Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage Photo

Photographer’s Note

Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage. The main attraction is to see the bathing elephants on the river bank. You could see them bathing and how the elephant kids are playing and have fun.

Captured with an APS camera, scanned, noise reduction

from Wikipedia:
The Sri Lankan Elephant (Elephas maximus maximus) is the nominate subspecies of the Asian Elephant and is the largest of the subspecies although smaller than the two species of African elephants.

The elephant population in the National Parks of Sri Lanka is somewhat diminutive in stature when compared both with historical accounts dating back to 200 BC and with the early photographs taken in 19th century during the time of colonial British occupation of the island. The smaller size could possibly be the end result of a long-continued process of removing the physically best specimens from the potential breeding-stock through hunting or domestication. Since Sri Lanka was at one time a part of peninsular India (there is evidence that there existed a land bridge between the northern part of the island and the subcontinent many thousand years ago), it is highly likely that the Asian Elephant, roaming South India at the time, "conquered" Sri Lanka literally on foot.

more information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinnawala_Elephant_Orphanage

Loic_bzh, sacavem, dareco, Photo65Net, pierrefonds, lucasgalodoido, Cricri, Charo, shevchenko, danos, paura, plimrn, Emile, Tue, ribeiroantonio, AiresSantos, Docarmo, jaywalker, stego, pablominto, maloutim, Bruno40 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Loic_bzh (7057) 2009-05-20 2:32

Hi Achim,

seeing this should really be a great moment... Thanx to share it with us...

Cheers,

Loïc

sacavem (8319) 2009-05-20 3:16

Olá Achim,

A good scanner.Excellent photographic moment. Good shot. Good work to capture this image.
Best regards,
Filipe

Atousa (3434) 2009-05-20 4:01

Salam Achim,

A nice pov to show the elephants, their environment n the visitors..very interesting shot with good colors..thanks for sharing.
Best regards, Atousa

emilbo (9443) 2009-05-20 6:08

Allô Achim!
Belle prise de vue et vraiment beau à voir ce magnifique troupeaux d'éléphants dans la rivière. Bonne qualité d'image pour un scan et intéressante note. Une belle image bien captée.
Félicitations!... et bonne journée,
Emilius

Nicou (45039) 2009-05-20 8:03

Hello,

grandiose image de ce toupeau d'éléphants, ils s'abreuvent, je sais que les éléphant aiment bien l'eau,quel spectacle tu nous offre, superbe.

bravo et amitié

Nicou

dareco (17104) 2009-05-20 8:30

Very nice pov and excellent detail. An interesting post. TFS

gracious (20017) 2009-05-20 10:10

Hello Achim,
Thank you so much for this lovely shot to see so many elephants taking their bath at the same time! must be a incredible moment!
thank you for the informative notes as well
regards
Tony

Photo65Net (43096) 2009-05-20 12:07

Hello Achim,
Nice catch from this impressive scene.
I like a lot the result, and your informative note.
Have a nice day,
JB.

pierrefonds (26383) 2009-05-20 17:26

Hi Achim,

The presence of the people has an effect of scale. The point of view is showing the details and colors of the elephants. The trees are framing well the river. The luminosity is enhancing the colors. Have a nice day.

Pierre

lucasgalodoido (16605) 2009-05-20 17:39

Hi Achim,
impressive the numbers of elephants washing on the river. Very good capture to TE. Great job, my friend.
Regards,
Lucas

anto95 (1808) 2009-05-20 22:59

Hi John,
This is very great moment for take a very nice picture
Also excellent prensentation!
Antonello

Graal (58139) 2009-05-20 23:40

Hi Achim,
unusual view from Sri Lanka, good POV and composition. Amazing group of elephants in the river. Well quality of scan. I like it.
Gr., Aleksander

darek1978 (11361) 2009-05-21 8:17

Hi Achim,
I can see another very exotic view in you gallery. Very good composition and an interesting scene. Great picture for a TE. Well done!
Regards,
Darek

Cricri (43212) 2009-05-21 8:46

Hi Achim
C'est un moment merveilleux a voir et un peu impressionnant par le nombre éléphant, bon POV
Friendship
cricri

Miha2ou7 (4915) 2009-05-21 13:17

Hey Achim,

A wonderous sight and something I`d very much ilke to see. Some wonderful colors and a perfect landscape.

Best regards.

dvlazar (6488) 2009-05-21 16:13

Lovely shot - it's nice seeing so many elephants at once in this wide screen shot. They must be enjoying their river bath!
Dave

Charo (31671) 2009-05-21 16:29

Hallo Achim,
Herrliche aussicht auf die große herde elefanten in der badewanne. Ein sehr seltsames bild. Hervorragende perspektive und detail.
Mit besten grüßen,
Charo

shevchenko (9968) 2009-05-22 0:00

Hi Achim,
Good pov to show tourists attracted by bathing elephants,
thanks for sharing a value old photo.
Ally

danos (32690) 2009-05-22 1:55

Good morning Achim,
what a gathering of elephants and the people to watch and admire them!Great snapshot with all these elephants to drink water.When the first i saw the scene i thought that it was captured in Africa but after i confirmed that is was taken in Sri Lanka.Well done.

