ARCHIVE KENYA 113 – WATERS FROM KILIMANJARO

 

 

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Freshwater springs in Amboseli Game Reserve; late 1970s.  This water originates in the snow and ice on the top of nearby Mt Kilimanjaro, and flows underground to emerge as springs in Amboseli’s dry bush country.  It is a great draw to large animals, especially elephants.

Amboseli is an especially good place to see elephants because Cynthia Moss and other scientists have studied them there for decades.  Hence they are semi-accustomed to humans, and not disturbed by their (considerate) presence. As always, whenever I visited Amboseli, it paid to be very wary of lone bull elephants, especially when they were in musth (akin to being in heat), which was often shown by seepage from glands on the sides of their heads. 

But the big herds of females and young (led by a matriarch) were far more placid – when taking clients on safari to Amboseli, I would often stop our vehicle in the path of a long line of females and young and, completely still and silent, we would watch them passing slowly around us, like slow-moving water flowing around a small island in a stream.  Once, one took some vegetation that had become attached to our front bumper.  We never had any problem doing this – although my hand was always on the ignition key – and it was really one of Life’s great experiences.  So slow, so quiet and so massive they were, but with a deep gentleness too, that often had a perceptible effect on those in the vehicle.

Elephants are one of those animals that are far more intelligent than they seem.  Examples?  A definite attitude to death, resulting in their fondling and trying to bury dead elephants; a very low frequency communication system that works over vast distances; and the ability, apparently, to smell (and remember) each individual occupant of a vehicle.  The word “awe” is used far too frequently these days, it has become devalued.  However, quite simply, awe is an emotion that elephants never fail to evoke in me.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: OM-1 with 28mm Zuiko lens; Agfa CT18 colour slide film, rated at 64 ISO; Color Efex Pro 4.

THE ARCHIVE KENYA SERIES

I’m re-posting photographs that I took in Kenya over 30 years ago.  You can find more context here .  Click onto the “Archive Kenya” tag (below) to see more of these film images from Kenya.

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OUTER SUBURBS 305 – SUNRISE

 

 

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As always, the Natural World, nothing beats it – and with a touch of lens flare left in just to annoy those who think such things important …  😎

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day. 

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – certainly recommended.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 03 profile; south Bristol; 11 Sept 2020.
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ARCHIVE KENYA 110 – FLYING TO KENYA

 

 

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Sunrise over stratus cloud, seen from a London-Nairobi flight on 25 Sept 1979.

Back in those days, my (very portable) camera was often with me, and flights to and from Kenya were vast photo opportunities – here I’m flying south, and sitting on the left of the plane to catch the sunrise.

Below, the world is shrouded in a great blanket of stratus cloud, and the low angle light of the sunrise reveals the cotton wool textures on the cloudbank’s upper surface.

Stratus is the name for clouds that form a layer or stratum, whereas clouds that consist of many discrete parts – sometimes looking like lots of balls of cotton wool – are known as cumulus.  Cirrus clouds are the thin veils of vapour that form high up in the atmosphere.  These three cloud types all intergrade to give, for example, stratocumulus, a cloud that is in layers that consist of individual smaller cloudlets.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: OM-1 with 50mm Zuiko lens; Agfa CT18 colour slide film rated at 64 ISO; Color Efex Pro 4; Dfine 2.

THE ARCHIVE KENYA SERIES

I’m re-posting photographs that I took in Kenya over 30 years ago.  You can find more context here .  Click onto the “Archive Kenya” tag (below) to see more of these film images from Kenya.

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OUTER SUBURBS 303 – DAWN BREAKING, LATE DECEMBER

 

 

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Dawn breaking on Boxing Day, just after rain.

And almost invisible in the murk up to the left of the light – can you see it??? –  a large gull glides in above the rooftops, calling noisily to its companions in the dark sky as it starts its day above the suburbs, searching for the edible scraps and refuse that we have discarded.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day. 

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – certainly recommended.

Technique: TG-5 at 25mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Portrait profile; south Bristol; 26 Dec 2020.
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OUTER SUBURBS 302 – DAWN

 

 

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As Dylan Thomas (certainly inspirational, certainly a hero) put it: the dawn inches up …

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day. 

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Portrait profile; south Bristol; 8 Dec 2020.
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ARCHIVE KENYA 109 – SAVANNAH GRASSLAND

 

 

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Savannah grassland with scattered Acacia thorn bushes in the south of the Maasai Mara Reserve; April 1979.

The small thorn bushes in the foreground are probably Whistling Thorns.  These bushes have swollen, hollow bases to some of their thorns, in which live symbiotic ants.  The ants make holes in the swollen thorns to get in and out, and the wind blowing through these holes produces a whistling sound that gives the plant its name.

