Family Ties, a photo from Central, Central

Photographer's Note

Elephants are possibly my favourite animals and I canno0t resist posting another shot taken in Amboseli, Kenya. To have the opportunity to watch these huge creatures in the wild is a thrilling and privileged experience. This group crossed the road in front of us kicking up clouds of dusts as they walked slowly and solemnly by.

Elephants are the largest land mammals living on the Earth today. They have no natural predators鈥攐ther than man鈥攁nd can live between 50 and 70 years. They need a large range of area in which to live, forage, travel, breed, and raise families, and the climates of Africa and Asia are perfect for these activities. Elephants naturally live in herds with clearly established and linear social orders. Males and females live distinctly different lives; females live out their existences in tightly knit groups with other females鈥攗sually mothers, daughter, aunts, and sisters鈥攍ed by the matriarch, the eldest female. Female elephants live socially active lives, interacting with males on the borders of their groups, with females from other herds, as well as female members of other herds and populations they meet.
To contrast this starkly, males live independent, solitary lives. As they grow, they spend more and more time on the outskirts of the herd, eventually wandering away from the group first for hours, then days, then weeks at a time. When he nears the age of fourteen, he departs from the herd for good, and sets out to begin his own life. While males encounter other males and form loose bachelor herds, their interaction is usually aggressive but results in few injuries, battling over breeding rights for choice females; it is the older males who usually win these encounters, and the younger males must continue to wait.

You can view a large, higher quality version here

This photograph is copyright of Rosemary Walden - 漏 Rosemary Walden 2015. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of the image in any form is prohibited. You may not, except with my express written permission, copy, reproduce, download, distribute or exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system

snunney, bona, worldcitizen, PaulVDV, Hansaphotos, Cricri, ourania, ktanska, batalay, Royaldevon, annjackman, adores, photoray has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

snunney (130967) 2015-02-24 1:32

Hello Rosemary,
Giraffes are my favourite animals, but it is true to say elephants have a certain je ne sais quoi:-) Excellent tight framing on this herd. Fine conversion to black and white with superb rendering of the textural detail in the hides. Have a pleasant afternoon.

vjmite (6660) 2015-02-24 2:27

Hi Rosemary,

Excellent sharpness and exposure, and the B&W treatment works well for this subject, with every wrinkle showing up. Good idea to have the young elephant as the main subject. I also like the effect of the backlit dust around the feet.

Vince

holmertz (103540) 2015-02-24 2:38

Hello Rosemary,
This was a lovely experience for you and a fascinating photo for all of us to watch. I like the fine contrasts, partly created by the dust, and especially that there is such a strong sense of rhythm. Some are just stepping out of the photo while others are entering it, and at least one elephant is turning in another direction. This was truly a magic moment.
Kind regards,
Gert

CPD66 (960) 2015-02-24 4:52

Hi Rosemary,
i like the detail, framing, subject matter and the B&W formatting.
a good shot
TFS
Chris

bona (15057) 2015-02-24 5:47

Helo Rosemary,

what a lovely scene of this elephants group. The option for the Black&white was really great, resulting in wonderful contrast of white and grey.

Well done.
Andre

dkmurphys (79209) 2015-02-24 6:45

Hi Rosemary,
Superb wildlife scene. What a spectacular scene! Love it, perfectly chosen b&w. Well done!

Daniel

federico (6109) 2015-02-24 7:46

Hi Rosemary except of few details, like you slightly cutted the foot of the small elefant in the fg and the overexposed sky, your photo could belong to Genesis, Sebastiao Salgado last exibition...
the whitte dust around the animals is just great
best regards
Fred

PaulVDV (63440) 2015-02-24 11:12

Hello Rosemary,
It looks like you were in the middle of the herd when you took this picture.
That must have been an exciting moment.
Excellent interesting note about the elephants.
Best regards, Paul

HimalAnda (10671) 2015-02-24 13:07

Hello Rosemary,

The black and white suits very well to this subject. And you managed to create a real atmosphere, a real mood, with that work on the picture.

St茅phane

carlo62 (81265) 2015-02-24 14:41

Ciao Rosemary
bellissima foto e magnifico b&w.
Credo che non ci sia molto da commentare, ma molto da osservare.
Complimenti
Carlo

PiotrF (55862) 2015-02-24 16:33

Hello Rosemary,
this is beautiful scene of this elephants group.Very a detailed image.I like perfect exposure, fine composition and exquisite details and sharpness.Thank you for the note.
Regards
Piotr

daddo (28748) 2015-02-24 16:48

Powerful shot Rosemary, befitting these giants.Enchanting play of light on what after all is just dust, but here transformed into a thing of beauty and in its softness adding a lovely contrast to all those wrinkles. Regards. Klaudio.

berek (50518) 2015-02-24 21:55

Dear Rosemary
dance of the elephants. I think its the right choice in black and white. A picture taken in time. congratulations.
Best wishes
Burak

fabbs99 (17179) 2015-02-24 22:33

Hello Rosemary,

Wonderful image of the elephants in monochromeExcellent image quality with great clarity and sharpness. TFS.

Cheers
Farhat

jjcordier (79299) 2015-02-25 0:37

Rosemary
Le noir et blanc convient parfaitement 脿 cette tr猫s bonne photo. Un beau spectacle!
Amicalement
JJ

ManuMay (36447) 2015-02-25 3:36

Hi Rosemary!

