I was born in Johannesburg in 1976, but grew up in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Everyday life, trips to the bush, friends farms is how I grew up to love all living creatures, whether land, sea or air based. I always watched and observed the incredible beauty of the world the aim always to capture the essence in a photograph or a painting. In 1997 I graduated in fine art, majoring in painting and printmaking.
Yearning for more adventure, I took to traveling. I lived in London for a few years cultivating my graphic and DTP skills, but found it challenging to paint, so focused primarily on photography. I spent a year backpacking the east coast of Australia and then a year in New Zealand, where I worked on a wine farm in Marlborough on the South Island. It is here in a cottage up in the mountains where I sketched my first bird - the Fantail.
South East Asia was my home for the next four months, encountering Orangutans and Gibbons in Sumatra, visiting the Perhentian Islands and the Jungles of Taman Negara in Malaysia, Komodo Dragons and snorkeling with Manta rays near Flores were some of the highlights. It was eventually time to head home.
Back in South Africa I decided to focus on my passion for wildlife and became a game ranger in the Sabi Sand Game Reserve which is on the western boundary of the Kruger National Park. It so happens that is the best leopard viewing area in Southern Africa. These were two of the most incredible years of my life with thousands of extraordinary experiences and photographs.
NOW - Reunited with the love of my youth, also an artist. I left the bush to come to the whale capital of the Western Cape, Hermanus. Lions, elephants and leopards have been replaced by whales, dolphins, seals and other beautiful creatures found in the area. I have a gifted life.
We have a design studio and gallery to showcase our work. In using my graphic skills I have added a new dimension to my pencil drawings the application of color which adds a unique element to my work.
Contact: malcolm_thenookhermanus.co.za
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