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PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS
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BLOG
SHOP
- Photographic prints
- Greetings cards
ABOUT
CONTACT

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Copyright © 2018. All Rights Reserved.

Contact Me

GET IN TOUCH

Thank you for your interest! If you would like to make a booking or have any questions about my photography workshops & holidays, are interested in commissioning me for an upcoming project, licensing photos, giving photography talks, or anything at all, I would absolutely love to hear from you!

Matthew Williams-Ellis
[email protected]
07795 226156

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India Travel and Landscape Photography, Munnar

INSTAGRAM

matthewwilliamsellis

* Fly camping at El Karama Eco Lodge, Kenya * ‍

* Fly camping at El Karama Eco Lodge, Kenya *
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While on commission with Photo Escapes, producing a promo video for Sophia Rose Travel, we were tasked with more than just capturing the wildlife. We also had to show the various different ways to enjoy the bush, such as the amazing night spent fly camping. We quite literally fell asleep to the sound of a leopard prowling the nearby river, and woke up to the growl of a large male lion just outside camp. Such a great way to experience the bush!
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Shot on a Nikon d810 + Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 at 24mm | 30 seconds | f/2.8 | ISO 200
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#flycamping #camping #laikipia #elkarama #elkaramaecolodge #africa #kenya #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures @photo.escapes @jeaphotography @sophia.rose.travel @nikonuknordic

* Impala at El Karama in the Laikipia Region of Ke

* Impala at El Karama in the Laikipia Region of Kenya *
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People often think that to take successful wildlife photos you need a really long lens. While I loved using my Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6, I also love capturing shots that bring in more of the animals habitat and surroundings as I feel it can tell more of a story.
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Shot on a Nikon d810 + Nikon 200-500mm | 1/1000s | f/5.6 | ISO 200
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#impala #laikipia #elkarama #elkaramaecolodge #africa #kenya #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer @elkaramaecolodge @nikonuknordic @sophia.rose.travel

* Leopard, seen from the “main road” in Laikip

* Leopard, seen from the “main road” in Laikipia Region of Kenya *
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From the moment I arrived in Kenya on commission with @photo.escapes to produce a promo video for @sophia.rose.travel I was fixated on the idea of capturing a photograph of a leopard.
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They are incredible shy animals, and very hard to spot (pun shamelessly intended). Even when they do make an appearance, meetings are often fleeting and at a distance. I think I’m also haunted by the time I spent 6 weeks at Makalali Game Reserve in South Africa and cut off the head of a leopard as I captured half of it in mid air jumping from a tree to the ground.
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Having unsuccessfully searched for a leopard that we spent the night listening to while camping at El Karama a few days earlier, a sighting seemed more and more unlikely as the remaining time on the trip got shorter. However, the whole way on the drive between El Karama and Sosian, my eyes were fixed to the side of the main road. I say main road, but it is truly in the middle of nowhere and you are more likely to see an elephant or giraffe than another human. Staying alert paid off and we were rewarded with a few brief moments with this adult male. In typical Leopard fashion, after permitting us a few minutes it slinked off into the bushes.
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Shot on a Nikon d810 + Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 at 1/800s | f/5.6 | ISO 200
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#leopard #laikipia #africa #kenya #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer #bigcat #leopardphotography @nikonuknordic

* Zebra at El Karama, Kenya * ‍ I often produce

* Zebra at El Karama, Kenya *
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I often produce a shot list before going away. One of the main photos I had my heart set on was to capture was an Oxpecker on a Zebra. Despite waiting for a significant length of time with a group of Zebra, the opportunity never presented but this was the consolation shot so I can’t complain.
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Shot on a Nikon d810 + Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 at 1/1000s | f/5.6 | ISO 200
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#zebra #elkarama #elkaramaecolodge #laikipia #africa #kenya #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer #zebras @nikonuknordic @elkaramaecolodge @sophia.rose.travel @photo.escapes

* Zebra at El Karama, Kenya * ‍ One of the chall

* Zebra at El Karama, Kenya *
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One of the challenges of wildlife photography while on safari is the restriction of generally having to stay in the vehicle. The reason is two-fold. Firstly, leaping out of a car often prompts the your subjects to do a runner and secondly, the little lump that looks like a rock 10 meters from the car could easily be a lion.
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Moving quietly and slowly isn’t something that comes naturally to me, but whenever the opportunity presents itself I channel my inner David Attenborough, moving as gently and delicately as possible to clamber out of the car. Being able to get down to the eye-level of the animal offers a far more intimate perspective, and provides much greater opportunity to be creative with compositions.
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While most of the Zebra happily ignored me, one lone adult kept it’s eyes locked towards me and all I had to do was wait for the tail flick.
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Shot on a Nikon d810 + Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 at 1/3200s | f/56 | ISO 100
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#zebra #elkarama #elkaramaecolodge #laikipia #africa #kenya #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer #zebras @nikonuknordic @elkaramaecolodge @sophia.rose.travel @photo.escapes

