Drought I

2009-10-19-12124-Drought

East Africa has been hit by the hardest drought for many years, and many parts of Kenya haven’t seen rain since 2007. The game parks are fields of death where animal carcasses lie spread about like warnings of impending doom. A few more years, and the grasslands will be irreparable deserts.
This image is from Amboseli. I chose black and white for two reasons. One to enhance the gravity in the images, the second because the fool that I am forgot to reset the ISO to 100. As you all know, ISO 1600 is not good for noise, especially on an Olympus. But bad as it seemed at the time, the conversion to B&W seemed to work. This is the first of four images in a series.

6 replies
  1. Framed and Shot
    Framed and Shot says:

    Great journalism/documentary photo!
    The black and white really works – we are trying to imagine the colors, and find it hard. To us, the black and white emphasize the depressing mood and the cadaver.
    About the forgetting ISO resetting… haven’t we all been there and done that? Luckily your image is still great!!
    We thought that the savanna was «as flat as Texas» – have you added the angle or is it as steep as it looks?

    Svar
  2. The White Zulu
    The White Zulu says:

    Well, you can not only imagine, but see the colors on my Flickr account right here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/geirertzgaard/4109875095/in/set-72157622531679070/

    In small format it doesn’t really matter, when you get close you can see that the mountain side dissolves into noise particles, and not the dust of drought stricken Amboseli.

    You may think that the savanna is flat. Well, it isn’t, I think the world «rolling» is a well chosen word. Here I’ve used creative freedom (read: Stiff knees) and allowed the horizontal line to angle quote a bit.

    I’m glad you liked this image. I do too;-)

    Svar
    • The White Zulu
      The White Zulu says:

      Thanks, Ivar. Sorry for responding so late, but time is a commodity I don’t have much of at the moment, for the last couple of months only 24 hours a week. I appreciate your comment, and hope to visit your site mor frequently.

      Svar
  3. Jan Ivar Vik
    Jan Ivar Vik says:

    Den skjeve horisonten understreker bare hvor skakk verden vi lever i faktisk er, med så enorme kontraster mellom rike og fattige land. Det er fullstendig galskap.

    Jeg synes bildet er sterkt og fortellende. Få i gang litt dodge/burn, slik at bildet blir mer dynamisk. Jeg synes det fremstår veldig flatt og grått slik det er nå. Men med litt selektiv kontrast kan du kanskje fremheve de sentrale elementene i bildet, som f.eks. kadaveret, trærne i bakgrunnen og himmelen.
    .-= Jan Ivar Vik´s last blog ..Dan =-.

    Svar
    • The White Zulu
      The White Zulu says:

      Tusen takk, Jan Ivar. Jeg tar dine tilbakemeldinger seriøst, og lærer mye av de. Grått er det nok ja, men det var ikke i min tanke at det var flatt. Litt usikker hvordan jeg skulle angrepet det med Dodge & Burn. Så langt har jeg ikke kommet i kurset til Chris Orwig enda;-), men når jeg studerer bildet nærmere forstår jeg hva du mener. Selv syntes jeg det var mye dybde i det, men nyansene mellom de ulike gråtonene er nok for svake når jeg ser det med nye briller.

      Svar

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