travel – Jennifer Sawicky Photography

March 19, 2023March 19, 2023

2023-03-19: Stormy Skies

These images caught my eye while I was trying to decide what to work on this week. I do love a dramatic sky, and while the rainstorms I can do without, the clouds at sunset are beautiful watch, as the colours change moment to moment.

Dramatic skies on the Zambezi River. Zambezi National Park, Zimbabwe. November, 2022.

A sunset boat cruise on the Zambezi. I had to balance between sipping my wine and taking pictures.

This cloud was the beginning of quite a thunderstorm. I didn’t manage any still shots of the lightning, as we were far from camp and pushing to get back before the rain, and it didn’t seem right to ask to stop for photos. I caught this image while on an evening drinks stop, just before we collectively decided it was best to get a move on. Madikwe, South Africa. November, 2022.

February 11, 2018

2018-02-11: Revisiting Old Work

Another week, and another trip down memory lane in terms of my photography. I’m really glad I made the decision to work on images already captured for this month, as we got rather buried in the snow the past week, and I haven’t had the time, or the energy, to get out and try and capture anything new.

This week is a mixed bag of images, shot locally and in Africa, in colour and black and white.

20180211_Revisit_JSawicky0 — From 2014, a sunrise image of the Golden Ears from the dikes in Pitt Meadows where I used to walk my dog.

20180211_Revisit_JSawicky1 — Flying over Victoria Falls on the way into Livingstone airport in Zambia. Previously, I wasn’t really able to pull out any decent texture from photos shot through windows. Zambia, April 2013.

20180211_Revisit_JSawicky2 — Victoria Falls from the Zambian side. I was very fortunate to see it with just the right water level; enough so the falls looked incredibly impressive, but not so much that it was completely shrouded in mist. Zambia, April 2013.

For my then and now image, I chose this zebra from my first trip to South Africa. The original black and white conversion was done in Lightroom using a few basic adjustments, not long after I returned from my trip. The updated image was edited recently using a combination of plugins in Photoshop, including MacPhun Tonality and Topaz Detail. I’m sure I could achieve similar results simply using On1 Photo Raw (I’m not using Lightroom any longer for processing), but I like the ease of using Tonality for black and white edits.

Zebra original.jpg — Then – a basic black and white conversion lacking a lot of contrast.

20180211_Revisit_JSawicky0 copy — Now – the zebra stands out much better against the foliage, and there is a lot more detail throughout the image.

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

and

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

February 7, 2018

2018-02-07: Wordless Wednesday

20180207_WW

February 5, 2018

2018-02-05: Monochrome Monday

I truly have been blessed with the leopard sightings I have experienced over the years.

A leopard silhouetted by the setting sun in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.

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

and

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

February 4, 2018

2018-02-04: Revisiting old work

For February, I have decided that my topic for the month will be revisiting old work. It was one of the shortlisted topic ideas that I had come up with back in December, and lately, it is a concept I have been encountering over and over in the educational resources I am working through, in articles that I read and podcasts that I have been listening to. I think it is an excellent concept as there have been improvements in photo editing software over the years, plus I’ve added a lot more tools into my editing toolbox and my skills at editing have improved with time and practice.

I am going to try to look for a mix of images that I can show both a then and now edited version of an image, and also work on images for the first time. I am sure there are many images that I passed over throughout the years because I simply didn’t have the skills to correct for errors in the field, difficult lighting scenarios or heavy noise.

Here is my first instalment of revisiting old work:

20180204_Revisit_JSawicky0 — I originally edited this giraffe image upon returning home from a trip in 2014. below is my revisit to the image.

20180204_Revisit_JSawicky1 — Today’s take on the same image; the changes are not dramatic, but textures in the images are definitely a lot more apparent.

20180204_Revisit_JSawicky2 — I love the surreal nature of this deer at sunrise in thick fog. Taken along to Pitt River October, 2013.

