I SEE LIFE, WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Often to get inspired, you need to remind yourself of the end-results of your labors. When it comes to working out, you need to see what the end-results of your healthy self are going to look like.

One Saturday, I woke up and prepared for my weekend walk/run up. Honestly this particular day was a tough one for me because the previous day had been a hectic one. At one point, I decided not to even go for the run up. After wondering around in the room for a while, I gathered all the energy and motivation to go.

I then set my steps calculator target to challenge myself for the results I was looking at over the period set. Now I get out of my room and hit the road. With my headphones intact and music playlist set, I was ready to make those steps count.

Photo Credit : BraQwophi

Now let me get to the theme of my post. During the walk, I was still keeping tabs on the target set. along the line, something caught my attention. Initially it didn't trigger to me but something pricked me to stop and take a few steps back to confirm what i had briefly seen.

So I obeyed the voice and boom there it was. I am sure you might have asked yourself, what the photo attached to this post was meant for? Well that actually sums up this short post and main theme.

From the title, I SEE LIFE, I continued to ask the question, What Do You See? Most often than not, things around us in one way or the other tell and teaches us about how life should be or is in order to continue living ours especially where you are thinking of giving up at a point.

This tree which bears oranges may seem to be dead to the eyes when you pass by it. It had no leaves and it looked more of a dead tree than a living one. I am sure a few of you reading might be alluding it to some scientific backing and all but for me, I chose to see it from a different point of life.

What did it teach me? It taught me to see life even in the most dead situations you can think of and continue to bear your fruits. Give yourself the extra push till you know your body cant hold you any longer. That is why I captioned this post about this photo about me seeing life.

Back to my walk, the target set eventually was met and even exceeded it to my amazement. I felt the pain and all but gradually, I am working the body to the best of my abilities. Self motivation on any day is key in keeping fit.

Cheers and thanks for passing by.

Wildlife Photography 2017 Finalists Announced

The Natural History Museum in London has kindly released the 13 finalist images for the 2017 Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest, in advance of the October announcement of the competition’s winners. Now in its 53rd year, this year’s competition received almost 50,000 entries from 92 different countries. Imagine how difficult it would be to choose the winner from among these photos!

Bold Eagle: After several days of constant rain, the bald eagle was soaked to the skin. Named after its conspicuous but fully-feathered white head (bald derives from an old word for white), it is an opportunist, eating various prey – captured, scavenged or stolen – with a preference for fish. At Dutch Harbor on Amaknak Island in Alaska, USA, bald eagles gather to take advantage of the fishing industry’s leftovers. Used to people, the birds are bold. “I lay on my belly on the beach surrounded by eagles,” says photographer Klaus Nigge. “I got to know individuals, and they got to trust me.”

Sewage Surfer: Seahorses hitch rides on the currents by grabbing floating objects such as seaweed with their delicate prehensile tails. Photographer Justin Hofman watched with delight as this tiny estuary seahorse “almost hopped” from one bit of bouncing natural debris to the next, bobbing around near the surface on a reef near Sumbawa Island, Indonesia. But as the tide started to come in, the mood changed. The water contained more and more decidedly unnatural objects – mainly bits of plastic – and a film of sewage sludge covered the surface, all sluicing towards the shore. The seahorse let go of a piece of seagrass and seized a long, wispy piece of clear plastic. As a brisk wind at the surface picked up, making conditions bumpier, the seahorse took advantage of something that offered a more stable raft: a waterlogged plastic cottonbud. Not having a macro lens for the shot ended up being fortuitous, both because of the strengthening current and because it meant that Justin decided to frame the whole scene, sewage bits and all. As Justin, the seahorse and the cottonbud spun through the ocean together, waves splashed into Justin’s snorkel. The next day, he fell ill. Indonesia has the world’s highest levels of marine biodiversity but is second only to China as a contributor to marine plastic debris – debris forecast to outweigh fish in the ocean by 2050. On the other hand, Indonesia has pledged to reduce by 70 per cent the amount of waste it discharges into the ocean.

Winter Pause: The red squirrel closed its eyes for just a moment, paws together, fur fluffed, then resumed its search for food. Winter is a tough time for northern animals. Some hibernate to escape its rigors, but not red squirrels. Photographer Mats Andersson walks every day in the forest near his home in southern Sweden, often stopping to watch the squirrels foraging in the spruce trees. Though their mainly vegetarian diet is varied, their winter survival is linked to a good crop of spruce cones, and they favor woodland with conifers. They also store food to help see them through lean times. On this cold, February morning, the squirrel’s demeanor encapsulated the spirit of winter, captured by Mats using the soft-light grain of black and white.

