Africa

Something I really noticed when reading about Nicks photographs is how dedicated he is. He said he went back to the same spot for 18 days to watch a lion sleeping, waiting to get a good photo. I am surprised at how close he got to the animals because he said he didn't really use a zoom lens because he could capture them better up close. The photos themselves are really good. They are all in black and white which kind of set a mood for me of calm.

This photo is of two lions (one male one female) that are pushing their heads against each other. What I really like about this photo is how Nick captured them at the perfect moment. The photo shows the lions love for each other. Something that caught my eye was the female lion looking down and her eyes look very serious. 

This picture shows simplicity and possibly balance. The photo is definitely focused on the two lions and their aren't any distractions which is why it shows simplicity. It could show balance if they lions were a little bit more centered but I think the photographer wanted to capture the lions mane. 

The camera he uses is a Pentax 6711 with two fixed lenses. With a fixed lense, so he can't zoom. In the article he had said he didn't want to use zoom because taking the photos up close showed the animals personalities better. 

The reason for taking these photos was to get photos of the African wildlife in their "state of being". 

Nicks hope for taking these photos is to encourage people to help the wildlife in any way possible like donating money to charities. 

"What I am interested in is showing the animals simply in the state of being—before, in the wild at least, they cease to exist. This world is under terrible threat, all of it caused by us."

                                      -Nick Brandt