landscape photography – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

August 11, 2025August 11, 2025

2025-08-11: Sunrise Panorama

This is a stitched panoramic created with 9 images taken on an early morning game drive in the Okavango Delta. The landscape and sky were absolutely perfect for trying to capture a panoramic image, and the sleepy lioness at the base of the termite mound was just an amazing extra.

Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.

I remember this morning well not only for the beautiful sighting and amazing morning sky, but also for working through camera malfunctions while driving along a dusty and bumpy path. Thankfully, I got things sorted well enough by the time we stopped here to be able to capture lots of images, and then sort out a more proper fix once out of the vehicle.

I may have explained it previously, but I shoot with Fuji cameras and was having an F0 appear on my camera (basically, the camera didn’t think there was a lens attached). It turned out that my 300mm zoom lens had been on that body so long and used so much it had loosened some of the screws inside of the camera where the lens connects, causing the error. I didn’t find that out until I returned to camp and could get online, but my temporary fix was to swap my zoom lens to my other body, as my lighter weight lens didn’t return the same error codes. One of the people on my tour had a small screwdriver and I was able to fix my problem with ease (thanks again, Richard).

April 13, 2025April 13, 2025

2025-04-13: Full Moon

While the full moon was yesterday, a one day difference is close enough for me to use it as a theme and share some travel images.

There was a full moon during my time in Savute, Botswana, and we had beautiful clear skies to watch the moon rise and sun set. Taking photos while also holding a glass of wine isn’t going to yield the best images, but it does yield some pretty fantastic memories, and that’s the most important part.

A zoom lens makes the full moon look even more impressive. We were all wandering around the vehicles during our sundowner stop and I kept having to find sturdy surfaces to set down my glass so I could take a photo. Savute, Botswana. April, 2024.

One of the people in our group commented that the sky was the colours of a lilac breasted roller, and now every time I am out and glimpse the sky in these tones, that’s what I think of.

We only stopped for a moment so I could capture this shot, as we were on a fairly long drive back to our camp and had set out a little later than planned from our drinks stop.

January 12, 2025January 12, 2025

2025-01-12: Infrared Tree

I wish I could provide the type of tree this is, but unfortunately all I know is that I thought it was stunning, and worth taking the time to take pictures of.

This view was off of the pool deck at Simbavati Hilltop Lodge. I spent some time between lunch and our afternoon game drive playing around with long exposure photos using my infrared filter. Each time I capture images like this and edit them, I remember again how much I enjoy them, and how much more there is to learn about the process.

A beautiful tree standing tall amongst a variety of shrubs and low bushes. Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa, April, 2024.

January 5, 2025January 5, 2025

2025-01-05: Victoria Falls

I realized I still have a lot of images from my 2022 trip that I wanted to work through, so I decided to select some images from Victoria Falls, both from the Zimbabwean side and from the Zambian side.

I first visited the Zambian side of Victoria Falls in April of 2013, and the water level was perfect for viewing as there was a strong water flow to highlight the epic scale, but not so much as to shroud the entire falls in mist. My second visit was November of 2022, and there was far less water flowing over the falls and a lot more exposed rock, which showed off the scale of the falls in a completely different way.

On the day we visited the Zimbabwean side, clouds hung heavy in the air, but I don’t believe delivered any rain that day. Our visit to the Zambian side 8 days later couldn’t have been more different, with clear blue skies and fairly significant heat and humidity, around 38C or so, going from memory.

The different viewing areas offered not only different visual experiences, but different sensory experiences as well. This particular spot was incredibly humid and misty from the proximity to this portion of the falls and the direction of the breeze. It felt like being within a localized rainstorm. Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. November, 2022.

Another viewpoint along the falls, but out of the pocket of mist.

Walking less than five minutes down a path from the main falls area provided an amazing view of the rock behind the falls. In the wintertime, with sufficient summer rains, there would be water flowing over much of this area.

Victoria Falls from the Zambian side under hot, clear sunny skies. This is an area just above the falls, and you can see a small amount of mist floating up the the left of the distant tree. Victoria Falls, Zambia. November, 2022.

A view of the falls from one of the main viewing areas on the Zambian side.