Saguaro Twist: A band of ancient giants commands the expansive arid landscape of Arizona’s Sonoran Desert National Monument in the U.S. These emblematic saguaro cacti – up to 200 years old – may tower at more than 12 meters (40 feet) but are very slow growing, some sprouting upwardly curved branches as they mature. The roots – aside from one deep tap – weave a maze just below the surface, radiating as far as the plant is tall, to absorb precious rainfall. Most water is stored in sponge-like tissue, defended by hard external spines and a waxy-coated skin to reduce water loss. The surface pleats expand like accordions as the cactus swells, its burgeoning weight supported by woody ribs running along the folds. But the saturated limbs are vulnerable to hard frost – their flesh may freeze and crack, while the mighty arms twist down under their loads. A lifetime of searching out victims near his desert home led photographer Jack Dyckinga to know several that promised interesting compositions. “This one allowed me to get right inside its limbs,” he says. As the gentle dawn light bathed the saguaro’s contorted form, Jack’s wide angle revealed its furrowed arms, perfectly framing its neighbours before the distant Sand Tank Mountains.

Arctic Treasure:Carrying its trophy from a raid on a snow goose nest, an Arctic fox heads for a suitable burial spot. This is June and bonanza time for the foxes of Wrangel Island in the Russian Far East. Lemmings are the basic diet for Arctic foxes, but Wrangel suffers long, harsh winters and is ice-bound for much of the year, making it a permanent source of stored food for these opportunist animals. The food convoys arrive at the end of May. Over just a few days, vast flocks of snow geese descend on the tundra of this remote UNESCO World Heritage Site, traveling from wintering grounds some 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) away in British Columbia and California. Not only is this the biggest breeding colony of snow geese in the world, and the only remaining one in Asia, but it is also growing: from 160,000 geese in 2011 to about 300,000 by 2016. The Arctic foxes catch any weak or sick birds, but what they feast on are the goose eggs, laid in early June in open nests on the tundra. Though the pairs of snow geese actively defend their nests, a fox may still manage to steal up to 40 eggs a day, harassing the geese until there’s a chance to nip in and grab an egg. Most of the eggs are then cached, buried in shallow holes in the tundra, where the soil stays as cold as a refrigerator. These eggs will remain edible long after the brief Arctic summer is over and the geese have migrated south again. And when the new generation of young foxes begins to explore, they too will benefit from the hidden treasures. Photo by Sergey Gorshkov.

Glimpse of a Lynx:
Photographer Laura Albiac Vilas had seen many of Spain’s wild animals, but never the illusive Iberian lynx, an endangered cat found only in two small populations in southern Spain. Unlike the larger European lynx, the Iberian lynx feeds almost entirely on rabbits. So a disease that wipes out the rabbit population can be catastrophic. They also need a particular blend of open scrub and natural cavities for natal dens. Laura’s family travelled to the Sierra de Andújar Natural Park in search of the lynx – and struck lucky on their second day – a pair were relaxing not far from the road. There were many photographers there but an atmosphere of ‘respect’. Laura watched for an hour and a half, the only sound being the whirr of cameras if a cat glanced in their direction. “The animals’ attitude surprised me. They weren’t scared of people – they simply ignored us,” says Laura. “I felt so emotional to be so close to them.”

Bear Hug: After fishing for clams at low tide, this mother brown bear was leading her young spring cubs back across the beach to the nearby meadow. But one young cub just wanted to stay and play. It was the moment photographer Ashleigh Scully had been waiting for. She had come to Alaska’s Lake Clark National Park intent on photographing the family life of brown bears. This rich estuary environment provides a buffet for bears: grasses in the meadows, salmon in the river and clams on the shore. A large number of families spend their summers here, and with plentiful food, they are tolerant of each other (though wary of males) and of people. “I fell in love with brown bears,” says Ashleigh, “and their personalities… This young cub seemed to think that it was big enough to wrestle mum to the sand. As always, she played along, firm, but patient.” The result is a cameo of brown bear family life.

