Publications
Partners
Cape Town - The annual SANParks photo competition has officially announced 2015's winning image - a close-up, colourful portrait of a suspicious-looking chameleon!
Abraham Mouton, a retired businessman from Bellville in Cape Town, was the man behind the camera in this year's competition. The photo was taken in Kruger National Park near Mopani camp on 6 February 2014.
(Photo: Abraham Mouton)
The rest of the winners can be viewed here: SANParks 2015 Photo Competition winners
Mouton described the moment he took the photo to Traveller24, "I was driving along H1-6 tar road from Mopani camp to Letaba in Kruger NP when I slowly drove past a chameleon making it across the road.
"As I drove slowly past, it suddenly turned around and came for me. I could not believe it. I managed to get some distance to lower the angle of the shot to get a nice facial expression of this chameleon with so much attitude!"
Mouton says the Kruger is one of his favourite places to take photographs. "It just has such a variety in one location – eco-systems, vegetation, landscape, small and large creatures..."
The competition opened in October this year, and invited photographers in all South Africa's national parks to submit photographs in the following categories:
Portraits: All animals and insects-including reptiles and birds
Landscapes
Animals and insects: All animals and insects
Plants: flowers and trees
Black & white: all subjects
Birds
Human activity
Within these seven categories, two winners were announced: one for Digital Compact (Smartphone category) and Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras.
Mouton's photo won in the Portraits category, in the DSLR division, before being crowned as the overall winner.
The rest of the winners can be viewed here: SANParks 2015 Photo Competition winners
For shooting the winning photo, Mouton receives a voucher for two adults to stay at any South African National Park for three mid-week nights in economy accommodation.
Last year, two of Mouton's photographs won in the DSLR Bird and DSLR Plant categories.
He also received an award for being the SANParks Small Parks Promoter of the year in 2015. This is the second time he has received recognition for being this SANParks ambassador.
Three questions answered by winning photographer, Abraham Mouton (AM):
T24: What’s the best gadget(s) a photographer can have?
AM: Good quality lenses, tripod and a flash. The most important is ‘knowledge’ and passion.
T24: What’s the best advise you can give other photographers?
AM: Patience... every moment is an opportunity. Do not let a moment pass, no not matter how insignificant.
T24: Why do you love photography?
AM: You have the ability to capture ‘moments’... to freeze them indefinitely. It's just amazing.
Want to share your travel experiences or photo's with us? Email info@traveller24.com. You can also join us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
