ViewBug community member CathyWithers-Clarke is luck enough to live in a special place. Based at the South-western tip of Africa close to Cape Point on the shores of False Bay, all she needs to do is to walk out of her front door to sit on the beach with the Penguins in the summer, or watch the Whales pass by in winter.
Her photo "Namaqualand Springbok" has been awarded several times and received the affection of the ViewBug community. Below is the story behind the shot.
Feedback
For an amateur like myself, as with all shots of this nature where you have a moving subject, it really is just a case of having your camera ready and keeping your eyes open. It also helps a lot if you 'tune out' the things that you aren't planning to use as the subject of a picture. Once I had marveled at the beauty of the flowers and taken the shots of them that I wanted, I made a point of not focusing on them at all so that I would be more likely to spot everything else that was on the landscape.
Inspiration
The light was very flat and getting darker, but the daisies were looking more dramatic by the minute in contrast with the stormy skies. I loved the fact that this magnificent Springbok was almost incidental to the scene, and although he was supposed to be the subject of the picture, he was totally eclipsed by this huge carpet of orange.
Location
This photo was taken in the Namaqua National Park, South Africa. We were on our way home from a long winter road trip and stopped off there for a couple of hours to break the journey. The seasons were just changing, so the weather was very unpredictable. Namaqua is famous for it's spectacular open spaces covered in wild flowers in the Spring, but as you can see even the tail end of Winter has great beauty!
Time
This was the middle of the afternoon, but a storm was racing in and things were getting very grey indeed - it started to rain not long after we took this.
Lighting
The light was fading to a very flat grey quickly as the rain moved in.
Equipment
This was shot on a Nikon D3200 with a Sigma 18-250mm lens. No other equipment was involved.
Editing
I'm not a technical whizz when it comes to the ins and outs of post-processing but there really wasn't much to be done to this photo as the drama was all there in the colour contrast, so it just needed a little cropping and clarity added.
In my camera bag
My camera bag has become my handbag as I never leave home without it, so I am always in possession of my Nikon D3200 and Sigma 18-250mm and 18-300mm lenses, a waterproof Canon Powershot as I live by the ocean and never know when I might find a great rockpool and a small Canon Legria video camera.