Saved but Caged:

A back leg of this six-month-old Sumatran tiger cub was so badly mangled by a snare that it had to be amputated. He was lucky to survive at all, having been trapped for four days before being discovered in a rainforest in Aceh Province on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The likelihood is that the snare was set by oil-palm plantation workers to catch bushmeat (though tigers are also deliberately snared). The workers are migrants who have been given small plots to grow their own oil palms but who have to work on the big plantations for about five years until their own crops generate a return. To feed their families, they have to hunt, and this cub’s bones would have fetched a good price on the black market. The population of Sumatran tigers, a subspecies, is as low as 400–500 (the world population of all wild tigers is no more than than 3,200) – the result of poaching to fuel the illegal trade in tiger parts for the Chinese-medicine market. Anti-poaching forest patrols are helping to stem the killing, partly by locating and removing snares (now illegal), which is how this cub came to be rescued. The cub, however, will spend the rest of his life in a cage in a Javan zoo. Today, there are probably more Sumatran tigers in zoos than there are left in the wild. Photo by Steve Winter.

Swim Gym: “We were still a few meters from the surface, when I heard the strange noises,” says photographer Laurent Ballesta. Suspecting Weddell seals – known for their repertoire of at least 34 different underwater call types – he approached slowly. It was early spring in east Antarctica, and a mother was introducing her pup to the icy water. The world’s most southerly breeding mammal, a Weddell seal gives birth on the ice and takes her pup swimming after a week or two. The pair, unbothered by Laurent’s presence, slid effortlessly between the sheets of the frozen labyrinth. Adults are accomplished divers, reaching depths of more than 600 meters (1,970 feet) and submerging for up to 82 minutes. “They looked so at ease, where I felt so inappropriate,” says Laurent. Relying on light through the ice above, he captured the curious gaze of the pup, the arc of its body mirroring that of its watchful mother.

The Insiders: The bulbous tips of the aptly named magnificent anemone’s tentacles contain cells that sting most fish. But the clown anemonefish goes unharmed thanks to mucus secreted over its skin, which tricks the anemone into thinking it is brushing against itself. Both species benefit. The anemonefish gains protection from its predators, which daren’t risk being stung, and it also feeds on parasites and debris among the tentacles; at the same time, it improves water circulation (fanning its fins as it swims), scares away the anemone’s predators and may even lure in prey for it. While diving in the Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, photographer Qing Lin noticed something strange about this particular cohabiting group. Each anemonefish had an extra pair of eyes inside its mouth – those of a parasitic isopod (a crustacean related to woodlice). An isopod enters a fish as a larva, via its gills, moves to the fish’s mouth and attaches with its legs to the base of the tongue. As the parasite sucks its host’s blood, the tongue withers, leaving the isopod attached in its place, where it may remain for several years. With great patience and a little luck – the fish darted around unpredictably – Qing captured these three rather curious individuals momentarily lined up, eyes front, mouths open and parasites peeping out.

Resplendent Delivery: Photographer Tyohar Kastiel watched the pair of resplendent quetzals from dawn to dusk for more than a week as they delivered fruits and the occasional insect or lizard to their two chicks. Resplendent quetzals usually nest in thicker forest, but this pair had picked a tree in a partly logged area in the Costa Rican cloud forest of San Gerardo de Dota. The additional light made it easier for Tyohar to catch the iridescent color of the male’s dazzling emerald and crimson body plumage and tail streamers, despite his fast, erratic flight pattern. But the light also made it easier for the birds to see Tyohar. So he would arrive before dawn, sit in the same place and wear the same jacket, with the result that the pair accepted his presence and continued to stuff food into their chicks’ beaks every hour or so. On the eighth day, the parents fed the chicks at dawn as usual but then didn’t return for several hours. By 10 a.m., the chicks were calling ravenously, and Tyohar began to worry. Then something wonderful happened. The male arrived with a wild avocado in his beak. He landed on a nearby branch, scanned around, and then flew to the nest. But instead of feeding the chicks, he flew back to his branch, the avocado still in his beak. Within seconds, one chick hopped out to the nearest perch and was rewarded. Moments later the female appeared and did exactly the same thing, and the second chick jumped out. The family then flew off together into the rainforest, leaving Tyohar bereft – and thrilled.

