This lioness was calmly walking straight towards our safari truck. I had finally figured out the best settings on my camera for taking animal photos and I was completely oblivious to how close she was. All I knew, is she was filling more and more of the viewfinder in my camera. And each shot I took was perfectly in focus. Everything was great until Marilyn nudged me one last time and said "Stop!!".
Apparently the sound of my camera shutter was the only sound at the moment and it would be best to be completely quiet. She walked by so close, I was afraid to make eye contact. In the end, it was pretty routine for her. But we were left speechless for a while.
Thanks for indulging me these last couple months. It was a memorable trip. This is the last post from the Africa trip... time to move on to other photos.
For anyone who wants to see a small collection of my best animal photos and more photos from Walker Bay, click on this link… Africa Gallery.
Africa is not just safaris and animals. The safaris and animals are truly amazing, but there is so much more. On our two week trip to South Africa, we spent the first week in Cape Town and the Western Cape Province. The city of Cape Town is impressive, nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the rugged coastal mountains. The city meanders around the foothills as the mountains reach the coast and the downtown city center itself, sits at the base of the majestic Table Mountain.
The Cape of Good Hope is just south of Cape Town, and further south is beautiful Walker Bay. We spent a few days on the Grootbos Nature Reserve and while we were there we enjoyed a magical late afternoon on the coast of Walker Bay. We explored a sea cave with evidence of the earliest human civilizations, and we explored the rocks and coves nearby.
And in the last hour or two of light, while the rest of my friends were enjoying gin & tonics and other refreshments as the sun set, I wandered up and down the coast making photographs. The light could not have been better. I couldn't stop clicking the shutter because each frame was an interesting new combination of light, waves, clouds, and color. By the end, as I heard them calling out my name telling me it was time to go back, I was breathless with the excitement of creativity.
I chose this one as my favoriite, but there are many others that I like. And if you look closely, on top of the glowing orange rocks, you can see a fisherman who was enjoying this quiet moment in the fading light as much as I was.
We just returned from an incredible two week trip to Africa. I almost said a "once in a lifetime trip" but I hope it's not... the trip was that amazing! We spent two weeks in the country of South Africa - the first week down in the Western Cape province in and around Cape Town and the second week on safari near Kruger NP. What a country and what a trip!
There is so much more to South Africa than just the animals you see on safari. However, the animals are the star of the trip and I thought I'd start there.
While on the safari part of our trip we did game drives at sunrise and sunset each day and they were always different. Every day was beautifully sunny, but one morning was overcast and misty. As we came upon a herd of elephants in the mist, we all just sat in silence and observed. It was quiet, peaceful, and profound, seeing these large animals slowly moving about their morning routine. The sound of branches and small saplings being cracked and eaten was a music we had never heard before. We could have sat there for hours.
Reluctantly, I looked away from the herd and saw this large elephant moving in a different direction and loved the peacefulness and mystery of the scene. Where is he headed? What lies off in the distant light and mist? As most of you know, I am primarily a landscape photographer and this is largely a landscape photograph... that happens to have an elephant in it!
I will have more to share with you in the coming weeks and months... including close-up "animal portraits", more landscapes from the African Bush (when I could get the safari driver to stop for a photogenic tree!), and some great images of the coastline down near Cape Town.
It was nice creating some images again. Enjoy!
We just returned home from our annual three week winter trip to Palm Springs in California. In late winter, instead of shoveling snow and freezing, we enjoy some warm sun, dinners outside, hiking in the desert, and all kinds of other activities. There is so much to do and so little time!
This year we spent some time hiking along the San Andreas Fault (yes, the famous California earthquake fault line). The fault forms the eastern boundary of the Coachella Valley in a series of uplifted hills. One afternoon, we did a sunset red jeep tour that gave us access to parts of the hills that are typically not accessible. We spent a little time walking in a small fan palm oasis... fan palms are the only native palm trees to California. They exist where water has risen to the surface, typically along the fault lines.
As we were walking back to the jeep, the setting sun lit up the clouds into a beautiful subtle pink color. The desert sand also took on this pink glow and it made us all stop and enjoy the fading light. I made many exposures but I liked this calm, simple one the most - it captured the quiet of the desert as the day ended.
I thought I would share one last image from my trip to the Eastern Sierra. There are many more I would like to share but it's time to move on! The gallery on my website is complete and so if you want to see more images from this great place, click on the link... Eastern Sierra Gallery.
It's hard to overstate how blue, blue can be at high altitudes on a clear sunny day. This is an image of the far shoreline of Lone Pine Lake at 10,100 feet of elevation in the Eastern Sierra near Mt. Whitney. We were exhausted as we reached the lake in the late afternoon and snow was all around us on the near shoreline. The sky was so clear and impossibly blue... along with the water of the lake. Bright granite, white snow, blue sky, blue water... it really was almost an overload for our senses. It felt very elemental and timeless.
We rested along the shoreline and ate some snacks to regain our energy for the hike back down the mountain. We thought going down would be so much quicker and so much easier... but it was neither. It seemed to go on forever as our aching muscles started to cramp from the exertion, altitude, and lack of planning.
After what seemed like many many hours of walking, and sometimes stumbling, we arrived at the trailhead completely spent. And I would do it again in a heartbeat!