20180204_Revisit_JSawicky3 — Way back to the first trip where I had a DSLR camera, a Nikon D5100 with kits lens. I was on a Caribbean cruise and spent loads of time shooting images off the balcony, but never edited any of them till much later. January, 2012.

20180204_Revisit_JSawicky4 — Wild horses on Grand Turk, January 2012. This was a shore excursion on the same trip as the image above. I took a short walk from the main tourist area along the beach and found these two horses grazing. It felt like a rather improbable sighting at the time, but during my travels I have come to learn that many animals can survive quite well in areas that seem to have rather meaner resources.

It’s been fun rooting through my photo catalogues for old images to work on. Pop by next Sunday to see what else I turn up.

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

and

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

February 1, 2018

2018-02-01: WPC – Beloved

I could have gone two ways with a topic of Beloved for the photo challenge of the week. And since I try my best not to post photos of my dog all the time, I went with my most beloved animal of the African bush, the elephant. Now, anyone who has followed my blog for a while knows that I love elephants, so this should come as no surprise. They are my favourite animal to spend time with (besides my dog, of course!).

I selected the images below because they represent all ages and a variety of different habitats that elephants make their homes in. I hope you enjoy.

20180201_WPCBeloved_JSawicky0 — A herd of desert adapted elephants in the Hoanib River in Namibia. April, 2017.

20180201_WPCBeloved_JSawicky1 — A bachelor herd of elephants in the Boteti River in Botswana, May 2017.

20180201_WPCBeloved_JSawicky2 — Mama, Auntie and a precocious little baby seen in the Khwai concession of the Okavango Delta. May, 2017

20180201_WPCBeloved_JSawicky3 — A couple of youngsters wrestling alongside a waterhole at Phinda in South Africa, May 2017.

20180201_WPCBeloved_JSawicky4 — A moment that I will treasure in my heart forever. Being inspected by a baby elephant whilst on a morning game drive. Londolozi, May 2017.

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

and

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

WPC: Beloved

January 31, 2018

2018-01-31: Wordless Wednesday

January 30, 2018

2018-01-30: WPC – Variations on a Theme

You never know what you are going to find when you are out on safari. It gets said time and time again, along with the concept of heading out without expectations of specific things that you want to see. Just being out in the bush is heaven for me, and anything I see is a bonus, so it is pretty easy to stay in that mindset.

While staying at Londolozi, we were on our morning game drive, and our ranger Dave heard about leopard cubs being spotted fairly close to where we were, so we headed off in that direction. We ended up doing a lot of 4 x 4’ing through the bush, and ended up stopping the vehicle at a rather severe downhill angle, to be able to view the cubs at the bottom of a ravine area. Soon enough, they decided that napping next to Mom was boring, and began playing with each other, running around fallen logs, chasing each other and generally acting like rambunctious little kids. The late morning light may have been a bit harsh, but the moment was absolutely epic to experience.

This week’s photo challenge topic, Variations on a Theme, seemed a great opportunity to share a few shots from this wonderful sighting. I hope you enjoy them; editing them has certainly brought back many happy memories for me.

20180130_WPCVariations on a theme_JSawicky0 — Effortlessly moving amongst the tangled roots and branches of a fallen tree.

20180130_WPCVariations on a theme_JSawicky1 — Stalking and ready to pounce!

20180130_WPCVariations on a theme_JSawicky3 — Heading back down to check on Mom.

20180130_WPCVariations on a theme_JSawicky4 — I think that look says “Don’t you dare!”

I posted a few other photos from this sighting, as well as other images from my last visit to Londolozi. You can find that post here if you missed it before.

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

and

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

WPC: Variations on a Theme

January 29, 2018

2018-01-29: Monochrome Monday

An oryx seamlessly blending in to the surrounding vegetation. If he hadn’t lifted his head, we would have driven past without ever noticing him (which would be a shame, because they truly are a stunning animal that I love watching and photographing).