Looking back at 2014 - Part 1

It's always good to take time out and reflect on where you've come from and where you are heading to.  I really enjoy doing this with my photography so seeing as we are now in a new year I wanted to take a look back at 2104, see how and if my skills matured and try and pinpoint what processes or events lead to that growth.  So come along for the ride if you like, I can promise some cool pictures and maybe, just maybe the odd pearl of wisdom - even if they are small ones!

I can break 2014 into roughly two blocks photography wise - the photos I took while on our holiday and the work I did here in New Zealand through out the year.  With this in mind I'll deal with the two separately and see if there can be any links drawn between the two at the end.

2014's Travel Photography

Last year saw us trek back to Africa for the second time and spend a bit of time in Hong Kong as well.  We'd been to Africa in 2012 and I took A LOT of pictures on that trip, which is not a bad thing, but looking back at them now I get the feel that there was a lot of 'finger-to-the-shutter' and not much though going into what I was doing.  This time around I spent time thinking about what kind of pictures I wanted to get and made a mental checklist, something to refer to in the moment so that I was taking pictures from a more informed stand point if you will.

I had spent some time watch some of Rick Sammon's courses over on KelbyOne (I highly recommend them) specifically those with going on safari and tried to keep his words in my head so every time I pushed the shutter it was a considered action.

As a result I have a collection of images from Kruger and some of the game farms we visited in Zimbabwe that I am really proud and have really taken a big step forward when I compare them to images I made in 2012

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Getting low on the animal's level here with the rhino  provided a neat reflection but more importantly being on a level with the animal allows you to fee more connected with the subject of the picture and think this is an important element that I was previously missing in older pictures.  That connection. 

Another important aspect I kept in mind was the eyes. The eyes can lend a great deal to the image, like with this vervet monkey - he's looking into space and that provides a bit of intrigue, what is he watching so intently?  The back light adds a nice glow to him as well. 

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Another area I wanted to emphasis was showing the animal in the environment - now I will admit I didn't do as much of this as I would've liked, but there was one image from the trip that stood out for me in this context.

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This image goes a long way to capturing the essence of a leopard for me.  A dappled ghost that drifts through the bush, perfectly suited to it's surrounds.  For me here is an animal in it's environment,  the shot below is another great representation of that.  Once again the key, for me, to this image is the eye contact.  The fact she is looking straight down the barrel of the lens at you.  my one gripe is I cut her tail off!

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What I learnt from the last trip is to take a mental check-list with you. With a clear idea of the type of shots you want to come home with I think you will go a long way to achieving that exact goal.  It also helps to focus your mind when you are in the field when everything is happening around you.

There are so many pictures I could put in here but I will spare you, if you are interested in seeing a few more from the trip you can find them here.

I'm going to end my reflections on the holiday here and deal with my landscape photography in New Zealand in the next post because otherwise you will literally drown in text and nobody needs to be subjected to that!  I

I hope there's been something useful or insightful here, if not at least there have been some cool animals to look at!  See you in part two!