Sociable weaver birds often have large nests around campsites, and are friendly little birds, a bit like our sparrows. They turned out to be good friends as well as good photo subjects! We'd been camping in the same spot for a couple of days and the birds often came to clear up our crumbs, but one day they started to mass beside a log and make a terrible racket. Looking more closely we saw there was a horned viper very well camouflaged under it. We'd collected kindling from that area so we were glad our little friends had given us the warning. The snake soon got fed up with the noise and moved on, and we were a little more careful picking up wood from then on.
LISABukalders LRPS CPAGB EFIAP
nature and wildlife photography
Here are some AV presentations I have put together over the last few years.
I've enjoyed the challenge of matching the images with appropriate transitions and harmonising them with the sound. It's a nice way of presenting images, a kind of digital photo album to music!
In my first attempt at a competition entry 'Visions of Africa' achieved an 'Honorable Mention' in the IAC Peter Coles International AV competition 2019. In the Bridgend International "5 to 8" Photo Harmony Competition 'Visions of Africa' achieved third place .
And in the Western Counties Photographic Federation AV competition 2019 the judge awarded third place in the photo-harmony section to 'Visions of Africa' but I got the audience vote and trophy for favourite sequence.
A little editing and a change of title to 'Dreams of a Day in Africa' brought a fifth place out of 102 entries in the International 'Challenge 321' competition, with entries limited to a maximum of 3 mins 21 secs.
A little more tweaking (and back to 'Visions of Africa') and an entry into the Port Elizabeth International AV Festival 2020 brought First Place and a FIAP Gold Medal., and a silver medal at the Smethwick AV Festival 2020 .
'Cruel , Crazy, Beautiful World' contains African wildlife images set to Johnny Clegg's song of the same name.
In 2021 I created 'The Bushmen of the Kalahari', using images from our visit to the Kalahari combined with Bushman art from various sites around Southern Africa. It achieved first place in the open section of the Western Counties Photographic Federation AV competition 2021, this was the judge's comment:
This is a good example of an AV that should definitely be seen on a big screen and I can assure you it has even more impact when you do. The music, "Lakota" takes us straight to Africa. The photography, especially the stunning portraits of these handsome people, is exceptional. Throughout the sequence the colour palette has been harmonised to this perfect sandy sepia colour, which gives the whole sequence a timeless quality. There is an incredible matching of the ancient rock paintings and the author's actual photographs of the wildlife and landscape. Even the script typeface used for the title, and the information, just enough, for us to know what we are about to experience, is just right. It is a privilege to be allowed to photograph these beautiful and dignified people, and for us to share in their ceremonies and way of life.
It subsequently achieved a silver medal in the open section of the 2021 Smethwick National AV festival.
In the International Jurassic Coast AV Festival it was awarded 'Judge's Award'.
In the International Challenge 321 AV competition it was awarded second place.
And it was winner of the 'theme' category in the Tauranga Photographic Society (New Zealand) Audio Visual Salon 2021
Most recently in September 2021 it was awarded the Royal Photographic Society silver medal for photography in the 24th International AV Festival.
In 2024 'the elephant's farewell' was awarded ‘overall champion’ in the Tauranga (New Zealand) AV Salon and ‘judge’s choice’ (‘Coup de cœur’) in the Trophée de Paris salon.
The link via YouTube for music copyright reasons.