* Cheetah, shot while on commission for El Karama

* Cheetah, shot while on commission for El Karama Eco Lodge and Sophia Rose Travel in Kenya *
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After a fairly quiet morning drive, myself and John Alexander (together, @photo.escapes ), Sophia ( @sophia.rose.travel ), and our trusty guide Andrew decided it was time for our morning caffeine hit. 5am starts every day need fuelling!
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As we milled around the car, minding our own business, Sophia pointed out a group of Impala suddenly freeze and look to their right. Andrew fixed his knowledgeable eyes on the scene, and in absolute certainty said “it must be a cheetah, the zebra don’t seem that bothered”. Before he had even finished his analysis, I was packed and in the car itching to go and see if he was right.
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As you already know from the photo, he was! We arrived to find it perched up a tree. As I framed up ready for it to climb down, I was torn between capturing a tight shot to emphasise the cheetah’s movement and a wide shot to bring in some of the habitat. I fixed on the latter and just waited, knowing it couldn’t stay up there forever!
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Moments like this are what made El Karama, and the Laikipia Region such a great experience. No guides heading out first thing in the morning to radio in sightings, and no traffic jam of cars lining up to surround the animal. Just a completely chance meeting with a Cheetah, just our vehicle and mugs still full of coffee!
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Shot on a Nikon d810 + Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 at 1/800s | f/5.6 | ISO 100
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#cheetah #elkarama #elkaramaecolodge #laikipia #africa #kenya #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer #bigcat @elkaramaecolodge @nikonuknordic

* Mogwooni Cattle Ranch, Kenya * ‍ This is defin

* Mogwooni Cattle Ranch, Kenya *
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This is definitely up there with the most frenetic photography experiences I have had! To any untrained eye it looks like absolute chaos. But Jackie the owner explained how every person in the team has a very specific role. One person is responsible for reading the scales, another for recording the weight, there’s one individual heating the irons for branding and another to pass it to Jackie. Without one person doing their duties, the whole process falls apart.
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Seeing calves be castrated isn’t one of the most pleasant things I have witnessed, but from a cultural perspective it was fascinating learning about life on a traditional Kenyan cattle ranch.
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Often my default when story-telling and photographing events such as this is to use low apertures to render backgrounds out of focus and guide the viewers eye to the chosen subject. On this occasion, for the @photo.escapes film we were shooting, I challenged myself to use a high aperture to capture lots of depth to the image. While it can prove more insightful to the story by showing lots of different things happening at the same time, it can also look cluttered. Finding some order to the apparent chaos is challenging but also great fun and really rewarding when it works!
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Shot on a Nikon d810 + Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 at 1/400s | f/6.3 | ISO 200
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#mogwooni #mogwoonicattlefarm #cattlefarm #cattle #farming #laikipia #africa #kenya #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures @nikonuknordic

* Buffalo in the last light of the day, El Karama

* Buffalo in the last light of the day, El Karama Eco Lodge *
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What an evening this was, coming face to face with a herd over about 200 grunting, snorting, fly-covered Buffalo!
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As a photographer, the images I get most excited about taking are ones with interesting light. I would choose these backlit Buffalo over a badly lit leopard any day!
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Shot on a Nikon d810 + 200-500mm f/5.6 at 1/250s | f/5.6 | ISO 100
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#buffalo #elkarama #elkaramaecolodge #laikipia #africa #kenya #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer #sunset #herdofbuffalo #buffaloherd @sophia.rose.travel @elkaramaecolodge @photo.escapes

* Elephants on the plains at sunset, El Karama Eco

* Elephants on the plains at sunset, El Karama Eco Lodge, Kenya *
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This is a black and white version of the same sighting as the previous photo, but after the warm glow of last light had disappeared. I’m pretty sure I prefer the colour one, but having three elephants wandering along in this shot perhaps offers more of a story. What do you think?
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Shot on a Nikon d810 + Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 at 1/320s | f/2.8 | ISO 200
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#elephant #elkarama #elkaramaecolodge #laikipia #africa #kenya #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer
@elkaramaecolodge @sophia_constant @sophia.rose.travel @rosyconstant @photo.escapes

