African Wildlife in Black and White [TOP100]

African Wildlife in Black and White

Ali Khataw,   United States, Austin

In the Spotlight

While on a photography trip in Tanzania, I came across this beautiful young lioness in the tree. Unfortunately she was sleeping with her face away from my camera. I waited for nearly two hours and then she turned around as she was ready to go hunt. At this moment in time the light was going out and the sun had nearly set. I took out my flash, added a beam magnification plastic lens to the front of the flash and held it externally from the camera to avoid \"red-eye\". I made several images and on this particular image the beam from the flash got perfectly aligned with the lioness. In Tanzania some lions do climb trees!

Ali Khataw,   United States, Austin

Scent of Broq-pa 05282020

Scent of Broqpa Broqpa is the name of a small village in Nepal. Ziesook first learned of it from a TV documentary, The Last Empire. Ziesook was moved by what she learned about a small village located at the end of the Silk Road in Nepal named Broq-pa. In Broq-pa, the symbolic meaning of flowers is very special. In the Nepalese culture, flowers symbolize love, happiness, and appreciation for God. Broq-pa’s women are committed to growing flowers in their garden and decorate their hair with flowers every day. Ziesook wanted to incorporate this traditional symbolism from Broq-pa into her work and into her own personal life. She believes that this ephemeral medium, the flower, can carry a piece of happiness into people’s lives. Ziesook’s desire to share the spirit of Broq-pa with people through her artwork was the inspiration for her series, Scent of Broq-pa. The first work in the Broq-pa project began in 2016 with floral portraits of her twin daughters. Ziesook is continuing the series by exploring floral portraits of seniors, single mothers, people from multicultural backgrounds, and different age groups.

Ziesook You,   United States, Austin