captured shot forever eternalised
in a moment's breath
in a frame that will never progress
rigid rigor mortis stiffened
through the press of a button
captive in the world
that I created from nothing
A while ago, I posted a travel blog about a visit to a game reserve. Only now have I managed to post the other photographs from that visit. This post contains the more photographic photographs of that trip. I also wanted to share them, for the majestic nature of these animals, even in their "captive" state illustrates their tremendous beauty.
Even though they are still "wild" animals, some of them, like the lions, have been fed by humans for so long that they are essentially captive. They do not catch live animals, they are not even in areas where there are live animals. This is kind of an anomaly, one that you can read about in the post I linked above.
Here, I do not want to focus on the politics behind these animals, I rather want to focus on their beauty. For in their beauty, we might rekindle our link to hope, a hope for a better future, hope for better times, hope for something bigger at play that might lead us toward a future where money is not the only god we worship. For nature itself is such a wonder we are currently abusing that we might lose it all.
So please do enjoy these photographs and the occasional musings which I intersperse between the photographs.
Wild Africa Captured
Silence tears through nature as she cries with every animal that did not come into existence. Pregnant with so much, she cannot give birth to the animals who have been wiped from the face of the earth.
The powerful captured, mocked by their boredom; their lack of spirit, and vigour. Captured and turned into a photograph for everyone to witness vicariously, through a window, from the safety of the very thing that caused their demise.
Yet even the foreign beauty captures our emotions, even just for a second; even if it does not bring compassion, it strikes us with a certain type of beauty, one that does not allow us to look away. Some might feel the sad beauty of the majestic nature being captured, mocked through its inability to be the very thing we want to witness.
The barrier between us and them, the very thing that keeps us safe, and the very thing that allows us to vicariously look, is the very thing that takes away from them their wild nature. The barrier allows us to look, but the barrier also takes away.
Friend and foe sit next to each other, but a barrier lies between them. The barrier creates boredom, the barrier creates freedom.
But even the most free of them all is still captured by the invisible barrier that is caused by our crossing borders we should never have crossed.
When nature shuts her eyes, we know that tomorrow will not come.
Yet as small as a mustard seed, life waits for us to appreciate her beauty, to let these emotions take root, and to disperse her seeds. For if only one might be changed, the infinite growth cycle has started.
Postscriptum, or Our Boundaries
Life is strange. We humans think we are not part of nature, yet we cannot escape our own animality; we kill, destroy, and ruin for no apparent reason. Maybe animals are more civil than we are because there are only rare cases in which animals would kill for no reason beyond food and survival.
Alas, we are also the only animals to appreciate the spectacular beauty with a beyond-human eye.
But this might be the boundary that we have created which we should never have; we have taken our humanity as superior when in fact we only caged our own transcendence.
For now, happy photographing and keep well.
All of the photographs are my own, taken with my Nikon D300 and Tamron 300mm zoom lens. All of the musings and writings are my own, albeit inspired by the beauty of these animals.
These are stunning and amazing photographs. The second photo looks like a bored wildcat. For the lioness, oh wow! That was a great yawning that seems it was trying to roar😊
I am so sorry for only replying now! And thank you so so much. I got the lioness in a moment of utter luck, I did not plan it. Right place at the right moment! And the wildcat was such a beautiful little friend. Thanks again, and keep well!