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Matinee: 'On Safari with Brooke Bartleson'
28 August 2021
Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?
So we're pleased to present the 411th in our series of Saturday matinees today: On Safari with Olympus Photographer Brooke Bartleson.
In this nearly four-minute piece from Wilderness Safaris, wildlife photographer Brooke Bartleson, who is also an Olympus Explorer, talks about her first African safari in Botswana. She had been shooting North American wildlife, especially that of the Rocky Mountains, for years by then.
After graduating from college, she moved into the mountains to write. "Things never work out as planned though and in this case, I'm happy they didn't," she said in an interview on another occasion.
Instead, she started photographing the animals she came across on walks in the wilderness. "Once I realized I could make these photos art and find better and more exciting ways to frame and capture the moment, I was hooked."
But the safari was different. It was "entirely unlike what I'm used to," she says.
She was impressed with the variety of the landscape, which required her to get around in any number of ways she found "wicked cool." She had to travel by air, on water, by foot and in vehicles to get to various spots that offered unique perspectives.
But what really impressed her was how her guides could read the landscape like a book. "They can look at the ground or listen to the sounds that are occurring all around them and determine what animal passed through, how recently, where that animal might have been headed." Every one of them share that level of expertise, she says.
Africa's wildlife is a valuable resource but, Bartleson says, it isn't being exploited. Instead, she was impressed with how Wilderness Safari provides a model for how people and wildlife can coexist, engaging the community as the true caretakers of the continent's wildlife.
In our July 23 Horn, we mentioned Wilderness Safari's 2021 Africa in Focus competition would open on Sept. 1, this coming Wednesday, closing on Oct. 15. You can submit photographs taken anywhere in Africa and the $25 entry fee supports the non-profit Children in the Wilderness is the sole beneficiary of this year's competition.
Which strikes us as a worthwhile cause. Of course, you might have some stiff competition from Barleson.