Have a nice weekend,Danos

paura (38584) 2009-05-22 4:57

Achim,
Beleza de enquadramento aqui, amigo, mostrando de um eficiente ângulo a linda e interessante paisagem. Muito boa.

Abraço

Paulo

plimrn (19682) 2009-05-22 22:12

Hi Achim,
Great framing, good scan. What an interesting photo with the small elephants bathing. They do look like young but I find the note a bit confusing because the focus is about how Sri Lankan elephants are small and there is nothing about a collection of orphans.
HLJ, Pat

Emile (20003) 2009-05-23 13:49

Hola Achim.
I never saw so many elephants together in a picture, excellent shot captured from a high POV. About two nights ago I saw on National Geographic Channel on TV the superb work that this people are doing with the orphan elephants.
Your scan is very good because the picture looks like it was taken yesterday. Well done.
TFS.
Have a nice weekend.
Best regards.

Tue (25608) 2009-05-24 3:41

Hi Achim,
Great photo of these bathing elephants. You found a great, high POV to show it. Good composition too, with a nice inclusion of the rock where the people are watching from.
Regards,
Lars

ribeiroantonio (21925) 2009-05-24 16:25

It is a very nice shot indeed. Just the view of so many elephants is already a pleasure and when combined with human presence is still better. Well done.
Antonio

AiresSantos (42298) 2009-05-25 3:00

Hi Achim
Big concentration of Pinnewela Elephant Orphanage.
Beautiful picture in the nature. Great POV and colours
Good informative note
Have a nice week
Aires

clic (4063) 2009-05-25 14:00

Hallo Achim
I never saw so much elephants on a single picture!
Quite a herd!
I presume you scanned with a Nikon 4000 DPI film scanner: The quality of picture is top notch!
Such a touching family picture!
Grusse and thanks for your kind words.
Robert

Giorgio (8720) 2009-05-26 7:43

- Incredible meeting Achim, funny situation, beautiful show, bravo and TFS, rare picture!
Greetings.
giorgio

Docarmo (8840) 2009-05-26 9:00

Hallo Achim,
Very interesting picture: people observing elephants. What do elephants feel about human presence among them? Good question. For sure, they also were observing humans.
And good note, as well! Are these elephants dwarf because of the action of the humans? As an end result of a long-continued process of removing the physically best specimens... kind of "natural selection" conducted by the human beings!
Amazing!
Thanks for sharing this interesting fact.
Docarmo

jaywalker (12190) 2009-05-27 13:28

Hi Achim, A great photo of this group of Elephants, your high POV was a super advanchidge to over view the whole scene, Elephants are such magnificent animals, a lovely picture, kind regards Wilson.

stego (22360) 2009-05-30 11:27

Hallo Achim,
Why does technology make things only 10 years old look so old? :D It's not really a bad thing, after all, there adepts of those filters to make photos look like "antique". However, here the only noticeable sign of age is that very slight magenta cast, because the scanner job is first rate. Very nice presentation of an unique place.
Grüße,
José

pablominto (40824) 2009-06-13 0:40

Hello Achim,

An impressive number of young elephants!
The scene is well framed and also include the guys watching this amazing happening...
Well framed with the river in the diagonal, but I wonder what is outside the frame to the left side..!

Greetings,
Pablo -
***

danyy (69001) 2009-06-26 6:21

Bonjour Achim,
un régal pour les touristes ce genre de scène. Tu as bien choisi uen endroit surélevé pour nous faire profiter d'un maximum de cette scène.
Des couleurs bien naturelles et la fraicheur de la rivière.
Amicalement.
daniel.

maloutim (3977) 2009-07-04 23:56

Hi Achim!
Great photo and good quality for a scan!
This a lovely scene of elephant family having fun during bathing time!
Interesting note about the species!
I hope the elephant population will remain stable wherever they are!
TFS.
Marie Louise.
PS. I have read your note to Docarmo about the orphanage! Do you know why these babies were abandoned? Were their parents killed or captured?...

Bruno40 (6440) 2009-07-11 9:13

Yes, I have been there.... thanks for bringing good memories!!
I was there few months before you (Sept)
cheers
Jorge

Photo Information

Copyright: Achim Fried (John_F_Kennedy) (31563)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 1999-12-12
Categories: Daily Life, Nature
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Pre-digital I, Sri Lanka, Achim's favourite Animals [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2009-05-20 1:42