Similar to the Zimbabwean side, a short walk away from the main viewing area, there were huge expanses of exposed rock. This was one of the interesting things about being in the same place in a different season.

The weather conditions were perfect to view a rainbow created from the waterfall mist.

December 22, 2024December 22, 2024

2024-12-22: Sunrise

I was treated to a beautiful sunrise sky this morning when I was out walking my dogs; in one direction, warm yellow, orange and peach tones, and in the other, cool blues and purples. It was such a lovely start to the day. While I didn’t have my camera to take any pictures, I did have a few lovely sunrise shots just waiting to be edited from my last trip.

The sun just peaking up behind a hill in Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.

Sunrise over Timbavati Private Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024.

Another Savute sunrise. The skies in Botswana are magical. April, 2024.

October 27, 2024October 27, 2024

2024-10-27: White Pass Railway

Today I felt like doing something a bit different, and went back to some of the images I flagged from my 2023 Alaska trip. All of these images were from an excursion I did, taking a train trip along the White Pass for a day trip in the Yukon. I have shared some images from this trip before (search Alaska if you missed these and want to take a look).

An old train bridge over a canyon, with a large portion of the trestles collapsed.

A sky so blue it looks fake, but it absolutely isn’t.

The northernmost desert in North America, at Carcross, Yukon.

One of the beautiful lakes near Carcross, Yukon. I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to be touring the area.

A view north of the highway running between Alaska and Yukon, just north of the border.

November 5, 2023November 5, 2023

2023-11-05: Hubbard Glacier

Today I selected a few images from my time cruising around Hubbard Glacier during my trip to Alaska in May. I’m guessing in a month or so, when the snow has settled in here at home, editing images of snowy landscapes may not have much appeal, so I wanted to tackle a bit while I was inspired.

As for this day of scenic cruising, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect blue sky day. While it was very foggy while out in the open water, it cleared dramatically as soon as we entered the bay, and stayed that way until we left again in the afternoon, and then we were back into the fog.

As for home, there has been a brief glimpse of the winter to come, but thankfully for the next few days at least, we are to be above zero each day.

September 24, 2023September 24, 2023

2023-09-24: Madikwe Sunset

I had high hopes of working through a decent number of images this week, while I was off work on a staycation, but I also have a tendency to create a mental to do list that 3 people couldn’t finish, let alone just me. My household projects, yard work and the like all had a lot of effort directed at them, but creative time took a backseat. With winter coming, there will be lots of time to be inside working through images, while getting the autumn yard work done (and a round of golf in) has a pretty limited time frame now that September is almost to a close.

For my image today, it is a lovely sunset taken on my first evening staying in Madikwe last November. It’s hard to believe almost a year has past since that trip.

Sunset in Madikwe. South Africa, November 2022.

August 6, 2023August 6, 2023

2023-08-06: Hubbard Glacier

One of the days on my recent cruise was a scenic cruise to the Hubbard Glacier. While I was told that it is not as impressive as cruising in Glacier Bay National Park, I thought the scenery was breathtaking and beautiful.

Similar to most mornings when we were out at sea, I awoke to pea soup fog, and I thought that perhaps we wouldn’t see much of anything. I took in the morning talk by the onboard naturalist, and then headed to the coffee bar for a mid-morning pick me up. I got to chatting with some people while having a coffee, and it was explained to me that as we headed into the bay, and got closer to the glacier, the weather would shift very dramatically. At noon, we headed into the bay, and sure enough, we left the fog in our wake and had gorgeous sunny blue skies and beautiful scenery (and, when we left the bay, the fog closed in as rapidly as it had lifted earlier in the day). There were some whales spotted from the ship, both on our way to and from the glacier, which was wonderful to watch.

I took an enormous number of photos during this scenic cruise, and since I am behind in my cataloguing a bit, I just selected a few that appealed to edit and share.

July 23, 2023July 23, 2023

2023-07-23: Brewing Storms

We’ve been having a lot of thunderstorms recently, but it’s not particularly picturesque or open where I live, so I am not able to get interesting photos of the storms. I did try once driving around to see if I could get a decent vantage point, but didn’t find anything that made me want to take my camera out.

However, I did get some fantastic storms while I was away in November, complete with open vistas to take pictures of the towering clouds approaching filled with rain. Here are a few of those shots.