engaged by all wildlife. The camera of choice is a Nikon D800. “Most photographers and filmmakers will agree that you can barely fit many clothes in your baggage, you are always overweight with multiple cameras, lenses, drones, tripods, cables etc…” McMinn makes use of LightRoom and Final Cut X for filming. Creating colour pre-sets in both programs is his most used tool. He says it helps to speed up the workflow, however, the videographer does admit that he never stops experimenting and trying new things. “You can’t allow yourself to become stagnant or stop progressing. You can never stop in this day and age as every day there are new cameras and tools that we can use in the industry. It is an extremely fast, exciting industry to be a part of.”
McMinn is a thrill seeker and a dreamer, if he’d not pursued a career in his photography, one could find McMinn on a surfboard or kayak. Professional Sportsman is what a young McMinn wanted to be when he grew up. Now, having followed his passion for photography, his dream job would be to work on long assignments for National Geographic or Animal Planet, although he reckons he is living his dream doing exactly what he wants to be doing at this stage of his life.
Having filmed all of African Bush Camps’ camp videos found here:… we are proud to have partnered with such a talented and passionate character.
