Mother & Baby Photo

Photographer’s Note

Retima Hippo Pool is in the Seronera area of the Serengeti National Park. It is the ideal place to see hippos. The river feeding the pool is a good place to see Nile Crocodiles.

You can leave the jeep and walk to the edge of the pool, where you can safely observe them from the top of a low cliff; probably not more than 1m high. It is the most foul-smelling habitat with scum and rising bubbles. The hippos seem to like it as they are free to leave anytime they want. ;D

Complementary images in the WS WSI WS2

ISO100, FL120mm

cobbydale, snunney, imrek, joeydrops, Floydian, jusninasirun, ChrisJ, pasternak, danos, plimrn, gneufeld, dareco, lasscor, Cricri, Wandering_Dan, stego, jaywalker, meltemi, chrisnet, Tue, Photo65Net, ktanska, Dyerco, ruisc_pt, bostankorkulugu, carper, coco, josepmarin, JCG, jwmunro, Didi, scobert, gunbud has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

cobbydale (1856) 2008-03-24 4:14

Lovely shot Kath. Good sharpness and you've caught the hippos really well - I like the inclusion of the baby and the way the one on top right is peering at you.
cheers
Leon

snunney (29681) 2008-03-24 4:14

Hello Kath,
A charming capture of these swimming hippos in a nicely balanced composition. Colours and clarity are excellent Brings to mind the song 'Mud, mud, glorious mud' by Flanders & Swan.

imrek (4) 2008-03-24 4:22

HI Kath,
wonderful shot of of these swimming hippos, your pov is good here as the overall composition...well done!
regards,
imre

joeydrops (2645) 2008-03-24 4:37

Hi Kath,
Excellent photo! The hippos seem like they are having fun at their "pool party", and you've captured a special moment between the mother and its baby. I like the details and natural colours, and especially the good sharpness of the photo. Good depth and composition. Well captured and presented!
Claudia

Floydian (30970) 2008-03-24 5:00

Hello Kath,
Touching, very touching. These images have high potential for sales, hope you have more of them, maybe an ever more closer view with only the two in front. Yes even i like such touching images ;-)
Much space they don't have if i look at the ws which gives a nice and wider view to the area.
Regards, Henk

jusninasirun (8990) 2008-03-24 5:24

Hello Kath. Nicely composed family snap here. They must be having jolly time on vacation. Good lighting and excellent sharpness in the shot. Regards. Jusni

ChrisJ (65367) 2008-03-24 5:53

Hi Kath

A good wildlife shot of the hippos and a judicious decision to use a zoom lens. I've read that these animals kill more people, than crocodiles! Superb dof & sharpness. Tfs!

pasternak (12671) 2008-03-24 6:23

Really great capture with good quality, Kath, the baby is obviously very cute, and I also like the yawn in the WS!:))

Cheers
Alexander

corniste (3709) 2008-03-24 6:54

Hello Kath,

Very good picture, but if you would have had on 18-200 mm, a close up whith the baby would have been a dream! It is a little overexposed for saturated colors.

have a great day.

delkoo (31658) 2008-03-24 7:57

hi kath
You were there at the right moment to get this surprising scene of hippos bathing, the clarity and the sharpness are excellent.

regards
didier

danos (27886) 2008-03-24 8:03

Hello Kath,
wow very nice snapshot of the mother and her baby taking their bath the Serengeti National Park.As i see a lot of hippos are exist and make the scene interesting.I like the light and the colours.Informative your note as the workshops too.

Regards,Danos

plimrn (18682) 2008-03-24 8:24

Hi kath,
You did a great job of framing this shot; the close-up of mother and baby is quite endearing. Your WS's make your point well that the hippos are happy here; they also graphically show the challenge of your excellent framing in your PP. Interesting that nobody has mde a point about the foul smell; but I can always count on you to tell it like it is - thanks.
HLJ, Pat

gneufeld (13773) 2008-03-24 8:58

Hi Kath,
Wow, awesome capture of these amazing and huge animals. And the little guy there is so cute - amazing how this species lives much of their lives in the shallow and muddy (and smelly as you say) water. Good details and excellent clarity and sharpness. Fine shot and TFS. Gerald

lasscor (7619) 2008-03-24 9:04

Hi Kath,
Lovely Serengeti scene, full of tenderness.
Lovely cute little hippo and her mother.
TFS,
Corinne

dareco (15738) 2008-03-24 9:04

They look to be having a great time!! A very nice picture as are the complimentary ones. It's cute how the mommy is watching out for her baby. TFS

Cricri (38422) 2008-03-24 9:48

Hi Kath,
C'est un amour cette image pleine de tendresse,
belle prise au bon moment sous une lumiére excellente, compliment
Have a nice evening
cricri

Wandering_Dan (2734) 2008-03-24 10:23

VERY cute! And great sharpness, too. Nice composition as well, with the other hippos making good diagonals.

