Urban safari
Spurred on by disappointment, I decided to go on safari in Lusaka, the Zambian capital.
I’d been to South Luangwa to see the wildlife and take photos. Returning home with my undeveloped black and white film, I had high expectations. But something had gone badly wrong. Without going into embarrassing detail, there were two glaring problems with my pictures : I hadn’t got close enough to the animals and they all merged into their mid-grey backgrounds.
The safari itself was a pleasure from start to finish and I plan to go back to South Luangwa and try again.
But what about my urban safari? As I moved around Lusaka I kept on seeing painted sculptures – lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes – replicas of the animals I’d seen in the flesh. Now though I was able to get in close and play with the light and composition. The sculptures weren’t going to run away.
Once I got started, I found that shooting in town brought its own challenges : officious security guards, traffic passing dangerously close to me and lamp posts growing out of animals’ heads. But the fun has always outweighed the frustrations and I hope that sense of fun comes through. I found this zebra and giraffe in the grounds of a lodge.
Getting that close to a real Giraffe would be a tall order.
If you did get that close, you’d probably get a kick out of it.
Lovely picture, but wouldn’t it be better in colour?
Better, Maria? – it’s a matter of personal preference. I love the way the animal markings show in black and white.
The zebra looks startled – did you get too close?
Perhaps I did – although he (or she) didn’t run away.