PHOTOGRAPHY - Photographer of the quiet and the wild

Thirty years in the field have taught me that wildlife photography is an act of patience, not pursuit. These images were made waiting — for the light to soften, for the herd to turn, for the moment an animal forgets you are there. From the Okavango to the Mara, this is Africa’s wild heart, photographed on its own terms. Selected photographs are available as museum-quality fine art prints through Vanta Studio, Cape Town: vantastudio.co.za/collections/vivienne-gunning

Every face tells a story. Some speak of resilience, others of joy, wisdom or quiet dignity. These portraits are moments of connection—brief encounters that remind me that, wherever we travel, it is people who leave the deepest impression.

Travel has taught me that extraordinary photographs are rarely planned. They are found in ordinary moments—a glance, a gesture, a conversation, a shaft of light. The soul of a place is rarely found in its monuments, but in its markets, alleyways, cafés and the quiet moments shared between strangers.

Africa taught me that a landscape is never empty — it is simply patient. Deserts, deltas, mountains and coastlines, photographed in the hours when the light does the storytelling and the land is allowed to speak for itself.

Birds bring rhythm, colour and grace to every landscape. These photographs celebrate moments of flight, stillness and song, revealing the remarkable diversity of avian life encountered during expeditions across Africa.

Sometimes colour is the story. This collection sets documentation aside and simply celebrates it — the saturated, joyful, unruly palette of a life spent in motion.