My fascination with rivers comes from an odd mix of influences, like childhood rides on the Jungle Cruise, and an early obsession with the explorations of David Livingstone. Though I loved the movie the African Queen, I didn't have much interest in Katherine Hepburn or Humphrey Bogart; the real stars for me were the chugging old steamboat, and the perilous river that it crawled down. Whatever the composite sources, waterways like the Limpopo and the Zambezi have always seemed like sites of pilgrimage to me. In honor of finally seeing the Mekong, I wanted to post a few photos of the other major rivers I've loved.
The Zambezi, Southern Africa (photographed in Zambia and Zimbabwe)
The Nile, North-East Africa (photographed in Egypt)
The Madre de Dios, South America (photographed in Peru)
The Chobe, Southern Africa (photographed in Botswana)
The Los Angeles River, Southern California (photographed off Glendale Blvd)
In writing my recent entry about finding inspiration in giraffes, I thought back to some of my own wildlife photographs. On my last trip to the lands north of the Limpopo, I focused less on capturing the movement or interaction of animals, and more on the forms and patterns created in nature. Through taking photos with slightly polarized light and dark spaces, I tried to contrast animal forms with areas of abstraction. In the above photograph, which was taken in Mosi oa Tunya National Park in Zambia, I was drawn to the strange abstract space around the giraffe created by the thicket of branches and dry leaves. While this might not be the type of thrilling wildlife photography featured in National Geographic, I hope these images captured some of the odd visual appeal of the African bush.
Chobe, Botswana
Chobe, Botswana
Mosi Oa Tunya National Park, Zambia