Ben Wilhelmi

Paris, B/W film pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aerials, Tanzania

 

Stiegler’s gorge, Rufiji river, Selous reserve.

 

A perennial pond on the southern dormant top of the active volcano Lengai.

 

Just outside Arusha.

 

Lovely early morning out of Dar es Salaam.

 

Elephants in the Katavi park.

 

Pemba shores, Indian Ocean.

 

A pond in the Selous.

Memorial for 22nd March bombing, Brussels

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Street photography, Nairobi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wildlife, Tanzania

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paris, B/W street photography on films

 

 

 

 

 

 

All shot on my beloved Rolleiflex from 1961. A bit of a strange beast that puzzled that smart girl. I say smart because she is not part of the selfie crap…

Wildlife, Tanzania

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inverted flying for this cormorant. Only one sighting in my little experience…

Portraits, Tanzania

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tanzania, wildlife

 

Elephant ramming a doum palm tree

 

A northern carmine bee-eater is busy fluffing its feathers. Selous reserve.

 

An African white-backed vulture on take off.

 

 

 

Ox-peckers having a feast on a giraffe.

 

Crappy picture but for the decisive moment, I like it… a little bee-eater jumps out of the river after an unsuccessful dive to catch a fish.

Aerials, Tanzania

 

 

 

 

 

 

4 top pictures: the Rufiji river in the Selous. The rains had been heavy, the river was carrying mud, the lake (foreground) stayed clear and the ponds got various patterns and colors.

 

 

The Indian Ocean, worth admiration and pictures. A concept the selfie maniacs seem unable to grasp. 50 selfies in average between the lounge and the airport. And no picture through the windows! The record is held by a punk who owned a top range Canon kit and didn’t shoot once outside…

 

 

Nairobi, street pictures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Street photography, Brussels

 

OK purists, including myself, will say street photography should be done with a wide lens but I had just bought a new big lens for Africa and I had to try out. So the urban jungle near the Grand’Place was a good playground.

 

Stunning lady!

 

A Belgian beer museum…that location ranks quite high on some of my friends’ ‘things-to-do-before-I-die list’.

These 2 soldiers were part of a reenactment for Gabrielle Petit’s death by German fire squad during WWI.

 

 

 

 

 

The connoisseur…

 

 

 

Our queen Mathilde was attending that memorial for Gabrielle Petit. A coincidence, I had chosen that day for my photo test because it was one of the rare sunny days in March and April…

 

 

I guess this lens will make a good companion in the Tanzanian bush. This month is still part of the low season, I can’t wait for June…

Wildlife in the Selous

 

 

White-fronted bee-eaters (guêpiers à front blanc) on the Rufiji river bank near Mtemere. These banks are vertical and peppered by thousands of of these little holes, each a nest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lilac-breasted roller on take off (Rollier à brins fins), quick birds!

 

And this beauty was my 1st spotted of the kind in Tanzania: a northern carmine bee-eater (Guêpier écarlate)

 

A baby croc, already on his own.

 

Another 1st: a brown-headed bee-eater (Guêpier à tête brune)

Brussels, close ups of elevated statues

 

In March I returned to Belgium for annual leave. I bought this massive new zoom to replace one that didn’t survive the African fungus…so I decided to go in Brussels and look up at the statues that we observe from far or on postcards

Here is St Michel killing the dragon on the city hall, Grand’Place.

Here without cropping seen from the central station.

 

 

 

Albert I, the 3rd king.

 

Le petit Sablon, a place which depicts dozens of similar statues, each representing long gone jobs like this kitchen utensil maker.

 

Place Poelart, a WW I memorial.

 

Gabrielle Petit, a nurse hero died by German fire squad.

 

High up around the Grand Place. I’m not a historian I confess.