Ross Sayers Photography: Prints Fundraiser

Bushlife Safaris November 30, 2020

Ross Sayers Photography: Prints for Fund-raising

We are so delighted that Ross Sayers, an award-winning photographer has donated these amazing prints for sale, to raise funds for Bushlife Support Unit, our conservation division. As always, we are blown away by the generosity of our supporters worldwide! We currently have 4 game rangers that have covered over 50,000kms in anti-poaching patrols this year. We would really like to double our numbers of rangers – we need more boots on the ground to make more of a difference. The funds will be used to pay salaries for the rangers, as well as purchase equipment such as radios, boots, tents and backpacks for their mobile patrols.

Ross wanted to share why he has made this donation:

“Hi, I am Ross Sayers born in Gwelo in Rhodesia, or as it is now known, Gweru in Zimbabwe. I started my photography hobby in mid-2014. Through being an amateur photographer, I have had the pleasure of seeing some of the most amazing wildlife in the world, including magical Mana Pools. I have also had the good fortune of winning some awards for my work, and the images being published in magazines too.

Now my passion is to give back to the wildlife which has given me such joy and pleasure, I have taken up myself to help Bushlife Support Unit managed by Nick Murry and his team. I will be donating these images to help raise two things: one is awareness and the other funds to support the running costs for the anti-poaching efforts they put into their cause. Its hard work for them and very risky dangerous work. Many photographers take images in National parks and make their fortunes from their images without giving back to the wildlife, whereas I believe its only fair to give back to the wild. I do hope you will support Bushlife Support Unit too by bidding on these images, and if you win, that they bring you much pleasure to hang on your wall and know you’ve meaningfully helped the wildlife of Mana Pools!”

Prints for Sale

All of these beautiful Ross Sayers prints are available to buy on a silent auction. They are printed on high-quality giclée paper. If you would like to bid, please email lara@bushlifesafaris.com with your bid and print number. Bids close on 14th December and payments can be accepted from worldwide. Shipping costs are for the buyer’s account. All overseas orders or winning bidders can order larger prints at a separate cost, and all winners from outside of Zimbabwe will have their prints posted directly from Australia. Thank you so much for your support – it all goes towards protecting the wildlife of Mana Pools!

Print 1: Bold (black and white)
Size: 24 inches wide and 20 inches high

Print 2: Boswell’s Family
Size: 24 inches wide and 20 inches high

Print 3: Mana Elephant
Size: 24 inches wide and 20 inches high

Print 4: Boswell (b&w fine art)
Size: 24 inches wide and 16 inches high

Print 5: The Charge (black and white)
Size: 24 inches wide and 20 inches high

Print 6: Boswell in Blue Light
Size: 24 inches wide and 20 inches high

Print 7: Elephant under Albida tree
Size: 20 inches wide and 24 inches high

Print 8: Cathedral of Light
Size: 24 inches wide and 16 inches high

“Wildlife photography has taught me to appreciate animals and respect them more than ever. Landscape photography has taught me to appreciate pure natural nature and the two combined has taught me that life is worth waking up to despite the hardships life can deliver to you at times. Once I am outdoors with my camera I am at peace and forget about the stresses and worries we all carry inside us”.

About Ross

My interest with cameras goes back to my childhood days watching my father using his camera and enjoyed seeing the prints he got from the camera he used. So this interest in photography has always been there since a young boy but never really developed much growing up into an adult or teenager.

In my twenties, I purchased a 35mm professional camera but rarely used it because I had no training and little time to put more effort into using it so I eventually sold it to my best friend who used it well. I needed the money as I had a young family to care for. From there I bought a simple 35mm point and shoot compact camera made by Olympus.

Only till I immigrated to Australia in 2000 I followed my interest in photography yet again in 2002 when I purchased my very first Digital camera made by Pentax. In its day it was a very expensive camera. It was just 1.3 megapixel with a fixed lens, nothing special. This was just a time I enjoyed taking family images at the time in my life. My job took up much of my life and found myself with less time to enjoy the outdoors.

In 2014 I bought a new camera A Canon 5DMK3 and still have it today. I travelled back to my motherland Zimbabwe to Mana pools and Victoria Falls, I took an interest in wildlife photography then but struggled to use my camera…if I’m honest, it went back in the box for a long time after this trip! One day I went to the news agent to buy a lotto ticket and decided to look at the magazines on sale. I saw a photography magazine which caught my attention, it was a landscape magazine displaying landscape photography which I read through and decided to give this a try. Frustrated still with using the camera I turned to the internet and learned a lot from sites like Youtube. I had no time and money to waste in going for lessons or anything like that, so decided to teach myself. It took years to get where I am today and totally self-taught with a small amount of learning guidance from two friends from South Africa of which I went on two different tours with the end of 2014. To devolve one’s style and learning to view or see the world from a different perspective was the challenge. It takes years of practice and dedication and lots of commitment. This I did and enjoyed each outing over the years. It’s not all glamour and fun, its long hours and shooting in very challenging conditions. But I hear what each professional photographer says … “You must put in the effort to get the rewards”. It’s not easy but when it happens it’s extremely rewarding.

I would never have seen the world and wildlife in the way I do now had it not been for my photography. I see things in a different way to what most people see it. Photography has given me a fresh outlook on life. I have no regrets and the costs don’t come into it at all. It’s the rewards spiritually it brings me which no amount of money can bring one. I don’t do this for money, I do photography for the love and the pleasure and peace it brings me. Doing it for money for me was never my dream or objective.

Over the years I have entered a few competitions for photography, I did this for one reason … not for money or the prizes .. but for recognition. It’s extremely difficult to get your name out there and to be noticed as a photographer in today’s world where the are thousands upon thousands of people taking images of landscapes and wildlife. The secret is to be very different from them and to display your passion from within the images you take, They must be able to tell the audience the story before you write your own story attached to the image. This is not at all easy to execute!

So my first competition win was in 2015 from an Australian photographic magazine and then again in 2016 with two wins into Australian digital photography magazines. Then in 2016 a win into a Perth city council calendar competition, I have had my images displayed in a number of South African flight magazines. In 2018 I had many of my images displayed in a magazine in Zimbabwe called “ Footprints “ Zimbabwe. This year I have entered the Australian amateur of the year competition but still waiting for the judge’s decisions. For me it’s proving to myself I have achieved something great in my life, not for money or fame.