** OVER 60 Photographs Exhibited **
By Ihsan Bouabid
Hercules, Oct 6 – Oliver Klink and Munir Kureshi met in 2004 while photographing Yosemite National Park. From then on, they traveled together several times to Alaska. They also went to many natural reserves and national monuments all across the United States.
“The natural complement of skills and personality made us team up. Munir brings his flair and the artistry of film, medium format and digital photography, where my engineering experience eases planning and post processing,” explained Oliver.
From October 6 to November 17 at XZIBTit Hercules Art Gallery, "Where Africa meets America: A wildlife experience," features some of their combined most recent photographs of nature and animals taken in East Africa and Alaska. It is their first exclusive duo presentation at an art gallery.
The 44 color photos capture moments of the daily life of the Big 5 in Africa, the lion, the leopard, the elephant, the buffalo and the rhinoceros and their counterparts in Alaska, the grizzly and the black bears, the moose, the whale and the eagle.
With themes such as love and care, hunting and eating habits, they convey the beauty of nature and wildlife at its purest.
“As far apart as the two continents are, wildlife goes through the same process of life and survival. Africa is seen as abundance of species, where Alaska is survival. The cycle of life is shortened in the latter with the season, where in Africa it is rougher with the competition,” said the photographers.
Born in Lausanne, at the edge of Swiss Alps, Oliver Klink was introduced to nature at an early age and to photography by his father when both were hiking. “I was excited when I could see the wonderful sceneries and memories. I then took on photography when in college, focusing on black and white,” recalled Oliver.
Educated in his home country, Switzerland, as well as in Germany, Canada and the United States, he holds a Masters in Physics engineering and an MBA in business. He has lived and worked in the US since the early 1990s.
Using a Canon (1d Mark III, 1d Mark IIN), his technique is to apply the discipline of film photography to digital.
“Prepare, think, and photograph,” is what Oliver teaches in his workshops the latest of which took place last month. For him, photography is a natural complement to his field of expertise, where he searches for symmetry, clean lines, and perfect composition.
“Perfect science is about simplicity. My photographs invite the viewer with their simplicity,” commented Oliver.
Among his influences in photography, he cites Frans Lanting (USA), for merging art and multimedia and Australian Peter Lik (Australia) whose photos are an expression of “nature at its best,” according to Oliver Klink
As for Munir, he was born and grew up in a very well known family in Ahmedabad, a densely populated city in the State of Gujarat, India, which was at the forefront of the Indian independence and civil disobedience movement in the early twentieth century.
It’s from Ahmadabad that in 1930, Mahatma Gandhi initiated the Salt Satyagraha by embarking from his ashram on the Dandi Salt March and Munir’s great grand father and grand father spent most of their adult life with Gandhi and accompanied him at the Salt Satyagraha.
During his childhood and youth, Munir spent all his free time with one of his father’s friend who was in charge of a local zoo. “He encouraged me to become a veterinarian and that’s exactly what I did,” he said
After earning a BS in Zoology in India, he went to the School of Forestry at the University of Florida and graduated in Natural Resources and Wildlife Management. Back to India, he went to the College of Veterinary Medicine in Bombay, before returning to the United States for an internship in New York and other studies at the University of Missouri.
“Being around animals since childhood, I started taking pictures of them and so, I developed a passion for photography,” added Munir. With animals, you have to be ready for any type of situation, you have to be creative in your technique and knowing their behavior is very important,” he pointed out.
In order to achieve this, he uses a Nikon camera because it’s a quality equipment that allows preciseness and speed.
“Animal photography is lots of fun: go out and enjoy taking pictures. At the same time respect and preserve the wildlife,” concluded Munir Kureshi. (XZIBTit/2007)
Contacts:
Oliver Klink http://www.incredibletravelphotos.com/
Munir Kureshi http://www.mkphotogallery.com/
