Africa

1. The photos I saw were breathtaking. It amazed me how perfect each shot was, and I can't even imagine how long it took the photographer to get such amazing photos.

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3. Although it is a saddening image, it has its own beauty to it. The bird is clearly suffering, attempting to spread its wings. But even though the bird is suffering, it is perched on a branch in the middle of the water, just like birds usually do. Its stance is strong and determined. But the background is what really sets the image for me. I don't know how Nick managed to get such a perfect shot, but he did it. The stormy, cloudy sky sets the mood for the image, along with the bare water. The little vignette effect in the corners as well as the colors also make this a perfect image.

4. Pretty much all of the rules of photography are present in this image.

5. Nick used a Pentax 67II, with two lenses. This shows how he was able to take such high-quality and appealing-to-the-eye shots.

6. Most of Nick's work represents the pain and suffering of animals in Africa, whether due to poaching, deforestation, droughts, etc.

7. He hopes that it will raise awareness of the problems that the animals in Africa face.

8. "I'm not interested in creating work that is simply documentary or filled with action and drama, which has been the norm in the photography of animals in the wild. What I am interested in is showing the animals simply in the state of Being. In the state of Being before they are no longer are. Before, in the wild at least, they cease to exist. This world is under terrible threat, all of it caused by us. To me, every creature, human or nonhuman, has an equal right to live, and this feeling, this belief that every animal and I are equal, affects me every time I frame an animal in my camera. The photos are my elegy to these beautiful creatures, to this wrenchingly beautiful world that is steadily, tragically vanishing before our eyes." - Nick Brandt