Kenya & May 2023 Open Studios exhibit
Greetings fine photography enthusiasts!
I’m excited to catch up with you to tell you about my recent photographic safari to Kenya and upcoming exhibit next weekend which will showcase some of the pieces that came out of that trip.
In December I went to Kenya with my son in law, a budding photographer, for a two week photo safari, my first major photo trip since the start of Covid. As you probably know, Kenya is in East Africa, halfway around the world (11 time zones - we stopped over in London for a couple of days to alleviate jet lag). We were part of a small group of experienced photographers, visiting three of Kenya’s well known wildlife parks - Amboseli, Tsavo, and Masai Mara - in the savannah region of East Africa. The terrain varied from open grassland to scrub and some forest. We stayed in lodges or tent camps, and typically did two game drives a day - early morning and late afternoon - when the animals are more active and the light is better for photography. The open countryside is ideal for observing and photographing wildlife. We traveled in safari jeeps with open windows and pop up roofs which provided multiple options for photography.
Our guides were local tribesmen from the areas we visited who were familiar with the back roads, the weather, and of course, the wildlife. Their familiarity was important because we were the visitors in the animals’ native habitat and needed to know what to expect in terms of their behavior when they were around us. The animals were clearly aware of our presence, but for the most part they chose to ignore us. I learned that their behavior was different - less tolerant of people - outside the parks, where poaching is more prevalent. Park rules prohibited us from driving closer than 100 feet to the animals. But they were free to come closer if they chose, which they often did, sometimes within even a few feet of our vehicles, which gave me the strange feeling of being on the “other side” of the enclosure at a zoo, where the animals have free roam and we were caged in our vehicles. I have to say, it is discomforting to have a “free range” lion or elephant coming in your direction. For our safety, we were not allowed to leave the jeeps when we were out on a drive. But what a memorable experience! Only possible in a few places around the world.
We observed all of the large animals that Africa is famous for - elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, leopards, cheetahs, wildebeest, antelope, warthogs, hippopotamus and more - except rhinos, most of which are critically endangered. Some of the animal populations have declined dramatically over the past decades, but there are still enough to give you a good idea of what the African savannah must have been like in the past.
I took over 20,000 photos over the course of the two weeks - an average of 1,500 per day. That’s a lot of shots. Part of that was due to my getting familiar with a new, high speed / high res camera which I had purchased specifically for photographing wildlife, to supplement my trusty high res but slower camera which I’ve used for shooting landscapes for many years. (The nice thing about landscape subjects is they don’t move, so camera speed is not essential!) It took me several weeks after I returned home to go through all those photos to see what stood out. And even more time to post-process those that stood out. But I was simply awe struck by the quality of many of those shots. In the end, I have a lot of really good shots which I am excited to share with you - along with the many stories behind those shots.
You can preview a selection of my Kenya photos on my website (stevetoll.zenfolio.com - Wildlife portfolio). I hope you can make it to my show to see more in person, but if you can’t, I’ll be happy to arrange a remote show and tell. My show is part of Silicon Valley Open Studios, which runs the first three weekends in May in the SF Peninsula / Silicon Valley area, with 300+ artists in 100+ locations. More information about this event is available on their website (svos.org). My weekend is Saturday and Sunday, May 13-14 (11-5 both days). Directions at: svos.org/artist/stephen-toll
I hope you’ll be able to join me to see and hear about it first hand.
Looking forward to seeing you!