You have to be very careful around hippos; they are the most dangerous animals in Africa (other than man, of course). They can bite a canoe in half; this is NOT what you want to hear when you are setting off on a canoe trip amid 6,000 hippos. Trust me. The main trick is to never come between a hippo and water.

Best,
Dan

stego (21486) 2008-03-24 10:47

Hi Kath,
Even the ugliest and bulkiest animal can look tender when there is a mother and a baby involved.
Again, hats off for the landscaper that is revealing herself a masterful portrayer wild African animals.
The WS are also very good, the quantity and concentration of animals on that pool is surprising, it's hard to distinguish between rocks and hippos.
Regards, José.

gilou530 (31861) 2008-03-24 11:53

salut kath
you captured well a moment of tenderness of this small with his mother, a beautiful catch of sight full with naturalness, beautiful work
friendships
gilbert

jaywalker (12076) 2008-03-24 12:17

Hi Kath, Now this is my favorite, the little hippo & the mum, such a beautiful sight, the light is excellent as it really brightens up the whole scene, the one in the background looks very inquisitive, TFS, kind regards Wilson.

meltemi (9646) 2008-03-24 12:23

Hello Kath,
this photo has an absolutely charming spontaneity and naturalness, the cute baby, the protective mother, it's touching to see this little one so dependent from her. The subject is lovely and the setting very nicely taken. Congratulations.
Kind Regards.
Stella

chrisnet (20102) 2008-03-24 13:06

Hello Kath,
Lovely view with the hippos, a nice moment with the mother and the baby, well seen and captured.
Regards

Tue (25367) 2008-03-24 15:08

Hi Kath,
At first sight I thought there were just two of them, but when I looked closer I discovered also some hippos on the edge of the photo. They really seem to have a good time in the water, indeed. :-) You captured them very well in a really pleasant sunlight. Thanks for sharing!
Regards,
Lars

crckt (6846) 2008-03-24 16:40

Hi Kath,
This is very cool! The heads portruding out of the water look fascinating. Great job. Thanks for sharing these wonderful shots.
Regards,
Shaeri

diegomach (437) 2008-03-24 20:37

Hey Kath, Me gusta mucho como tu puedes capturar a los animales en su estado natural, tienes una hemosa serie. El hipopotamo que esta en el fondo de la toma te mira muy atenamente como esperando el disparo.
Felicitaciones

Photo65Net (43078) 2008-03-25 1:37

Kath,
An attractive one, again !
So great you caught this beautiful nature scene, with pezrfect techincal elements.
Nice job,
Regards,
JB.

ktanska (15214) 2008-03-25 4:17

Hi Kath,
Just lovely! And not so easy to detect at the first glance. The little one has exactly the same colours as the mother. Fascinating view of hippos in their own element. One in the background seems to follow you closely.
Kari

Dyerco (8160) 2008-03-25 7:34

Hi Kath
The light is strong but you have handled the exposure well. They are keeping their eye on you by the looks of things. Good detail in the hippos.
Phil

Paolo (40445) 2008-03-25 8:29

Ohu....this evening i will watch this one with my son...that he's completely crazy for the hippos!
i don't know why!!!
excellent one Kath, with excellent quality and a great POV too.
on the back of another one hippo out of campo?
ciao

branley (3681) 2008-03-25 9:25

Hi Kath,
seems you've been on your travels whilst I've been working hard!...lol. From the sound of it we're lucky that 'smell-a-phot hasn't been invented. It's a good shot from an even better perspective with the lead hippo coming into the frame. The colours seem very natural and it's well detailed. I think the letters of the title are very distracting but that's only a personal opinion. Did you know that the hippo is responsible for more deaths amongst the human population than any other animal in Africa? I didn't know that until recently and they look so cute too.....in a big sort of way.

