Transitions, Transformations and a Little Photography
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Judgment
My knee jerk response is no - I’m a pretty accepting and open person who really frowns on being judgy, but if I’m being perfectly honest with myself - I do it in subtle ways that can sometimes fool me into thinking that I don’t.
I came to this realization recently on our Zambian safari trip. It’s always interesting to observe the interactions and dynamics when strangers put together by circumstances (chosen vacation location) first meet and start up conversations. There is the initial pleasantries and then the inevitable where are you from, what do you do for a living, do you have children (I always feel judged when I answer no), have you been on safari before and what are you hoping to see?
Rituals - Why They Can be so Important
A ritual is defined as a structured or repeated sequence of acts with a formal component to them. They can be seen as transitions or rites of passage such as weddings, funerals or graduations. Participating in rituals can be very grounding or help reduce anxiety, or even shift internal focus or perceptions. They can also form an important component of social bonding as people who share rituals have a common point of reference.
We often create personal or informal rituals such as morning coffee to start our workdays, or clearing email inboxes, or brushing teeth and relaxing in preparation for bedtime.
Being Present, What and How We See
I feel like this term gets thrown around a lot these days and in some ways it is losing its impact and meaning for me from overuse or casual use. A google definition of being fully present states that your mind, body and emotions are completely engaged in the present moment, but what does that mean exactly? To me it means that I’m not allowing distractions to take over the moment - I’m aware enough to know when my mind starts to wander and I can effectively bring myself back to the moment. I think for me that is the distinction - when I hear some people talk about being fully present, I get a sense that they are implying that you can totally block out everything but the present moment and I don’t think that as humans we’re wired to do that - at least I’m certainly not.
Exploring the Lower Zambezi
After spending 5 wonderful nights in South Luangwa exploring the area on game drives and through a walking safari we moved on to the second location of our safari adventure - the Lower Zambezi. This is a much different area as the water levels are controlled by a dam whereas the Luangwa River remains a naturally regulating water course resulting in significant water level changes throughout the year.
The safari adventure transition started with a drive to the Mfuwe Airport with a stop at a few local shops looking for the green tomato chutney we had become addicted to at Mwamba.
Encore Seniors Talk
It’s interesting how certain things can cross generations and result in strong connections when you least expect it - that’s how it felt when I gave a follow up photography talk at a seniors facility earlier this week. Hold on a second - let me back up a moment and try to make some sense here - I received an email out of the blue about a month ago with an invitation to give a photography talk at a senior’s facility to go along with their Safari Themed High Tea event. I have spoken at this venue a couple of years ago about Bird Photography.(I wrote about it here)
I was pleased to accept as I had enjoyed giving the talk on bird photography several years ago. I took some 25,000 photos during our 3 week safari trip, so I was pretty confident that I had enough material to fill an hour speaking slot - in fact I think that being able to come up with enough material was not the issue I would face at all
Planning an African Safari
I have long had a fascination and affinity for wildlife and a particular interest in animals from other areas of the world that I don’t see where I live. I am part of a photography group (A Year With My Camera - a high recommend for anyone wanting to learn photography as it’s a free year long course - check out the link in resources) and a very talented photographer from Australia posted an image of a Queen Green Ant covered in zombie fungus (seriously google this). This fungus takes over the host ant and gradually impairs its ability to function - finally killing its host and enjoying a new location to grow and thrive. I was totally fascinated to learn about this insect as we do not have anything like this in Canada.
That’s a bit of a long winded introduction, however it may explain my excitement to be heading back to Africa with Kory in 2026 - I know we plan these a long way out