The Unknown

Photograph by Jessica Keller

Sometimes our biggest downfall is that we believe the art we imagine is better than the art we will produce. This causes lack of motivation. This causes ideas to flow but never to be realized. This is fear taking over life.The biggest reason people fail is because they don’t try enough times to get it right. Failure is one of the best things we can experience. It makes success that much more worth fighting for." - Brooke Shaden

What a beautiful inspiration and so very true.

A Heart For Wildlife

In the past few days I had been reflecting on my time spent in Zambia, where I came upon a story which really made me think about the cruelty man has on nature.
We have so little space left on this planet for our wildlife that it breaks my heart when I experience cruelty at this level.

Jonathan was prepared to give me his story about a female elephant which he took care of for 4 days and experienced a hard but in a way still beautiful time...

Jonathan:" At 04:33 in the morning I heard gun shots, I can't remember where I leave my phone sometimes but remember the exact time I heard those shots, something wasn't right about the shots I heard, they were not of a poacher shooting for food but shooting under distress.

After gathering up the scouts we went trekking, trekking to find the poachers and to assess the damage done. What we found infuriated me that people,(human beings) can be so cruel, but that doesn't surprise me. We found a young female elephant in her late teens or early twenties wounded by two types of weapons, a high powered rifle and a home made shot gun.

She was shot in her face, her right side of her body and the right back leg.
The shot gun was fired twice to my count to a charging elephant protecting her 2 month old baby.
Once in her face and when she turned to run away once on her side but it didn't stop there. They went on and shot her again while she was running away in the hind leg with an even deadlier weapon a high powered rifle.

She was seriously injured an injury which would have killed her slowly through weeks of pain while infection took place.The herd ran and left her behind in all the panic and distress of such a violent attack.

When we found her the logical thing to do was to shoot her but I couldn't be certain at that time of the damage, so I got online with the vet we knew and she told me that if I could fly her in she could patch up the injuries except if the elephants bone in her back leg had been smashed by the bullet, so I needed to make sure. But how do you get close to an elephant thats just been wounded, you don't except through love. I had sat with her for 2 days bringing her food and water trying to get close enough to assess the damage without stressing her out further and then the game started.

The game was called throwing sticks, she through a stick at me probably to get rid of me but it was a gentle throw not aggressive at all and when I through it back she responded by throwing it back to me, landing perfectly in my lap, I spoke to her throughout the time we spent together and got very little sleep over the next 4 days, on the fourth day magic happened she allowed me to touch her and check her leg and when I had seen the bullet had not come out the other side, I knew it was bad but then my fears were answered once she tried to step on her leg and I heard the crunch of bone.

In the end of my time with this beautiful new mother, we had to shoot her for there was nothing else we could of done for her. My heart broke at what happened, I had known this herd of elephant well, followed them for 3 moths before the incident and to me it was like loosing a friend."

Jont and his ele!

Pinterest

I never put too much thoughts into the social media Pinterest, but wow what a great medium to get inspiration. I found some amazing stuff on it and got very excited to use it more often.
I actually got excited about photography and again felt the great passion for photography. It just showed once more why I chose to be a photographer.

I would like to share some photographs which inspired me today on Pinterest:

Lesotho

Lesotho, which roughly translates into the land of the people who speak Sesotho. I was finally here and was able to spend a couple of days in this gorgeous 30 000 square km country with my photography friends. A country high up in the Drakensberg mountains completely surrounded by South Africa.

Lesotho what a beautiful place on earth with incredible friendly and open people. People always fascinated me, the different facial expressions, different attitude, different views on life and that we as photographers manage sometimes to capture the reality in the human eye. It was an awesome experience to photograph in Lesotho among the community and to capture the raw truth.

Photograph by Jessica Keller

Photograph by Jessica Keller

Photograph by Jessica Keller

When Life Just Takes Over

Do you know that feeling when life just takes over? When you rushing from one place to an other? When you hardly find time for yourself? When so much is going on and you can’t figure out where your head stands?

Well that is exactly how I felt the last couple of weeks... I forgot about my blog...

I was moving house, started a new job, gave my dogs away, was in Lesotho, my car broke down and had to focus on assignments... it was quiet a hectic time with lots of changes and just busy. Dealing with things, which I never dealt in my life with before. But I guess all experience... so my blog had to feel this, but I will be soon back on track...

The Shadow Self

The shadow self is a series of images of a girl which is torn between two worlds. She doesn't just know yet how to deal with her own shadow side. The shadow self is often also called your unconscious mind and as well the seat of creativity.

We create our own reality.

If we want to get to know our Shadow Self, all we need to do is look at the condition of our life. Unwanted experiences are actually a reflection of our own Shadow Self.

The sunflower in the picture represents life, joy, light the exact opposite of what the girl is feeling at that exact moment. Her facial expression shows how every day life can be a struggle full of sadness. But she is clinging onto that flower and is hoping for a beautiful life. She hopes to find the balance between her conscious and unconscious mind. All she has to do is let go of the worry showing her true dark side, no, she needs to let the light and the darkness work together.

Photograph by Jessica Keller

Photograph by Jessica Keller

Photograph by Jessica Keller

Photograph by Jessica Keller

A big thank you goes to my precious friend Natascha who made that shoot absolutely amazing.

Everyday is the start of something beautiful...

Hope

The last couple of days I spent in the Transkei with amazing people that are out there to help the poor and needy. We had the privilege to share some precious moments with little children in need. What beautiful creatures they are... I loved every second of this trip. It made me think of life.  A little girl in particular caught my attention. She was beautiful with big dark eyes, searching for love and attention, but filled with so much anger.

One of my goals as a photographer is always to capture a picture that is worth a thousands words. My aim is to produce direct, truthful and bold images that tell the stories for those who have no voice. As a documentary photographer I will have many people seeing through my eyes and expecting to see the truth.

The group I joined on that adventure are doing a really great job for pointing out the people living below the bottom line of poverty, for raising awareness about educational and child labour issues. I’m so grateful that I was able to share the experience with the team.

Photograph by Jessica Keller

Some roads aren't meant to be travelled alone.