Regards

Stephen

ruisc_pt (5998) 2008-03-25 10:13

Hi Kath
I learn to play accordion with a teacher that was a hippopotamus professional hunter after he lost his left leg in Mozambique. In fact after shooting one of these animals without killing it - the "hipo" 5 minutes later came to surface and literally swallow his leg...
This might happen in the middle 50's...
I'm telling this story cause this photo seems very similar yet not so sharp as his one... he was an amateur photograph.
TFS
I really appreciate your job.
All the best
Rui

bostankorkulugu (31273) 2008-03-25 11:55

a baby is a baby... always cute... but this is soooooo cute kath... lucky you -again- to be there to see them... watch them play with each other... cool catch indeed...

cheers

korkut

berek (27133) 2008-03-25 12:03

Lovely shot my friend. its so cute. clear and interesting picture. greetings.
Burak Erek

danyy (62985) 2008-03-25 16:21

Bonjour Kath,
des animaux farouches les hippos, pourtant ils sont herbivores mais dangereux. J'aime bien les photos des mamans et leur petit, une photo qui me séduit énormément par sa tendresse.
Excellente couluers , lumières et mise au point.
Regards.
Daniel.

carper (60991) 2008-03-26 4:33

another fine one Kath,
good wildshot again, fine composition and a good quality in the shot, I like it, have a nice day. and let them come
gr. jaap

coco (25650) 2008-03-26 14:12

Hi Kath.

The WS's and the main photo are wonderful photos and they could appear in some magazine about the wild life of Africa.
Simply amazing photos and also an amazing experience for you.

Regards.

josepmarin (31437) 2008-03-27 12:01

Hello Kath,
This one is a familiar very tender and adorable scene, in which this baby hippo seems to play with his mother. I like, it have life and feeling, though it is necessary be careful with these animals, they can be dangerous.
The photo is magnificent, dynamic and with a great light. The colours are very good also.
An excellent, very informative and interesting work.
Best wishes,
Josep

pboehringer (768) 2008-03-28 18:35

Kath,
a not very easy moment to be captured. I remember how difficult it was back when I was in South Africa to get a glimpse of these huge animals peeking out of the water. The compression factor gives a real sense of cluttering of hippos.
Peter
P.S. I'm having at the moment a little bit difficulty in following all the activity at TE. Sorry for not being so active and writing critiques for all of your great shots.

batalay (19188) 2008-03-30 7:05

Hello Kath,

Your wild animal photographs from the Serengeti are fast becoming the defining collection in this genre. The colors and resolution are very good, as always. Good friends who divide their time in thirds spend equal times in Switzerland, New York City and Northern South Africa write about an occasional hippo breaking into their swimming pool to leave it in a state evocative of your description of the Retima Hippo Pool. We have an open invitation to visit them, and indeed within the next year or two will do so — especially inspired by your remarkable photographs.

Warm regards,

Bulent

JCG (22703) 2008-03-31 0:37

Hi Kath,

A very pretty moment of tenderess. This mother seems very attentive towards her baby. The image is superb of clearness and clearness is very appreciable. I like much the glance of the hippo to the background. A beautiful series on this animal by taking account of the WS, thank you Kath.

With all my friendships and a very good evening,

Jean-Charles

Angshu (30896) 2008-03-31 21:13

Hello Kath
You've become quite a wildlife photographer after this trip. That's a quite a lot of these hippos as we see in the WS...almost like stepping stones. Excellent zoom for this shot. If you allow me to nitpick, I would have cropped the back of the topmost hippo...not that it's distracting much, but it's not adding much either. Good shot!
Regards
Angshu

jwmunro (6478) 2008-04-09 6:20

Good morning Kath -

All of the images are great. I suspect the smell is due to the low water level as shown in WS3. You have produced some very good wildlife images on the Africa trip - I am envious. There is very little I can say that would improve them. Well done!

Thank you for sharing.

John

Didi (33766) 2008-04-12 6:47

Hi Kath
Very interesting safari, with the hippos in their wild environement, much better than a zoo.
The scene is very well described by the image.
I think you should post bigger size :)
Thank's

scobert (5333) 2008-04-14 16:57

Hello Kath,
I can almost smell this place after your vivid desrciption. Ugh! Your fantastic photograph was worth the stench after all. I have never seen a mother hippo with her baby hanging on her snout before. As you mentioned in another post, these are the most dangerous animals in Africa (being more dangerous than a crocodile is saying something!). Another oustanding photo to add to your African safari!
Stan

gunbud (25481) 2008-11-22 6:30

Hi Kath,
I'll bet that these lovely beast do generate a fine odor and abundant waste.
Their charming details faces are seen in marvelous detail and sharpness.
Love the silver glow to the to the river that catches nice reflectioon of this mother and child reunion.
Regards, Tom