Take Your Pic

Sony CyberShot RX100

LEON WRITES: We were visiting a friend’s farm in the Rehoboth district in Namibia when we came upon this grim scene. We can only guess how the red hartebeest had met its end. Maybe a predator chased it, and when the antelope panicked, it jumped through this tree and got its hind legs stuck?

TOAST SAYS: Nature can be cruel. Or, at least, it can appear to be cruel if you approach it from a human perspective. Leon’s photo is unusual since it’s not what most people would consider a “pretty” picture. Still, you can’t argue with the fact that it’s a striking picture. It makes you stop and stare.

We all love taking photos of “pretty” scenes. We wait for the light to be pretty, and then for a pretty cloud to come along. Or, best case scenario, for a pretty rainbow to appear. The light in this image is so bright you need sunglasses to look at it. (It would be great converted to black and white.) Leon overexposed the surrounding landscape in order to expose the carcass correctly. It was partially in the shade of the tree – if he’d exposed for the whole scene, the carcass would have become a dark shape, almost a silhouette.

Anyone who has ever watched a pride of lions take down a buffalo and feast on the carcass will know – you want to look, but you also want to look away. It can be hectic, even traumatic. But as nature lovers, we know this comes with the territory. In a way, it’s the very reason we enjoy spending time in the veld. Nature doesn’t “filter”, it only does what it does. It’s raw. It gives us newborn elephant calves and pronking springbok, but it also gives us death. In the end, it makes us all a little more honest – we see things in perspective.

Thanks for this photo, Leon.