Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art

Birth of a baby Orangutan

This is incredible footage …

Crow befriends Kitten

This is one of the most unusual friendships you will ever see - it’s hard to actually believe it’s happening - a delightful story.

Featured Artist - Gregory Colbert - The Ashes & Snow Project

This is an extremely beautiful and unique project created by Gregory Colbert. The show has already been shown in Venice, New York, Santa Monica and Tokyo and opens in January 2008 at the Zocalo, Mexico City. Hopefully, it will be shown in other cities throughout the world as I would love to see this.

Born in Toronto, Canada, in 1960, Gregory Colbert began his career in Paris in 1983 making documentary films on social issues. Filmmaking led to fine arts photography. His first exhibition, Timewaves, opened in 1992 at the Museum of Elysée in Switzerland.

For the next ten years, Colbert did not exhibit his art or show any films. Instead, he traveled to such places as India, Burma, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Dominica, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tonga, Namibia, and Antarctica to film and photograph wondrous interactions between human beings and animals. Since 1992, he has launched more than forty such expeditions. Elephants, whales, manatees, sacred ibis, Antigone cranes, royal eagles, gyr falcons, rhinoceros hornbills, cheetahs, leopards, African wild dogs, caracals, leopards, baboons, elands, meerkats, gibbons, orangutans, and saltwater crocodiles are among the animals he has photographed. Human subjects include Burmese monks, trance dancers, San people, and Colbert himself free diving with whales.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Colbert

In 2002, Colbert presented the culmination of his singular work, “Ashes and Snow”

>“In exploring the shared language and poetic sensibilities of all animals, I am working towards rediscovering the common ground that once existed when people lived in harmony with animals. The images depict a world that is without beginning or end, here or there, past or present.”
- Gregory Colbert. The Website: http://www.ashesandsnow.org

Some photographs from the Exhibition - none of which have been collaged.

The title “Ashes and Snow” suggests beauty and renewal, while also referring to the literary component of the exhibition—a fictional account of a man who, over the course of a year long journey, composes 365 letters to his wife. The source of the title is revealed in the 365th letter. Colbert’s photographs and one-hour film loosely reference the traveller’s encounters and experiences described in the letters.

The making of the film “Ashes & Snow”
A snippet from the film, courtesty of arenginar

Monkey and Pigeon Love

I stumbled across this photograph and thought that it was adorable - unfortunately I cannot acknowledge the photographer as I do not know who took it. I did not see it on this site but it is available at http://www.photoshot.com/home.jsp

Garden Guests Diary - Midnight Feast [17 April 2007]

We were visited by a family of possums last night who came down to eat the fruit we had put in the tray earlier in the day. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the baby possum on the mother’s back. The youngster clinged to the mother’s back most of the time, snuggling in the whole time - so cute!