CAPA Gold for Amboseli Elephants!
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each guest has been sent
as a guide from beyond. Rumi
Amboseli Reunion ©kathykarn - Gold Medal IAAP 2025 Photo Competition
I was surprised and delighted to learn from the Canadian Association for Photographic Art that my image Amboseli Reunion won Gold in the Monochrome category in the International Digital Salon Competition and my image Leadership won Bronze in the Nature category.
The story behind the images: In 2020 I undertook a solo journey to Kenya after the death of my mother. My unanticipated encounter with hundreds of elephants on the Amboseli Plain opened my heart to my grief and the restorative power of nature. It was a profound and life altering experience. The elephants became companions in my healing. In return, I became an advocate for conservation and the protection of these gentle giants, ambassadors for biodiversity and the importance of saving our planet.
Leadership ©kathykarn - Bronze Medal CAPA Digital Photo Salon 2025
Excerpts of the story behind these images from The Wisdom of Elephants.
They came in an unending procession, silent, steadfast, focused, like mourners to the bereaved. Elephants of all sizes walked directly towards us. When they were very close, I could hear them rumble. Otherwise, they were silent, except for the occasional trumpet call. Bird songs were louder than the movement of these mammoths. I focused on the unfolding drama. When one group passed, the savannah emptied, then another group appeared on the horizon. “More elephants!” I whispered to Pilipili excitedly.
I used my long lens as they approached, frantically switching to the wider lens as their grey forms, silver with Amboseli dust, filled my viewfinder. Like a weathervane indicating a change of wind direction, a matriarch soundlessly directed her family with the toss of her head or the subtle lift of her trunk. The elephants followed obediently, parting like the Red Sea around the truck, continuing towards a salt marsh.
I don’t know how long I lay there squeezed between the seats on the floor of the Land Cruiser. It felt like forever. The midday sun was high above us when the parade of animals slowed. Cramped and stiff, I did a yoga downward dog and sat up and watched a group walk by. The matriarch, paused, turned and lifted her trunk. It felt like a blessing. I was in sacred time. I hesitated to break the silence. I looked at Pilipili and mouthed “WOW.” I could tell by his expression he was also moved. I took a deep breath, “There is a lesson here. I think the elephants want us to take their message out into the world.” Pilipili nodded in agreement.
The Blessing ©kathykarn
The elephants that came to me, silent and steady, noble and sure, shattered the wall around my grief. I thought of my mother every day. I had not forgotten her, but I was out of touch with my feelings of loss. Grief has its own rhythm – it carries us like a river, its current changing as the landscape of our lives change. I had no idea how defended my heart was. The felt sense of compassion and empathy from the elephants shifted my awareness. Perhaps, for a moment, I entered the realm of knowing that these ancient beings occupy. In this roofless cathedral of Amboseli, a death was acknowledged, a blessing given. I knew as one knows when given a numinous dream, that this was not an ending, it was a beginning. I was at a threshold – everything had changed.
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