Gold Dust

In just a few months I'll be off to Kenya again for this year'sMasai Mara Migration tour. Being on the road for the majorityof the year, it's sometimes difficult to find the time to go throughall the images, make selections and process shots. Today I foundmyself looking on the internet for 2TB drives to replace the 1TBdrives that are now installed in my MacPro. But what I should actuallydo, is look at everything that I've shot and throw away the bad stuff.That should free at least 75% of the available disk space and save mea lot of money. :-) So today I finally started to have a closer lookat last year's Kenya shots, and this is one of the images that stood out.

While I usually try to isolate and separate my subjects to get theclean and graphic look I like so much, here I was much more interestedin capturing the incredible mood of the scene in front of me. It waslate afternoon when we stumbled across this small herd of wildebeest(not so difficult, considering we were almost unable to land our planeon the airstrip because there were so many of them). The backlighting,the rimlight, the warm colors, and the dust kicked up by thewildebeest , turned this otherwise mundane scene into tons ofatmosphere. Instead of isolating one or two wildebeest, I thereforedecided to frame it quite wide to show the lovely play of light.

I included a fair amount of empty sky, but in this case I would neverconsider cropping it to a panoramic. Even though there is not an awfullot going on there, the subtle textures imo are essential for theshot. I did try it, also losing a slice from the bottom, but for methe wider approach works best.

Now the interesting thing is that not a single wildebeest is separatedin this shot. Normally, that would be a good reason for me to bin it.I don't mind it here at all, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

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Love it, atmospheric and I can just feel the heat and dust on my skin. Cheers, Mark.

Marvelously impressive wildlife shot.

Excellent PhotoArt! With respect, Valentyn

Looks like a wall painting.. Excellent work...!!!

I really like the shot as it is. The subtle lines of their typical horns make the wildebeest stand just that little bit out that is sufficient to catch the attention. And of course the backlit dust around them adds to this atmosphere. Best regards. Karin.

Great back lit image, very moody with beautiful light...nicely done!! Avi

Nice Shot Marsel! I Can Only Imagine What Your Camera Sensor Looked Like After This :)

Wonderful atmosphere. The beest on the left gives the impression of being separate although it's not.