There is some thicker and darker bush just right of centre, along a small and probably seasonal watercourse.

This picture was taken in southern Mara, in extreme southwestern Kenya, and the distant hills are in Tanzania’s Serengeti Reserve.

Use of a polarising filter has greatly increased the definition of the clouds but caused the few patches of visible sky to be an unnaturally dark blue.  I loved using the Olympus OM-1 SLR.  It was light and compact, as were its Zuiko lenses, and the three that I always carried with me – 28mm f3.5, 50mm f1.4 and 75mm-150mm f4 – all used screw in filters of the same diameter – a wonderfully handy, compact and lightweight arrangement!

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: OM-1 with 28mm Zuiko lens; polarising filter; Agfa CT18 colour slide film, rated at 64 ISO; Color Efex Pro 4.

THE ARCHIVE KENYA SERIES

I’m re-posting photographs that I took in Kenya over 30 years ago.  You can find more context here .  Click onto the “Archive Kenya” tag (below) to see more of these film images from Kenya.

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OUTER SUBURBS AT 300

 

 

Walking the roads at night’s end
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I started the Outer Suburbs posts on 25 Aug 2018, carrying the little Olympus Tough TG-5 camera in my pocket on the long, early morning walks (LOL! >>> maybe I should say route marches!) that I take around Bristol’s outer limits, in vain pursuit of a slimmer waistline.  In that first post over two years ago, I said that I had no idea of how the series might progress – and with hindsight I certainly had no idea of how a disease emanating from a “wet” market on the other side of the world was going to affect my life and the lives of vast numbers of other people across the world, and end so many peoples’ lives too.

But solitary, early morning walks have proved a good way of getting the exercise that brings real mental and physical benefits in this strange, new reality – while keeping away from the crowded and indoor spaces where the virus continues to thrive.  This series of posts has photographed many things, and I’m rather taken aback to have reached number 300.  Via the vaccines, there is the possibility of some light at the end of the tunnel now, although I harbour absolutely no illusions about a speedy return to normality.  It is simply a case of keeping well informed about what is going on with the virus, taking all the precautions, and seeing what materialises.

Below are some earlier pictures from the series.  Clicking onto any of the images here will open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Take care – and stay safe – everyone!

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Early morning 6

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Car beside fence, early light

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A good plateful

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Early morning mist, main road

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Autumn

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Bus shelter, early morning light

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Early morning 41

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Modern life 8

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Path through modern housing 4

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Soda water with ice and a slice of lemon 3

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Symbols of division and the shadow of a car

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Photographing a tree’s shadow on the wall of a house, at sunrise

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OUTER SUBURBS 297 – DAYSTART, AND JACKDAWS

 

 

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Walking the Outer Suburbs, just as Our Star starts to rise.  Windows reflect the light, bands of colour fill the sky – and the Jackdaws? >>> they’re on the chimney top at far right.  They’re crows, the smallest of our crows, and they love chimneys;  they are starting to move as the light brightens, bustling on the chimney tops and filling the air with their  sharp calls – “tjack-daw!“

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day. 

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – certainly recommended.

Technique: TG-5 at 49mm (equiv); 1600 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Portrait profile; south Bristol; 1 Dec 2020.
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ARCHIVE KENYA 104 – DAWN AT BARINGO

 

 

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Dawn at Lake Baringo, a freshwater lake in the rift valley, Kenya; June 1980.

In the foreground the lake shore, with the faintest of wavelets on the water behind.

And above that, large areas of diffuse colour and shadow, more an impression of things really, rather than an accurately representative image.

Our Star, still not risen, starting to assert itself on the look of things.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day. 

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: OM-1 with 28mm Zuiko lens; Agfa CT18 colour slide film, rated at 64 ISO; Color Efex Pro 4.

THE ARCHIVE KENYA SERIES

I’m re-posting photographs that I took in Kenya over 30 years ago.  You can find more context here .  Click onto the “Archive Kenya” tag (below) to see more of these film images from Kenya.

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ARCHIVE 586 – CROW, IN WILD SKY

 

 

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Carrion Crow over our back garden, not long after dawn; 27 Nov 2011.

I very much like the limited palette of colours but – as is so often the case – I prefer this version to monochrome.  The crow – which looks for all the world like a Photoshop insert! – is purposely positioned away from any of the composition’s visual strong points, but with space ahead to fly into.  Actually quite a reasonably sized bird, it looks so small here against the vast sky and very solid looking clouds:  this is intentional.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day. 

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: D700 with 70-300 Nikkor lens at 200mm; 800 ISO.

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