Getting my Frame Dirty
With Some Warthogs
The first picture I ever took on safari was this one.
It’s of two warthogs and Martin, our tracker. My idea was to get the warthogs — who were standing in the background, in a visual plane that was maybe about 10 feet from the vehicle — really sharply in-focus — and at the same time to have Martin — who was sitting in front of me, in the foreground — blurry and out-of-focus. I missed the shot, though, and nothing’s really in focus except maybe a spot on the ground.
Still, I’m kind of glad that that was my first shot. I wish I took more like that.
What that photograph acknowledges is that, as a tourist, as a photographer, on safari, you are seeing through the eyes of your guide, through the training of your spotter or tracker, through their years of bush knowledge. That’s what you’re getting when you go to a lodge with a vehicle and guide — more luxury, sure, and also potentially more ability to move in different places (more on all that later), but as far as I’m concerned, what you’re really getting is the expertise of your guide and — if the country you’re in offers them — your spotter or tracker.
(On the other hand, I have yet to go on a self-drive trip, and I’d love to give it a try sometime — people do say that the thrill of finding your own animals is unmatched. So, as in most things in life, this too has its pluses and minuses and in the end comes down to a matter of taste.)
In terms of photography, one of the techniques I was employing I didn’t even learn was a technique with an actual name until many years later: it’s called “dirtying the frame.” Dirtying the frame is when you put something in the foreground to break the clean rectangle of the frame. It helps to add depth to your photo — it feels like you could step into the scene.
Along with, in this case, expressing a truth about the dynamics of what was actually occurring in the photo — I was borrowing Martin’s eyes and his many bush skills to be able to find the warthogs — it’s also just a fun photography technique that you may want to try out yourself in your own photos.
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