News & Events
March 2011
Late 2010 in Africa wore a different face for Stoney and Jan Edwards. The photography featured green grasses, soft rain, and new born babies in many species. The three camps visited were Selinda, Mombo, and Kwara in Northern Botswana, with the last stop being Tiger Canyons in Philoppolis, South Africa.
In Selinda the camera was on a fast run to capture the antics and mischievous playtime of young baboons. A special view was the baby wildebeest sidling his mother in an empty open space. These animals are rarely seen “solo”. Baby lions were being subjected to long hikes and were whining and pleading with mother to stop the procedure and take a rest. A rare roan antelope also was spotted.
Mombo offered its usual spectacular events on this trip. A performance of flights and landings, soil scratching and burials, cocked listening expressions—all these things were included in the ground red hornbill incident. There came along a surprise fight among three young male lions vying for a meager meal of a baby antelope. There was great dissatisfaction and rancor at the closing scene.
The ELEPHANT BIRTH at Mombo speaks for itself. The presentation of still pictures as well as video clips are worth a thousand words. Our guide, Daryl Balfour in 46 years of experience had never witnessed this event!!
At Kwara the Edwardses visited the famous bird aviary on an island photographed at eye-level from the upper deck of an aluminum boat, in the late afternoon and sunset hours to witness spectacular fly ins and feeding of chicks. Some rival disturbances were recorded.
The birth and death of a baby zebra on the open plains by an aggressive young female lion was a shock after witnessing the orderly elephant birth previously.
Last stop, Tiger Canyons, near Philoppolis, South Africa, was one experience not yet offered to the general public. Stoney and Jan were in cages on vehicles, and the tigers roamed freely and with great abandon as they rode as passengers on cage tops and departed with panache. There were skins of various hues including the white tiger. A lion resided happily with the group. Close and personal was the watchword for Jan as she did a “tiger walk”. Enjoy the images!
First half of 2010 WAS WONDERFUL April found Edwardses photographing and hiking Olympic National Park in the state of Washington before the tourist rush without rain downpours that are common there. The color spectrum was all over the chart – vivid, wild, garish, loud, muted---something to please everyone.
In July was the grand adventure called “A Chopintour of Poland and France” celebrating Chopin’s 200th birthday, sponsored and led by Dr. William Wellborn, pianist and professor at San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and Dr. Adam Wibrowski, pianist and professor at the Paris Conservatory of Music. It was a musical, cultural, and photographic feast. Images from Warsaw, Torun, the Ojkow Valley and Zelazowa Wola, Szydlowiecin in Poland, and Nohant, Sarzay Castle, Chateau Montresor and Paris in France have been added to the website. Jan and Stoney then spent 5 days in the Alsace and Champagne regions of France photographing quaint villages and vineyards, also new on their website.
MORE EDWARDS ARTWORK NOW IN EL CAMINO HOSPITAL, MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA.
Jan and Stoney now have twenty-seven photo art pieces in the new El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA. Nineteen of them are in the Pre-Op area where patients are awaiting surgery. Four are in the maternity lobby and the other four on the second floor.
Look under El Camino Hospital Gallery on the website to view the images.
2009 WAS A CHALLENGING AND EXCITING YEAR OF CHANGE IN PHOTOGRAPHIC ENDEAVORS.
In February of 2009 Stoney and Jan were presenters at North American Nature Photographers Association. Stoney’s “WILDLIFE IN INDIA” and Jan’s “INTO THE NIGHT” (Wildlife at night in Africa) were new and original topics for those attending the convention.
In September it was back to Kenya, Africa at the Masai Mara, Nakuru and Samburu. Nakuru had been de-nuded by invasion of salt from the lake as well as a devastating fire. On the positive side, rhinos had been re-introduced which led to scenarios of mom and baby rhinos in terrific settings. The giraffes among acacia trees were beautiful.
Samburu had been severely impacted by drought. Most of the elephants had left or died, but the little antelopes (gerinooks and dik-diks) were prolific and non threatened. A great flock of ostrich was sighted which provided a unique experience in numbers never seen by Edwardses in over 25 weeks in Africa.
The Masai Mara was exploding with 2-4 month old babies. The photography opportunity was endless. Another unique sighting was three rhinos with undamaged horns lined up on a hill in a rainstorm. Leopards, giraffes, zebras, baboons, topis, wildebeest, birds, crocodiles and hippos completed the great Mara menagerie.
TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY NOW ADDED TO WEBSITE AND BUSINESS PLAN
Encouraged by Danita Delimont Stock Agency in Bellevue, Washington, Stoney and Jan decided to make Travel Photography an official leg of their photographic adventures, library and business plan. Next adventure was a 2 ½ week cruise tour from Vienna, Austria to points in Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, and Romania. History, culture, and photography blended well to demonstrate more about the recovery of Eastern Europe after World War II. A small sample of these images is now on the website.