Shirene's Photography

15/05/2025

04/05/2025

Silvermine post fire this week 🖤

So sad, yes fynbos fires and trusting nature is one thing ….but nature is getting forced this time, this fire was sadly from human interference and arsen. Rather scary!

…..such beautiful colours.

I’m looking forward to our Cape winter rains and watching the regrowth of the flora ❤️

15/04/2025

As far as wings and feathers go, be still my heart 🤍

Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis)

Imagine these magnificent creatures standing about 1.5m tall, with a wing span that can reach 2.5m

Endangered, yet defiant—
a symbol of hope, fidelity, and fragile beauty.… they mate for life and I was blessed to observe their mating dance

09/04/2025

Sweet lil Kingfisher that caught my eye, looking for his supper at a temple lake in Kyoto, close to The Philosophers Walk



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06/04/2025

Tsurunokokoro ~ The Heart of the Japanese Snow Crane

|| She stands in stillness, wings unfurled
a calligraphy of wind and snow,
painted in breath and silence ||

In Japan, the crane is Tancho, a symbol of longevity, peace, and fidelity
Said to live a thousand years,
it is the soul of Grace in motion,
the guardian of sacred thresholds

In Feng Shui, they bring blessings:
harmony, health, and high vision
To see this bird open there wings is to witness
the doorway between earth and sky, for me it was pure magic. This is the image I chose to process on my birthday this week as a gift to myself, remembering and honoring this exquisite moment that will live in my soul forever….

In camera - February 2025, I captured this image with gentle movement of feathers, softening
not to obscure, but to honor …..with my Sony A1 and a 200-600mm lens.

The intention behind the shot was to create ~
the feathers to look like smoke rising from an incense bowl, like spirit leaving body

She does not fly. She reveals.
A meditation in motion.
An open heart in white feathered form….
Spiritual moment indeed 🤍

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01/04/2025

31/03/2025

🤍 || Japanese Snow Cranes in Hokkaido, are they not just simply the most exquisite creatures, this image showcases a mating couple so you can see a profile and then the red crown on the other ….wait till you see their wing span and their dance, OMG, coming soon.

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it is over, I don’t want to wonder
if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

Mary Oliver

’photography

26/03/2025

Japanese Snow Crane, tattoo’ed in my heart

But I also say this: that light is an invitation to happiness,
and that happiness,
when it’s done right,
is a kind of holiness,
palpable and redemptive

Mary Oliver

08/03/2025

In the quiet stillness of a snow-covered wetlands of Japan’s most Northern Island, the red-crowned cranes move with an elegance that feels almost otherworldly. A symbol of longevity and grace in Japan, these rare birds dance through the snow like living brushstrokes of ink on white paper and that’s what I want to depict in my images.

Wow, what an experience, and the 1st time for me shooting in such harsh freezing conditions, felt like I was going into something blind-folded but in reality I found I was well equipped technically and prepared.

This moment captured - waiting for the perfect light and angle, observing their movements, and framing the shot just right. But in that patience with me Praying and pinching myself at the same time, there was magic 🤍

Definitely a once in a lifetime experience for me!



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