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Monochrome Monday #75

on May 30, 2016

Art is what we call...the thing an artist does. It's not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human.

Art is not in the eye of the beholder... It's in the soul of the artist. - Seth Godin

Many a person will claim that photography is not art and especially in this day and age, now that everything is digital, but I disagree. I think now more than ever, photography is art. We are able to create images and scenes now that our predecessors just weren’t capable of achieving back then with the technological limitations. We can get really creative now with our images and I’m not saying that we shouldn’t represent life as we see it, but who’s to say that we have to. I love producing an extreme ‘Low Key’ or ‘High Key’ image. I think they look great on print as well due to the lack of clutter. I love creating vivid landscapes, sunsets, and sunrises that the camera couldn’t capture, but my mind’s eye did. The key is to not be scared with experimentation and do whatever makes you happy and produce whatever image you like. If it’s not something that everyone enjoys so be it, at least YOU do.

I think there’s a lovely range of images in this week’s blog post and I hope you enjoy them.

01Mike Palmer Charlestons 050316 4

Not an easy light situation to shoot here, but I liked the end result of this Charleston male having a quick drink between bouts of mating.

02Mike Palmer Hippo 160216

A beautiful ‘Low Key’ representation of a very impressive bull hippo that to me, just works so well.

03Mike Palmer Hlarulini 180216 2

This has been a favourite image of mine since I took it a little while back of the Hlarulini female late one afternoon. She does have the most beautiful golden coat, but I love her in the warm sepia tones here. She is a stunning cat.

04Mike Palmer LBC Cub 080416

I really enjoy ‘Dirty Portraits’ and this one I liked quite a lot. Little Bush had stashed a kill deep into a Tambotie Tree thicket where visuals of her and her cub were very limited, but using the length of a 600mm I was able to remove a lot of the clutter to capture the cub surrounded by texture.

05Mike Palmer Lisbon 070416

Lisbon, the “Queen of the South”. Sepia tones look amazing with leopard portraits.

06Mike Palmer Mazino 100216

To some, the tooth hanging out of Mazino’s mouth is an eyesore and a source of concern, but let me assure you he is perfectly well and feeding without hindrance. I actually really like this aspect to him as it makes him very distinctive.

07Mike Palmer Stars 060316

Star photography is a big passion of mine, but I must admit that I’ve experimented very little with monochrome conversions of the night skies and I really liked the result here in this image.

08Mike Palmer Verrauxs 140216

My favourite owl, the Verraux’s Eagle-Owl. It really is an exceptional bird and the largest owl in the region.

09Mike Palmer Vulture 080416

Conditions weren’t ideal on this day to capture a great scene, but I knew where I could take it and this was to do a ‘High Key’ approach to the image. The result is pleasing to me with the focus remaining on the bird in flight and nothing else. I just wish I had a bit more space in the image for the bird to fly into.

10Mike Palmer WD 260316

Such a pretty girl. The White Dam female was resting atop a termite mound in the late afternoon, but still with harsh light in the background so I did what I could to recover detail and went for the sepia conversion. It worked out great!

  • By Mike Palmer (Bush Lodge Ranger)
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