At the age of 12 it all began, The passion for the art of photography. I started with a mobile phone; a model known as one plus five, photographing domestic cats and flowers around the neighborhood. After a month or so, my parents saw that I was passionate about my new hobby, thus giving me a camera that belonged to my father. The camera was a Sony A300 (bought in 2007) inclusive of a 70-300mm lens which couldn’t focus automatically. I decided to pick it up and look for an adventure to experiment with photography. It wasn’t long before the adventure came along, at the only national park within a city; the Nairobi National Park.
Established in 1946, the Nairobi National Park was Kenya’s first wildlife park run by the KWS (Kenya Wildlife Services). The park includes four of the Africa’s big five animals; the lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and elephant. However, the park doesn’t include elephants because the park is too small with insufficient woodland. In the year of 1989, Kenya’s second president Daniel Arap Moi burnt down twelve tons of ivory within the park, this improved Kenya’s conservation and wildlife image and ever since, tons of ivory is burnt down in the same site often. The national park is also one of Kenya’s most successful Rhinoceros’ sanctuaries.
My first time to the Nairobi National Park with a camera was an amazing adventure as I learned both the features of a camera and the different behavior of animals. I experimented in different ways capturing beautiful creatures. The park was quite a mystery as my family and I did not know much of the park like the routes. But that didn’t stop me, I would always request my parents to visit the park with me at least once a week. Each time we would learn something new.
I researched a lot on the behavior of certain animals and found out that all animals are unpredictable. I also learned more on cameras and always looked for something new to try. Going to the park showed me how much more of the beauty is there in the world. The Nairobi National Park is not all about sitting in the car. There are picnic spots and water dams where people can sit back and relax, maybe even cook food at the picnic spots or enjoy the scenery.
The park also has directions with numbers which makes it easier for one not to get lost or for one to communicate with someone on where a certain animal is. Photographing wildlife and scenery in the national park is an exciting adventure. The most beautiful wildlife exists in the park, from the tall giraffe to the short squirrel and photographing in the park is exhilarating. To photograph nature, you must practice a lot of patience. Sometimes we would wait for an activity to take place with certain animals from sunrise to sunset. This taught me we must respect and keep our distance with all animals, irrelevant of their behaviors.
After a year of photography, I had gained the interest and this certain passion for photographing wildlife. My parents saw my dedication towards wildlife photography and realized that it was time to upgrade my camera and in the November of 2018, my parents bought me a new camera (Nikon d5600) and an amazing lens (Nikkor 18-300 f3.5-5.6) which I am currently using to capture images at the Nairobi National Park.
I still remember the first day at the Nairobi National Park with this new camera. We started off by seeing fifteen rhinos and three lions, over thirty giraffes, many zebras including a calf and ended it off with looking at herds of buffaloes with a beautiful sunset. What I am trying to say is that not every day is the same in the Nairobi National Park, the park is full of surprises.
What opened me up and made me passionate to photographing wildlife in the Nairobi National Park is simply inspiration. I had started following Nairobi National Park on social media and I was quite surprised with what I saw. There were certain images from some well known expert photographers, who inspired me that it was possible to spot such an experience. Even today, I keep getting inspired by the creativity of some images.
“Mistakes are the portals of discovery” said James Joice. Every mistake is the reason for getting a great image. For example: there was a pride of eight lions walking towards me, but I did not change my settings, therefore the image was over exposed. Now I have learned my lesson to always backup my settings. Therefore, you should never be mad at yourself when you make a mistake instead, you should learn from it.
When photographing in Nairobi National Park, I try to capture two elements: the fact that the park is flanked by the fastest developing capital in East Africa, the animals unflustered by the city or the tourists. However, the more I observe these animals in their natural habitat, the more I am convinced that we, as the human race, need to intervene in order to protect their habitat. Nairobi National Park is in between crossroads of development and conservation. Bordering East Africa’s fastest growing cities, the park is constantly under threat of new infrastructure projects which are resulting in shrinking territories for these wild animals.
During composition, I try to frame the image such that it can project the beauty of the moment in ways that words could not describe. I want the image to speak for itself and evoke an emotional response. Because we are now at an exciting era of photography that is quite limitless and yet very accessible, it is my goal to use my reflections as a tool to make an impact in conservation efforts in Nairobi and the rest of Kenya (and East Africa).
