If you visit a city only to see its famous sights, you are missing out on much of what makes that city what it is. The people who live there may do so against the backdrop of its grand buildings, iconic monuments, parks and so on, but for the most part those things are of secondary importance to their daily lives. If you want to really get to know a city you need also to observe those people.
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It’s widely recognised that elephants mourn their dead, but what about other animals? It’s rather easy to fall into the trap of anthropomorphising, attributing our feelings and behaviours to them. Yet there are examples of what appear to be very human-like emotions, and we were once privileged to witness one.
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If like me you live in the Northern Hemisphere, there’s something magical in discovering the world of the Southern. Africa in particular seems to draw us to explore, with its vast plains and forests, still-wild spaces, fascinating animals and very different cultures. Maybe too there’s a lingering romantic sense of the continent as an unknown frontier to be opened up, despite the somewhat negative associations attached to our historic explorations there.
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Jean De La Bruyere, French philosopher, said that, 'We come too late to say anything which has not been said already', but I am hopeful that I am better late than never.
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'When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs. When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.' I find it hard to believe that I haven’t used that quote from Ansel Adams before!
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Sometimes a few words can enhance a viewer’s understanding of an image. After all, what else are captions for if not to explain?
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Stay in the right place and you may find you don’t have to stray far from your accommodation to see beautiful birds. Such a spot is Mandina Lodge in Gambia, a few miles inland and a million miles away in spirit from the coastal resorts.
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Some photographic subjects are obvious candidates for black and white, others seem better suited to colour. But sometimes it’s interesting to choose a subject or destination that appears to cry out for colour and experiment with some monochrome edits. The results may surprise you!
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Senegal’s Saloum Delta is a watery world of mangrove swamps, small islets, creeks and shallow lagoons. It’s hard to imagine a more perfect place for a bird to live. And live here they do, in their hundreds. Of the 650 bird species in Senegal, 200 species can be seen around this delta.
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You might think that a place called Hellville would have a dark past. But this lively town on the Madagascan island of Nosy Be takes its name not from any Satanic connections but from Anne Chrétien Louis de Hell, a French admiral who was governor of Réunion Island from 1838 to 1841.