It should be an incredible and unforgettable experience to visit those elephants in nature, the power, the sounds, the sand...all reflected on this great capture...and this time your option to post in B&W fits very well to the scene...A wonderful work!!
Thanks!!

Have a nice day...

Manu

timecapturer (49288) 2015-02-25 5:33

Hello Rosemary
super shot, love these giants and this shot captures their appeal and beauty so perfectly. Love this B&W image.

Quality stuff!

Internet driving me crazy today, so this is my only critique, but well worth the effort. B.

Nicou (193814) 2015-02-25 6:43

Hello

quelle vue sueprbe quel rendu sur ces 茅l茅phants et le soulevage de la poussi猫res des jeunes des adultes quelle vue, bravo.
Belle soir茅e
Nicou

Hansaphotos (11381) 2015-02-25 14:04

Hello Rosemary

This is such a wonderful shot of these fine animals. The choice of b&w works perfectly. The dust being stirred up by the big animals walk, contributes to make this a very evocative picture. In my opinion the animals that appears a bit darker in the foreground left and right are cleverly included as we just can see the back of the left one and the head of the right one. Truly beautiful and exquisite picture:) Thanks for sharing.

Greetings, Erling

Cricri (176) 2015-02-26 4:50

Hi Rosemary
Magnifique tant dans le cadrage, la nettet茅, un choix perso en N/B, et qui doit 锚tre magnifique aussi, compliment
Belle journ茅e
cricri

unclehotshot (4004) 2015-02-26 7:28

Hi Rosemary
That is really a fabulous photo you uploaded today. Smart choice in B/W and the close up with the whole frame filled up with elephants is just super. The dust adds greatly to the scene and it is really a top shot.
Cheers Frank
PS. we are related today with motives.
Thanks a lot for the info about the apostrophees. I am back in business again thanks to you :)

ourania (51103) 2015-02-26 9:43

Hello Rosemary,
this is a fascinating image that enchants both for its graphism and its liveliness. I like very much how your tight composition consists of parts of the elephants bodies, that fill the frame like pieces of a mosaic. The elephant in the middle offers an irresistible focal point and reference, his height is ideal so we can see the elephants in the background and have a glimpse of the savannah too. The play of light, dust and grey tones is lovely and atmospheric. I also like the textures and the seeming eye contact. Congratulations and thank you!
All the best, have a great evening,
Ourania

PS Thank you very much for making an effort to write a comment, I am very glad it was successful.

ktanska (45030) 2015-02-27 9:16

Hi Rosemary,
Grey elephants look so good in black and white!
Tele lens compacts the view and emphasizes togetherness of these wise big animals. Backlight is perfect for adding highlights.
Kari

GyurMaster (25000) 2015-02-27 10:58

Dear Rosemary,

I can see the fifty shades of grey here! :)

Joking apart: you presentef an excellent nature photo!

Best Regards,
Gy枚rgy

Royaldevon (86364) 2015-03-04 2:38

Hello Rosemary,

Oh, I feel envious that you can have such interaction with these beautiful, wild animals. Such wonderful examples of family support!
Your photograph captures their form, their movement and their togetherness. The dust cloud helps to give that sense of movement.
I could look at this all day.
It makes me grieve to think that people could kill them for so little!

Thank you for sharing this,
Bev :-)

jean113 (28249) 2015-03-06 9:16

Hello Rosemary,a wonderful shot which somehow conveys the size and mass of these creatures.
The frame filled with elephants, in varying positions,and particularly the young one in the centre make an excellent shot.
The b/w is perfect.
Regards Jean.

annjackman (23019) 2015-03-08 0:01

Hello Rosemary,
The dust gives this picture heaps of atmosphere. It can be hard to take good picture of a herd closely packed together but you have managed it superbly. I think it is because you have one elephant in the FG as a centre of attention and the ones either side, being darker, hold the composition in.
Super image.
Kind Regards, Ann

batalay (41261) 2015-03-08 10:34

Hello Rosemary,

My affection for elephants is galvanized with this shot plus your thoughtful essay. The African elephant, along with the English thoroughbred, happens to be the creature I can sit with... and communicate with. I've never understood the psychology of the African vs. the Indian Elephant. Of course, physically, the African elephant is larger, features much larger ears, but can never be domesticated... but is it socially similar to its distant cousin? I hope you have many many more images of these social creatures.

Warm regards,

Bulent

adores (46979) 2015-03-11 17:15

Hi Rosemary!
This is a great one, magnidicent in b&w! The contrast, the effect given by the dust, the way you framed the little one... just perfect!

eldancer1 (36343) 2015-03-14 7:32

Wow! My ultimate dream is to be able to photograph animals in their natural habitat. Awesome capture of those elephants in the wild and especially in B&W. They are slow but the dust made it look like they are faster. Good contrast. Well done, tfs.

Arthur_Seabra (68) 2015-03-21 11:24 [Comment]

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photoray (13981) 2015-05-05 12:17

Howdy Rosemary,

Excellent monochrome creation, the details and textures of the elephant herd filling the entire frame, enhanced with dust rising up.

Thanks for sharing,
Cheers,
Ray