A selection of the best readers’ photographs submitted to the Getaway Gallery photo competition for May 2017.
Getaway Gallery is a prestigious showcase of the best photographs our readers have to offer. We have exciting prizes to be won this year to the value of over R202 100, from equipment through to a photographic safari in Botswana.
Each month, readers can vote online for their favourite image of the month. Voting for this gallery is now closed and votes have been tallied.
The winning Image of the Month goes to Annemarie Du Plessis for ‘Smoking Baby Elephant’. Congratulations, Annemarie!
Take a look at the April 2017 gallery for more inspirational images.
Submit your images here
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- I took this image in the early morning in the Bvumba Mountains, Eastern Zimbabwe. After a night of gentle rain and droplets had collected on this small caterpillar. – By Michelle Stratford von Horsten, Somerset West Nikon D7000, Nikon 85mm f/4, ISO 2000, f/4, 1/6400 sec
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- We were the only vehicle with this herd of elephant on a quiet gravel road, one cloudy day in the Kruger National Park. They finished with their mud bath and crossed the road to start on their dust bath, giving me the perfect light with the sun behind them. I took the shot from my vehicle with camera and lens resting on a beanbag. – By Annemarie du Plessis, Polokwane Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 70-300 f/4-5.6L, ISO 125, f/5, 1/250 sec
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- This is an annual festival where Tamil devotees carry Kavady (burdens) decorated with flowers and containers of milk. Some go further by piercing their bodies with hooks and lances, and even pull chariots attached to those hooks. This scene is a prayer being offered before commencing the pinning (piercing) ceremony. I was fortunate enough to be given access to witness the spiritual event at a local temple in Newcastle. – By Gary Unger, Newcastle Canon 5DS R, Canon 24-105 f/4L, ISO 500, f/4, 1/250 sec
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- This image was taken in the Boteti region of the Makgadigadi pans in Botswana. During the dry season, thousands of zebra migrate from the northern parts of the Okavango Delta to the Boteti River in search of water. Here they are seen moving back into the bush after drinking from the last pools in the river. – By Kobus Saayman, Pretoria Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 500mm f/4L, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/1000 sec
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- Photographer Steve Benjamin from Animal Ocean tipped me off about bioluminescent plankton hunting in Kogel Bay. Arriving at midnight on a pitchblack drizzly night, with a scary walk from the bush to the beach, we were treated to the most magical experience. The sand lit up as we walked across it, fluorescent waves broke on the shore and everything sparkled with movement. This is a four-image panorama stitched manually in Photoshop and processed in Lightroom. – By Mark Harley, Kommetjie Canon 6D, Canon 17-40mm f/4L, ISO 3200, f/4, 30 sec
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- I met this family of Bushmen from the Kruiper family in the Kalahari. They had tsammas with them, which they ate while I took the photos. This photo was taken at sunset with the last rays of the sun casting a soft glow of light onto them. – By Ferdinand Veer, Kalahari Nikon D800E, Nikkor 85mm f/1.4, ISO 100, f/1.4, 1/100 sec
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- I heard some birds going crazy around our campsite in Savuti, Botswana. On further inspection I found this beauty slowly crossing the road to the nearest tree – By Jackie Badenhorst, Pretoria Canon 5D Mark III, Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 II, ISO 250, f/4, 1/1250 sec
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- I spotted this steenbok in a field of harvested wheat near Marydale in the Northern Cape. – By Mias van der Walt Nikon D7200, Nikkor 200-500mm f/5.6, ISO 280, f/5.6, 1/1000 sec
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- After a long day of following these Blacktip sharks around the island’s shallow reef, I found them swimming amongst a school of mullet near the shore just as the sun started to set. I used a large dome port on the housing to capture the shark swimming beneath the surface as well as the sunset in the distance. Stuart Hablutzel, Seychelles Nikon camera, Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8, ISO 200, f/14 1/160 sec, Subal underwater housing
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- I woke up quite early this morning in Stone Town, Zanzibar, anticipating the arrival of fishermen. The sun was rising and this man was sitting quietly looking at the fishermen as they went about setting up their stalls. – By Yann Macherez, Cape Town Canon 5D Mark II, Canon 16-35 f/2.8 II, ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/800 sec
