A little while back we featured the beautiful Black and White photography of Nick Brandt – one of Africa’s preeminent wildlife photographers (you can find the post here) – and showcased some of his most wellknown images. This time we’re looking at his ‘The Calcified’ series, which ‘brings back to life’ an assortment of animals Nick found washed up along the shoreline of Tanzania‘s Lake Natron – the most caustic in the world.
“I found the creatures – all manner of birds and bats – washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania, during dry season when the water had receded. No-one knows for certain exactly how they die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, causing them to crash into the lake. I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline. Their bodies are rock hard (not “turned to stone” as some websites have erroneously reported), so even if I wanted to manipulate the position of a head or a wing, I could not.I then placed them in ‘living’ positions on branches and rocks, bringing them back to ‘life’, as it were. Reanimated, alive again in death.” [Source: Nick Brandt Facebook]
The pictures are absolutely incredible! We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
