I read the weekly newsletter of a photographer that I follow this morning, and one of the topics mentioned was about being overwhelmed with the process of editing photos. One of the comments he made really has me thinking, and may change the way I approach my catalogue in the future. The author mentioned that he doesn’t bother with a rating system anymore; it’s either yes or no. Do I want to work with the image, share it, etc, or not. Having only just finished my 2-star rating pass of my image catalogue from my trip, and finding it on the one hand enjoyable viewing images and reliving some of the moments, but on the other, incredibly time consuming, employing a new strategy might be necessary.
I’m hesitant because I worry I’ll miss something if I am ruthlessly flagging things yes or no. But flagging an image doesn’t mean I can’t look through them again later and see if my feelings have changed or not. It’s not like anything is getting deleted (well, except all the accidental shutter clicks of my pant leg, there’s no need for those).
In the spirit of looking for images I absolutely wanted to work with and share, here are a few giraffe images from my past trip. The instantly recognizable shape of the giraffe lends itself beautifully to a silhouette, and how nice of all these animals for cooperating.
Giraffes at sundown. Savute Game Reserve, Botswana. April, 2024.
A giraffe at sunrise. Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024
Moving the vehicle allowed us to capture some of the friends of the lone giraffe above. Timbavati Game Reserve, South Africa. April, 2024
I’d always hoped for the chance to capture an image of elephants silhouetted against a sunrise or sunset. I had the opportunity when I was in Zimbabwe last year, though the results weren’t quite what I had in mind. I think if we had been in position about 15 to 20 minutes earlier, the sky would have been a bit brighter, though still colourful enough to be interesting. Though, of course, had we been in this particular spot earlier, the elephants wouldn’t have been there, as they were on the move and just passing through the area.
There are so many sightings I think would be interesting, and images I would love to capture. I don’t put pressure on myself or guides when we are out and about to find certain situations, as part of the joy of being in the bush is the unexpected. Though if we are at a sighting, I will ask for a vehicle to be repositioned, if it is safe to do so and doesn’t adversely impact others, in order to be able to capture better images, but usually, the guide has already thought of that as they position a vehicle.
This weekend I completed my exams to finish out summer term, and now have the next month off (well, off of school, I still have a full time job to attend to). My brain is pretty much turned to mush after all the revising, so instead of adding more to my to do list, I found an edited photo waiting to post. A sunset seemed fitting, as an end to a rather hectic and stressful couple of months. I am looking forward to some downtime over the next few weeks, and an opportunity to do some more editing, and maybe even find a place that inspires me to get out shooting. And then, after labour day, the cycle will begin again.
I switched it up a little this week (monotone, instead of monochrome) as I really liked the natural blue colour that this image had.
While out on a morning game drive on from Lion Sands Tinga Lodge, we came across a baboon troop that was just starting to stir in the treetops. Some youngsters had begun to play, and a few members were already on the ground. They were in a large tree at the edge of the river, so even though sunrise was only minutes away, it was still rather dark.
This mother and her infant caught my eye, nestled into the fork of the tree; just a simple moment, but one I was glad I could capture, and remember again.
There have been lots of exciting changes over the month, so I have decided to start a month in review post as a way to share what’s going on, highlight a few of my favourite images posted during the month, and let you know what the topic will be for next month. So let’s get started.
February’s topic of the month: Revisiting old work
I really enjoyed having a reason to scroll through the early days of my photo catalogues, looking for images that I may have overlooked the first time around, or just didn’t know how to properly edit them. It is a process I would recommend to anyone that is looking to see how far they have progressed as an artist. I found the then and now edits to be the most valuable though, as I could look at an image with fresh eyes compared to a previous interpretation. Some times the results were quite subtle, but I definitely learned a lot doing the work.
What’s new this month
A lot has been happening behind the scenes in February! I was able to finally move ahead with combining my blog and gallery sites into one cohesive website. You may have noticed the change to www.jennifersawickyphotography.com. I’m happy to have everything centralized in one place; it will make it much easier to share content in the future. I did all work myself, and I’m definitely not a web expert so it probably took me twice as long as it should, but it was a way to learn some new skills, challenge my brain a bit, and exercise my creativity in a slightly different way. All wins! My gallery is still under construction, but please take a look around and let me know what you think. I will be continuing to add more items over the coming weeks.
Five Favourites from this month
A young elephant getting a drink from a broken landscape pipe. This was one of the youngsters that thrilled me by repeatedly visiting me at my vehicle while his Mom stood by.
What’s coming up next?
For March, I have decided that I want to work on showcasing multiple exposures. I am definitely going to try my hand at doing some in camera multiple exposures, but I have had several ideas percolating for images for some time from items already in my catalogue, so this will give me the perfect opportunity to finally work on them. The winter has been challenging with a lot of snow, and I don’t think that it is wise to set myself a topic for the month that requires getting out a lot with my camera. The snow in my backyard for example is now waist high, so getting around and exploring is a bit tricky. And to be honest, not super appealing.
This is one of the multiple expose images I created last year. I am excited to delve into more work like this 🙂
This might be an odd take on the topic of the week, a face in the crowd, but the purpose of the topic was to using different angles and orientations, shadow and silhouette to mask some of the features of the subject.
Portraits aren’t my thing, so I have decided to share a silhouette image.
