2017-01-17: WPC Ambience

It may seem a little strange to post photos from a Masai Mara wildebeest river crossing for a post on ambience, but honestly, the ambience was a very integral part of the experience for me. When you are watching a nature program, they presenters do an excellent job of making a river crossing seem like an amazing spectacle – which is absolutely is!!!  They also do an amazing job at making it seem like a secluded experience, which it absolutely is not!

We left our camp at 6am for a 2+ hour drive to the potential crossing point, in the hopes of getting a good parking spot to watch the action.  On route we passed wildebeest in the thousands, if not tens of thousands, some marching the direction we were headed, and others, heading in the direction we had come from.

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Wildebeest as far as the eye can see.

I had never anticipated being the only person there, but I also didn’t expect to find quite so many other people there.  But, the atmosphere was a lot of fun.  I spent time chatting with my guides and with the people in the vehicle next to us while waiting to see if possibly the wildebeest might make a move.  They were certainly taking there time, and a good number of people gave up as the afternoon wore on.

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The view from our vehicle at the crossing point.  Land cruisers, jeeps, minibuses and land rovers, packed in like sardines and even double parked, all in an attempt to see the action.

When the gazelles approached the water and the crocodiles practically licked their lips, we collectively tried to will the little antelope back from their gruesome fate.

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People in the vehicles were saying things like “Don’t go in the water, it isn’t safe!”  If only they would have listened.
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I saw five gazelle attempt to cross the river, and only two made it out.   

And when at 3:15 the wildebeest started crashing through the water, those that were left were all uttering the same things “amazing”, “mind-blowing”, “unbelievable”.

The atmosphere surrounding that stretch of river on that day in late September, really made the experience that much more special.

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A surge of wildebeest crossing the Mara River in the Masai Mara, Kenya.  There were plenty more vehicles on the opposite bank!

 

WPC: Ambience

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2017-01-15: Artistic Impressions

I’ve had another great week of wildlife viewing around home, and I think I have gotten some really nice images, but I’ve been caught up with other projects and haven’t had an opportunity to do any review or editing.  So, I’ll have to do a good catch up next Sunday, but for now, I hope you will enjoy a couple of my artistic impressions of the fox that visited last week.

Wishing you a great week ahead 🙂

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2017-01-08: What I’ve seen this week

As I said in my Feel Good Friday post, this week has been great one for wildlife viewing around the house.  The deer have been visiting in force, the flicker, grey jays, hairy woodpeckers, chickadees and magpies are around most days, and the rabbit has been by on more than one occasion.

The special visitor this week though was a gorgeous red fox, who I spotted two afternoons in a row.  On both occasions, (s)he was hunting, the second day more successful than the first.

It’s such a joy to look out my office window while working and see all of this unfold!

Now, on to the photos 🙂

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I was absolutely blessed with such lovely light the first time I saw this fox in my yard.  All day one photos 1/400sec, f5.6, ISO 500.
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So alert, stopping to listen every few moments.

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I have a path cleared to get to the back of the yard from my shed, and that’s the way the fox took to head off on Tuesday.
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The weather Wednesday afternoon was overcast, but it seemed to be to the advantage of the fox.  Here it is listening intently.  All day two photos 1/160 sec, f8.0, ISO 500.
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And then a couple of well aimed ounces and a bit of digging in the snow…
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Success!  Some lunch, which the fox took to go.

2016-01-6: Feel Good Friday

I’ve had an amazing week of wildlife viewing so far, and I am really looking forward to sharing that on my What I’ve seen this week post on Sunday.  But for today, I thought I would share one of my artistic impressions with you, since it has been a while since I’ve done so.

This was created using the Topaz Simplify plug in for Photoshop.

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Zebra in the Masai Mara, September 2016.

Please visit:
www.jennifersawickyphotography.com for wildlife, landscape and nature inspired artwork.

and

https://shopvida.com/collections/voices/jennifer-sawicky for textiles inspired by my photography.

2017-01-05: WPC Resilient

The mountain gorillas, despite living in conflict zones and being subjected to poaching and diseases, are still around, and in some areas, thriving.  Spending time with them is a beautiful experience.  I would definitely define them as being resilient.  Let’s hope their numbers will increase, and we will be able to share our world with these magnificent creatures for many, many years to come.

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A gorilla infant makes eye contact from the safety of the group.

Please visit:
www.jennifersawickyphotography.com for wildlife, landscape and nature inspired artwork.

and

https://shopvida.com/collections/voices/jennifer-sawicky for textiles inspired by my photography.

 

WPC: Resilient

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