Romance Among the Angels: Photographer Andrey Narchuk was on an expedition to the Sea of Okhotsk in the Russian Far East, and his intention on this day was to photograph salmon. But as soon as he jumped into the water, he found himself surrounded by thousands of mating sea angels. Quickly swapping to his macro equipment, he began photographing the pairs, 3 centimeters (1.2 inches) long and swirling around in the current. Sea angels are molluscks related to slugs and snails, without shells and with wing-like lobes used as swimming paddles. They hunt sea butterflies – swimming sea snails – using specialized feeding parts to prise them from their shells. Each individual is both male and female, and here they are getting ready to insert their copulatory organs into each other to transfer sperm in synchrony. One is slightly smaller than the other, as was the case with most of the couples Andrey observed, and they remained joined for 20 minutes. Both would go on to lay 30–40 tiny eggs after fertilization. It was late summer and peak phytoplankton time, so there would be abundant food for the resulting larvae. To photograph them mating, Andrey had to battle against strong currents and avoid a wall of gill netting, and when he was swept into the net and his equipment became snared, he was forced to make an emergency ascent – but not before he had got his shot. The following day, there wasn’t a single angel to be seen.

The Power of the Matriarch: At dusk, in Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve, photographer David Lloyd waited for the herd of elephants on their evening trek to a waterhole. As they got closer to his vehicle, he could see that the mellow light from the fast-setting sun was emphasizing every wrinkle and hair. For a photographer who enjoys working with texture, this was a gift. When they were just a few meters away, he could see the different qualities of different parts of their bodies – the deep ridges of their trunks, the mud-caked ears and the patina of dried dirt on their tusks. The elephants ambled by in near silence, peaceful and relaxed. The female leading the dozen-strong herd – probably the matriarch – looked straight at him, her eye a glowing amber dot in the heavy folds of skin. Her gaze was, he says, full of respect and intelligence – the essence of sentience.

I CELEBRATE NANA KOFI ACQUAH

There is always that one person who stands out in a park. Day in day out our country Ghana is blessed with gifted folks from all walks of life as well as their chosen trade for either their livelihood or for the pleasure of it.

I met him at one of Blogging Ghana's premium event, #Blogcamp Ghana after a few interactions online. I had always closely followed his works and admired it. With my little passion for arts and photography, he came in handy and very resourceful after the few minutes chat were had after his break-out session during the event.

I even went ahead to tell him about a plan I had in mind, and he was thrilled and encouraged me to pursue it if I wanted to do that. Within minutes he had suggested a few things that i should look at and then assured me of his doors being open anytime I needed his input. One thing he said under that session for which I remember a lot till this day : "If you want me to shoot your wedding then be ready to pay me a $1000 for each photograph". This was to confirm his decision not to do wedding shoots.

The years went by and I realised most of his works were drifted towards Development Photography. With his poetry background, the grammar that went with the photographs that he posted ( and still does) on all his platforms, were worth reading and taking a look at the photos. I remember being a part of a twitter chat initiated by The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) where himself and other talented photographers moderated on Development Photography (#DEVPIX) and the messages photos posted sold. Such great insight and valuable information shared by him till this day, I documented.

I am sure for those of you that know him, are very familiar to his works and accolades so i won't bug you much. This post is to actually celebrate him. And what are we celebrating?

Last week he was honoured to become the first recipient of the World Press Photo and  Tim Hetherington Fellowship Award. This is no doubt a big feat in his chosen career and as a Ghanaian, I feel so proud. Congratulations no doubt are in order and a big salute from me to this wonderful personality is being sent to him via this blog post.

In his response to the honour, this is what he had to say ;

"I hope that my work can help create the Africa that Tim worked so hard and died for, and the World Press Photo envisions.

In my short life, I have been helped and favoured by so many people over the years and all over the world; and I cannot say Thank You enough".

 Prior to this honour, he had had one of his photos featured in a book chronicling 10 historic moments showed to the Pope.

Do you know, Nana Kofi is also a self-declared male feminist and he has stated that he is driven to change the narrative around African women where they are sometimes portrayed as vulnerable and subdued.

He has been featured on BBC and Reuters in his capacity as an African Male Feminist and on CNN’s African Voices for attempting to redefine the perceptions on Africa through his photographs and writings.

Why won't I celebrate such a person.

Get to know him more and his works;

NANA KOFI ACQUAH'S BLOG

NANA KOFI ACQUAH'S INSTAGRAM

 NANA KOFI ACQUAH'S TUMBLR

WHO WON WHAT - SOCIAL MEDIA AWARDS AFRICA !!

The Social Media Awards, Africa’s premier awards for social and digital media with nominations spanning four categories and drawn from across the continent took place on the 24th of January 2015 with some of the people that really matter  in the Social Media World in attending.

The event which was hosted in Lagos, Nigeria, recognized and rewarded excellence, creativity and impact of social media on human Socio-Economic development, through its tools and various available platforms by individuals and organizations as such across the continent.

