A big shout out to Roger for sharing his thoughts and experience in yesterday’s guest post. Great stuff!
Judging by the comments received, I was not the only one who enjoyed the post and since it is a rainy Friday morning and I need a starting point for this post I am going to borrow one of Roger’s lines from yesterday’s post. ”It was simply about the image and not the beast.’ So true and I think that for a lot of people this is unfortunately still the case.
The image, and how to technically get it, is still a big focus for a lot of people who photograph wildlife. With taking people out in to the wild places of Africa to photograph nature and wildlife I don’t think I have ever been asked ‘How did you frame / compose that shot?’ or ‘What were you trying to capture?’ Questions always tend to linger on the technical aspects such as ‘What setting were you using?’ or ‘What shutter speed should I be using?’
Yeah yeah yeah I know that it is important to know the basic technical details and how you can use that knowledge to influence your images but the point is that we should start looking past photographic details that get in the way and start looking at the subject more and how we can present that subject in an image. It needs to be about the beast. If you spend some time in wildlife photography forums you will see this time and time again. Someone will post a great image of some or other animal and without fail all the comments will centre around the technical details and where the image was captured. What shutter speed did you use? Don’t you think it is too sharp? I think you should have lifted your exposure a bit. The background is not out of focus enough. Why did you not crop this or clone that out?
It is very seldom that comments focus on the animal, or as Roger said, the ‘spirit’ of the animals. It sometimes does happen but only once all the discussions about technical details have been exhausted. Only then will people start looking at and comment on the feeling, mood or spirit of the subject.
Hey, I am not dissing these forums at all as they can be a fantastic way to share information as to how other people would have shot a certain scene and even though there are a lot of people who comment just for the sake of commenting you can learn a lot and they can also act as a great source of inspiration. The point is just that we need to look past all the technical details, both out in the field and afterwards, and shoot more emotionally. Shoot more creatively. Show people why you lifted your camera to take a picture in the first place.
I think at the end of the day, whether you practice wildlife photography as a rank amateur or a seasoned pro, you need to enjoy it. You need to enjoy being out there spending time in nature. You need to be enjoy spending time with the subjects that you photograph. What we need to try and convey in our photographs is that reason that we enjoy being out there. Our viewers needs to see the spirit of the animals. The personality. The reason. To do this, look past only the technical stuff. Photograph the animal.
After reading Roger’s and while writing this post I had a quick look through my recent images and decided to use some of the images that might not be 100% technically correct but rather that shows something more. Hopefully to fit in to what I wrote above. A special moment on safari. A moment. Nothing more. They are random, have nothing to do with each other or this post other but I enjoy them. Hope you do to! 
Anyway, since it’s Friday and you will be needing something to do later today as you wait for the working week to end, here are a few links and sites you could browse through to kill the time today or, if your boss is in the office, over the weekend.
I am Vulnerable
In the same vein as the David du Chemin link from a few days ago, portrait photographer Jack Hollingsworth shares his thoughts on photographers who try and portray themselves as faultless and perfect. Great read for anybody involved in photography and it is great to see that some of the big names in the industry are still humble and willing to admit their shortcomings while at the same time acting as a source of inspiration. You can check the post on his blog by clicking here.
The Shemimages Photo-Blog
Shem Compion is a previous guest blogger on Photo-Africa and has recently returned from a trip to Japan and India. I have seen a few of the shots and some amazing work so far but a specific post is worth a read. In ‘The Power of our Game‘ Shem shares his thoughts and a few specific images form his trip. Apart from the fantastic portrait shots, it’s great to hear Shem’s thoughts on the power of photography. You can check the article by clicking here and make sure to also check out Shem’s trip report and some images from Japan here.
Life Through Grant’s Lens
This is one to check out if you want to keep up to date of sightings in the Madikwe Game Reserve. Grant, who is also a contributing photographer on Photo-Africa, uploads wildlife images from Madikwe accompanied by stories and other details. Apart from some great images it’s a nice way to get your bush-fix if you feel you don’t get there often enough. Even if you have never been to Madikwe click here to check out Grant’s blog.
Burrard-Lucas Photography
Found this site on Twitter. Will and Matt are two brothers from the UK with a passion for wildlife photography and you can see this in their images. When you have a moment stop in at their site and browse around the various wildlife image galleries from all around the world. I have been on contact with them and am quite happy to say that they will be doing a guest post on Photo-Africa in a few months time. To get you started, click here to view their African wildlife galleries and browse around from there.
Aperture Untamed
Philip Hatting, who works in the Madikwe Game Reserve, has just uploaded new images to Aperture Untamed. Apart from a pretty cool name, the site showcases some fantastic wildlife images. All going well Philip will also be doing a guest post on Photo-Africa in the not too distant future. Click here to check out the new images on Aperture Untamed.
Craft and Vision
I have mentioned Craft and Vision a number of times in the past and it’s time to head over that way again as they have just released a new e-book – The Magic of Black & White. I will be purchasing my copy later today but if you have not yet taken the time to look through some of the e-books available on this site, conceived by David du Chemin, I couldn’t recommend it highly enough. This new release takes the number of e-books up to nine and at $5 each it is a steal. Even if you are working in South African Rand! I have downloaded all the books so far and even if you don’t want to read any of the advise, tips and tricks the images are fantastic. Click here to visit Craft and Vision now to get the latest e-book.
Twitter and Facebook
I found a lot of the sites and people above on Twitter. I have been using Twitter quite a bit while sharing links and updates to the sites and it has proved to be an amazing way to network, learn and share. If you are on Twitter you can follow me here to get all my updates and links to interesting sites, blogs and wildlife images.
I am also on Facebook where I share links and images. The whole Farmville, Pirates and Mafia Wars (whatever) thing – no! Don’t do those so won’t bug you with all kinds of invites and whatever else those things do. I am still playing with the idea of creating a Facebook page for Photo-Africa but not sure about it just yet. I like the idea but it just feels like it is another page to maintain so for now will leave things as is. To connect on Facebook you can find me here.
Afriqu de Sud Photographics
I was sent this link by Paul Lindenburg and will be meeting up with him next week to find out more. Will keep you posted but for now you can check out an online e-magazine on wildlife photography here.
Right, that’s about it for this week. Before I go one more image I shot a year or so ago in Supingstad, a local community just outside the Madikwe Game Reserve. The decision to end of with this image was inspired by Shem’s post mentioned above. I am not going to write anything else about this shot as the last two paragraphs of Shem’s post says exactly what I would have wanted to say. Go and check it out.
Whatever you do play nice and I will see you on the flip side.
Bye 4 now!
Gerry
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