danisuttoncamara

Matriarch's Tranquility

Safaris in Kenya are an amateur photographers dream. The only difficulty is that with most National Reserves, the demand has left you with little space with whi...
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Safaris in Kenya are an amateur photographers dream. The only difficulty is that with most National Reserves, the demand has left you with little space with which to operate and view the wildlife. However, a private ranch just north of the equator (Lolldaiga) possesses 50,000 acres of very diverse land. Here, a herd of roughly 300 elephant, among many other animals, have made their home. As I learnt from our guides, elephant only mate in a place they have felt secure in for quite a while. Thus the reason why Lolldaiga's herd, with a good number of calves was truly astonishing. This photo is hence called Matriarch's Tranquility, as I tried to capture that sence of peace in the shot.
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Oct, 2018

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Awards

Action Award

Zenith Award

Creative Winter Award

Top Shot Award 21

Legendary Award

Contest Finalist in Black And White Compositions Photo Contest Vol 4

Contest Finalist in Monthly Pro Photo Contest Vol 46

Contest Finalist in Monthly Pro Photo Contest Vol 45

Community Choice Award

Contest Finalist in Colossal Wildlife Photo Contest

Peer Award

+72

Top Choice

+28

Superb Composition

+15

Absolute Masterpiece

+11

Outstanding Creativity

Magnificent Capture

Genius

Virtuoso

Superior Skill

Emotions

Impressed

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken in Lolldaiga Ranch, near Nanyuki in Kenya. Lolldaiga is a little-known ranch which hires out a few cabins. It is abeautiful place in order to have a lovely retreat and, if you wish, see the wildlife that has made this ranch home. The guides and owners are also fantastic people, who will give you tips and help you track down whichever animal you wish to see with their knowledge of their habits and the terrain.

Time

This shot was taken early in the morning, at around 10AM. It is from sunrise till about 11 when the wildlife is most active, as the heat has not set in, yet there is much visibility in order to see any predator should it be lurking around. This herd of elephant were, at the time when I took the photo, on their way to one of the man-made damns used as water reserves for the kattle and wildlife in the ranch.

Lighting

I am personally not a proffessional photographer, and this shot was taken while both usand the herd where on the move. Therefore, the was no lighting equipment used, only natural sunlight. However, it is because of the lighting in this photo, with the darkened area around the matriarch's eye, that I feel it transmits best that sence of peace and calmness I felt in Lolldaiga.

Equipment

The photo was taken on my beloved camera, a Nikon D7100. The lens used with it was a Sigma APO 150-500mm F/5-6.3 lens, with this shot being at the upper limit of focal length, at 500mm. As I mentioned earlier, we were mostly on the move for this shoot, and I found a tripod severely limited my options when shooting wildlife, which more often than not allow you only a few seconds to capture that moment before they move. Hence, the only equipment used for taking this photo are the camera body and lens.

Inspiration

I briefly mentioned this earlier, but I stress again how first thing you notice upon arrival in Lolldaiga is the peace and the quietness. After several nights spent there in which you don't have any contact with the outside world, you finally start to relax and enjoy your moments there while they last. I distinctly remember thinking one evening, while looking at the sunset from a viewpoint, that the wildlife of the ranch had made the correct choice when they made it their home. Talking to our guide Julius, he explained how elephants will not breed on the move or if they feel threatened, only when they have found a place in which they have felt secure for a while will they then start to breed. This was a particularly striking revelation to me, as we had seen several family groups of elephant grazing in the ranch, and almost all of them had at least one calf. This meant that a herd of approximately 300 elephant had finally found tranquility, and needed to search for a home away from poachers no longer. it was once I had returned from my trip, while viewing this shot, that I really noticed how clear the elephant's look had come out. For me, that look captures everything I felt in Lolldaiga; that which I know the elephat share, by what Julius told me. Matriarch's tranquility is trying to capture all of these feelings of peace, calmness, and tranquility.

Editing

As I am not a professionl photographer, my knowledge of the techniques of post-processing are limited and incomplete at best. For this photo, I first of all transformed it into blak and white, because I felt that only reinforced the message I wished to transmit with it. Once that was done, I upped the clarity and the dehazing, as well as retouching the highlights, blacks and whites. I did a minimal retouching of the tone curve and finally cropped it very slightly in order to focus the image primarily on the elephants face.

In my camera bag

This being a hobby of mine for the moment, I expand my range of equipment when I can and have the money to afford it. I only have one camera body, which I absolutely adore, the Nikon D7100, and I two lenses to go with it, depending on the kind of sh-ot I want to make. For a quickshot, and the lens I would normally have mounted on the frame for its relatively wide range in focal length, I have a Nikkor 18-105mm,f/3.5-5.6. For longer- range photos or close-ups of an object of a photo at a bit of a distance I have a Sigma telephoto 150-500mm F/5-6.3 (the one I used on this shot). Of course, if I ever wish to do long exposures or landscape photography, I always carry a Cullmann tripod and a Neewer neutral density filter set.

Feedback

Capturing wildlife is an absolute challange. One must always be ready to pull out the camera at a moments notice and start shooting, otherwise you might have missed your chance. Our guide Julius, a local with many years of training and expertise in tracking and dealing with wildlife, was invaluable. Without his knowledge of the wildlife's habits, we would have seen but a fraction of what we did. Of course, not being a professional I can offer little advice of my own, as I am still in the process of slowly developing my own style and aspects to photography. When it comes to wildlife and landscapes, an early morning and readiness to quicklychange any plans you had in order to accomodate whatever you may stumble across is vital.

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danisuttoncamara

danisuttoncamara

Matriarch's Tranquility

Safaris in Kenya are an amateur photographers dream. The only difficulty is that with most National Reserves, the demand has left you with little space with whi... Read more

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow danisuttoncamara

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Safaris in Kenya are an amateur photographers dream. The only difficulty is that with most National Reserves, the demand has left you with little space with whi...
Read more

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes.
Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.