2016-04-09: WPC Future

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The heavily pregnant alpha female of a wild dog pack pauses while the rest of the pack played and lounged just out of the photo. The pack denned at Ngala and I believe she had a litter of 18 puppies. For the future of wild dogs, successes like those are definitely needed. May, 2015

 

WPC: Future

2016-04-04: Monochrome Monday

I was inspired to work on a few photos of impalas; I hope you enjoy the results.

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The one in the front is doing a great impression of “duck-face”. 1/1600 sec, f6.3, ISO 400
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The oxpecker on each shoulder seems to have caught the attention of this male. 1/1000 sec, f6.3, ISO 2800
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A trio of oxpeckers rest atop a grazing impala. 1/1000sec, f5.6, ISO 250
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A rather stately looking impala gazing off into the distance. 1/800 sec, f11, ISO 640
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A lovely group of ladies; such soft and gentle faces the impala have. 1/640 sec, f7.1, ISO 500

2016-03-22: WPC Dance

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“Okay, for the last time, you put your LEFT paw in, and your left paw out, you put your left paw in and shake it all about.” 

A little cheetah hokey pokey for this week’s WPC theme – Dance 🙂

WPC Dance

2016-03-18: Feel Good Friday

TGIF!

For today’s feel good Friday post, I thought I’d share a trio of big cats.

I hope you enjoy, and have a wonderful day 🙂

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A lioness and her cubs in the surprisingly lush Kalahari desert, most likely heading off to find a place to sleep off the heat of the day.
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3 more steps, and you’d say “Leopard, what leopard?” A master of camouflage heading into the tall grasses.
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It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to shoot from different vantage points. This cheetah climbed a hill as our vehicle was parked at the base, offering this unique view.

 

You can find these, and more, over at jennifersawicky.smugmug.com

2016-03-11: Impala Rut

If you’re in Southern Africa in the autumn (April/May) you’ll be there during the impala rut.  And believe me, you’ll find yourself uttering the same phrase I did repeatedly “What on earth was that noise?”

I still don’t understand how a creature like this, can make a sound like that.  To hear it for yourself, check out sound number two on this website.

Both in Botswana and South Africa, we heard a lot of noise and commotion, and saw a few different groups of bachelors going crazy, running and jumping and locking horns.

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That’s the face that goes along with the noise.  So attractive!
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Is this what the ladies do when they hear that sound and see that face??? 🙂 I was in the right place at the right time to watch a herd of impala bounce through the bushes. This is a composite of 5 different photos.
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A clash of horns.
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Racing around, making noise, fighting about who is the manlier man.

 

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Unfortunately, the guys kind of lose their minds during this time, and throw their normal caution and vigilance to the wind.  The result…

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They end up as a snack for a hungry pride of lions (or leopards, cheetah, wild dog, hyaena).    This was actually a very interesting sighting in itself, you can see more about it here.

2016-03-07: Monochrome Monday & WPC Muse

I decided to combine my usual Monochrome Monday with a WPC topic of the week: Muse.  What topic do I return to time and time again?  What subject inspires me?  What am I ALWAYS excited to photograph?

If you’ve read this blog for more than a week, you’ll know the answer, it’s easy:

Elephants 🙂

I’d happily spend a day, a week, a lifetime in the presence of elephants.  Photographing them of course, but more importantly just being in their presence, enjoying their rumbles and trumpeting, feeling the vibrations of their communications at levels we can’t hear, revealing in their beautiful, peaceful nature.

Here are a couple photos that popped out at me this time for editing and posting.

Enjoy, and have a wonderful week.

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A bull elephant grazing at breakfast time. The sun was at the perfect angle for a lovely shadow of his trunk on the ground behind him. Timbavati, May 2015
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The perfect fly swatter.
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Shade is in short supply in the Damaraland desert. A family of elephants take turns under the shade of a small tree. Damaraland Camp, April 2015

 

Note – this isn’t the current WPC topic of the week… not even close.  But when I was looking for the current one, this spoke one spoke to me.  Onto Harmony later in the week.

WPC Muse

 

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