300,000 Views Merits Celebration - Picture of the Day #1 and #2

Recently, "views" of my pictures online at Flickr surpassed the 300,000 mark. While in the big scope of the world and of the Internet, this might not be a big deal...to me it is significant. People have viewed my pictures 300,000 times.

To celebrate, I'm posting a "picture of the day" from my collection each day this week. To catch up, below are pictures from yesterday and today.

YESTERDAY
I posted the below shot of a Peruvian girl that I took when my wife and I visited that country in 2012.

Photo by Marc Osborn, (c) Marc Osborn

People pictures are both rewarding and challenging. On one hand, nothing communicates the true nature of a place or situation as a picture of a person or people. The emotion, humanity, the drama...nothing communicates better than a face, a body, a person. But on the other hand, getting pictures of people - especially close up - can be challenging. Think about it. Would you want someone walking up near you and taking your picture as you went about your daily business? No.

I've found only two ways to get good people pictures: 1) Simply ask. Just walk up and ask to take a person's picture. Sometimes they'll say yes, sometimes no. And, as I've experienced, in typically poor countries people will say yes but expect some money. In any case, asking will often get you the access and good karma to get great people pictures. 2) A zoom lens. Yep, one way to get candid shots is to put a long lens on your camera and have a sharp eye for people or groups around you that look interesting. From your removed location, you can zoom in and get interesting pictures that are not staged or posed.

You can see my collection of people pictures I've taken over the years and around the world HERE. Can you spot the ones I asked permission and which one I took from a distance?

TODAY
Animals are our co-inhabitants on this planet and they are compelling subjects for photos too. I prefer to take pictures of animals in the wild vs. in a zoo because I love the idea of seeing and capturing an animal in its natural setting doing what it and its ancestors have done for centuries.

Below is a picture of an elephant and her two babies charging at us.

Photo by Marc Osborn, (c) Marc Osborn

I took this shot on our visit to Tanzania back in 1998. My aunt and uncle lived in Tanzania at that time, and my wife and I paid them a visit. One benefit was that my uncle had an all terrain vehicle and made reservations at a great game reserve. So, we were able to hire a guide and cruise around the park in search of lions, elephants, cheetahs and more. We'd seen most the animals we had wanted to, but by our third day we had still not seen an elephant. Late one afternoon we were driving around an area the guide thought might have elephants and lo and behold he was right. We stopped in a wooded area and saw a number of elephants on both side of our vehicle. I got on the roof and took a few pictures and got back in. Impressive.

My uncle pointed out that there were two babies with their mother pretty close by. As he said this, the mother started charging us - moving swiftly toward our SUV, her babies close by her side. As she did, I stuck my camera out the window and took the picture you see above. My uncle waited only a few seconds before gunning the engine and getting us safely away. We speculated that the mother was protecting her babies by sending a CLEAR signal for us to get out of there. In the end, however, we got a great experience seeing elephants in the wild, a good story, a little thrill and - I think - quite a good picture.

You can see other pictures of animals in the wild that I've taken HERE.

NOTE: Pictures in this post are not permitted for any use without prior written permission from Marc Osborn.