There was also a second part which preceded the awards ceremony which obviously was the highlight of the evening, hosted Africa’s best in diverse sectors to discuss, analyze and forge a new development path for Africa through social media.

The awards considered specific social Platforms like; Facebook Page of the Year, Twitter Handle of the Year, Influencer of the Year (Considering LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+ and Instagram.

For the case of individual achievement in social media, the selection boards looked at Blogger of the Year, Social Media Personality of the Year, Social Media Hero. Not forgetting local campaigns and brands, it was obvious Hashtags of the Year couldn’t be taken out. Others earmarked for recognition were Brand of the Year, App of the Year and Best Rated Platform of the Year.

Before I share with you on the various nominees and winners of the various categories, here is a quote from the organizers;

“With 4 major categories and 15 awards, the SMAA is a genuine, timely intervention for promoting distinctive creativity, peerless innovation and pervasive developments on the African continent through the best use of social media platforms and the rest of the social web”.

Now WHO WON WHAT?

  
HASHTAG OF THE YEAR
#TheNiteTalk       Kenya -      
#letsnotpretend    Ghana
#choice4life          Nigeria
WINNER: #TheNiteTalk (@Lt_Caesa)




Financial Institution
Stanbic IBTC              Nigeria
KCB Group                Kenya
Access Bank               Nigeria
WINNER: @KCBGroup




Brand of the Year
Raha 2.0                      Tanzania  
Jumia-Nigeria              Nigeria
Vodafone Ghana        Ghana
WINNER: @rahaFIBER



Best Rated Platform
All 4 Women               South Africa
Nigeria Trade Hub       Nigeria
Bizcommunity.com      South Africa
WINNER: @Nigeriatradehub




App of the Year
ICOW             Kenya
Afrinolly         Nigeria  
MPesa             Kenya
WINNER: @Afrinolly

AFRINOLLY - APP OF THE YEAR

The awards also recognized best use of social media institutionally and here are they:

Private Sector
Informer East Africa               Tanzania
DHL Africa                            Kenya  
Popi Media                              South Africa
WINNER: @DHLAfrica






Non-Profit
Stand to End Rape Nigeria
WINNER: @StandtoEndRape

Government/Public Sector
Republic of Rwanda Ministry of Youth and ICT      Rwanda  
Kenya National Youth Service                                   Kenya
Ekiti State Government                                              Nigeria
WINNER: @myictrwanda


Start-up/MSME
Adforumco        Nigeria  
AIM Group        Tanzania
TVyangu            Kenya
WINNER: @adforumco



Influencer of the Year (LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, Instagram), which had the following gunning for the award,
The Love Tour KE                  Kenya  
Kemi Omololu-Olunloyo        Nigeria
X-tian Dela                             Kenya
Had @slumphotography picking up the plaque as winner in that category.




Then came Twitter Handle of the Year
@jimitewe – Jimi Tewe                      Nigeria  
@XtianDela – X-tian Dela                 Kenya
@omojuwa – Japhet Omojuwa           Nigeria

WINNER @jimitewe 

TWITTER HANDLE OF THE YEAR - @JIMITEWE

I was actually rooting for Omojuwa to win based on the impact that handle had made over the year but let’s not take it away from Jimi Tewe, some wonderful things came out of that handle. Check out his ThankYou message to the world after being declared winner.

 



Facebook Page of the Year was won by Barefootlaw from Uganda (@BarefootlawUG ) and if you want to know who its competitors were, find them below
All4 Women                            South Africa
Barefootlaw                            Uganda  
Comedy Central Africa          South Africa

Call them the flagship awards of the night, the following won the top awards of the evening .



Social Media Hero
Japheth Omojuwa                   Nigeria
Michael Hlatshwayo               South Africa  
Xtian Dela                               Kenya
WINNER: @big_MIKE_ayooba

Social Media Personality of the Year
Ayari Yassine                          Tunisia  
Japheth Omojuwa                   Nigeria
Luyando Haangala                  Zambia
WINNER: @yassayari

Blogger of the Year

BLOGGER OF THE YEAR

Philip Etemesi                         Kenya
Ogunsaya Jide                         Nigeria
Ben Kiruthi                             Kenya
WINNER: @Benkiruthi 



 

 

Congratulations to all the winners and the other nominees, wishing you all better luck in the next awards session. Hope you don’t stop being an impact on society and Africa as a whole with all the good things you do with all your social media platforms. Africa no doubt is the future.

You can also find me on most of the various social media platforms;

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

GOOGLE+

 


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