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Nile Crocodile at Samburu Lodge, in the Samburu National Reserve of northern Kenya; December 1977.
This may look like a photo that demanded much courage and stealth in the African night, but in fact these large reptiles live in the Ewaso Ng’iro River right beside Samburu Lodge, and regularly come ashore to eat food put out by the lodge’s staff.
Yes I was using a 50mm lens and this menacing creature was very close by – but what my photo doesn’t show is a low wall between us, behind which I was quite safe!
Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.
Technique: OM-2 with 50mm Zuiko lens and flash; Agfa CT18 colour slide rated at 64 ISO; converted to mono in Silver Efex Pro 2, using the Yellow 2 preset as a jumping off point.
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FATman Photos 
I think what adds to the menace is the un-digital quality of the photo. Hope that makes sense. Sometimes digital, in leaving nothing to the imagination, removes an element we need.
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Lynn, I think you’re absolutely right about digital – and there seems to be a thing now about having images super-sharp (often front to back) and HDR, showing everything and leaving nothing to the imagination – and to me that shows only the lack of imagination of the photographers making such images. But at point of capture, and during digital processing, there are means of obscuring things, of leaving things to the imagination, and I think those means are very valuable. Many say that film images have a unique look but, be that as it may, its not sufficient to get me using film again – I’d rather try to keep away from “super sterile detail” – a lot but not all of the time – by other means. A
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he still looks wonderfully scary!!
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Oh this is scary plus plus plus! If you’re looking for a cold-blooded something that will haul itself closer and closer to you in your nightmares, this is it!!!!!! 😀
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You are a very honest man, my friend. Lovely shot, however safe you were!!
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Well I am as you know in search of the Simple Life, and honesty is the easy way – and there are times too when I simply can’t be bothered being dishonest – which is probably linked into less and less giving a damn about people’s opinions of me as the years continue to accumulate! 😉 I’m glad you like this – I do miss those days.
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