* Elephants on the plains at sunset, El Karama Eco

* Elephants on the plains at sunset, El Karama Eco Lodge, Kenya *
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I am currently staying at El Karama Eco Lodge in Kenya, on commission with @photo.escapes producing photos and video for @elkaramaecolodge themselves, and @sophia.rose.travel . What a way to start the trip here! Having been distracted by a herd of buffalo, we were fast running out of light as we approached the plains, where we planned to shoot our first sunset.
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As we arrived, I had my camera completely at the ready and managed to capture a few shots of a family of elephants as they sauntered along before the sun disappeared. With a big impressive, rainy-season sky brewing, I chose to place the elephants tiny in the bottom left so as to add some scale to the image.
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Shot on a @nikonuknordic d810 + Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 at 1/320s | f/5.6 | ISO 100
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#elephant #elkarama #elkaramaecolodge #laikipia #africa #kenya #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer

* Giant Heather at c.3,000m altitude at the top of

* Giant Heather at c.3,000m altitude at the top of Aberdare National Park in Kenya *
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The fantastic thing about visiting the Aberdares is that as well as the extensive wildlife, there is also breathtaking and varied scenery.
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On this morning, I spent sunrise in a Giant Heather forest, which honestly felt like something from an animated film set. Too perfect to be real, and like it was a man made environment, created especially for photographers!
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I have never had to be so cautious while scouting for the perfect spot to take the shot. With buffalo scat all around, myself and @jeaphotography never strayed far from the car while shooting a @photo.escapes piece for our youtube channel. It is all too easy to be lulled into a false sense of security after driving for a while and not spotting any animals, but there could literally be animals anywhere. Elephants, buffalo, hippo, leopards, the list goes on!
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I focused on simplifying the scene and looking for the branches with the most interesting twists, turns and shapes. It was the morning backlight that made the shot what it is as the branches became silhouetted. Driving past the same scene later in the day, it had lost the atmosphere that it had first thing in the morning.
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Shot on a Nikon d810 + Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 at 1/50s | f/7.1 | ISO 100
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#aberdares #aberdarenationalpark #aberdare #theaberdares #africa #kenya #giantheather #heather #sunrise #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #landscapephotography #landscapephotographer #landscape #landscapelovers

@sophia.rose.travel

* Road Block in Aberdare National Park, Kenya *
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Photography in overgrown environments like Aberdare National Park can be challenging due to awkward, contrasty lighting, but some days thing just fall into place. On this occasion, it was literally minutes after entering the park. The shadows on the trees perfectly framed the impressive beast that started unnervingly lolloping towards us.
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In less capable hands I might have been nervous. Okay, I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous (it brought back memories of being in a car charged by an elephant when I was younger and growing up in Tanzania). I was in good company, however, having just been picked up by Simon and Rosy, from Sophia Rose Travel, who myself and John Alexander are shooting a promo video for under our @photo.escapes umbrella.
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Shot on a Nikon 200-500 f/5.6 at 1/4000s | f/5.6 | ISO 400
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#aberdares #aberdarenationalpark #aberdare #theaberdares #africa #kenya #elephant #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer @sophia.rose.travel

* Buffalo portrait, Aberdare National Park, Kenya

* Buffalo portrait, Aberdare National Park, Kenya *
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Scarily, this Buffalo really was as close as it looks! Although not intentional (as you would never deliberately get this close to one of the most dangerous animals in Kenya), it was ideal for capturing an intimate portrait.
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In Aberdare National Park the bush is thick and as a result the wildlife can be hard to spot. However the upside of this is that when they do make an appearance it is often literally a matter of meters away resulting in some exciting encounters.
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Shot on a Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6 at 1/160s | f/5.6 | ISO 400
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#aberdares #aberdarenationalpark #aberdare #theaberdares #africa #kenya #buffalo #safari #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer

@sophia.rose.travel @photo.escapes

Instagram post 17863311217563391

Instagram post 17863311217563391

* Skomer Island * ‍ One of the challenges that J

* Skomer Island *
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One of the challenges that John and I set ourselves on the Skomer Island Photo Escapes film was to photograph puffins in flight. They can fly at up to 80 kph, so it is not easy! In order to capture this shot, I focussed my efforts on an area where most of them seemed to be landing, as they naturally have to slow down just before they reach their burrows. It took a few attempts, but I managed to beat John, which to be honest was one of the highlights of the trip!
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If you haven't seen the film, it can be found by searching for "Skomer Island Photo Escapes" on youtube!
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And details of the photography workshop I will be running next summer can be found on my website! Let me know if you are interested in joining...
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#skomerisland #puffin #puffins #bird #birds #wales #pembrokeshire #birdinflight #puffininflight #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer #nikon #nikond810 #nikonuk #photographyworkshop #photographyworkshops #photoholiday #photographyholiday #photoworkshop http://bit.ly/3263uGt

* Skomer Island * ‍ Such a perfect end to the st

* Skomer Island *
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Such a perfect end to the stay on Skomer Island. This was the stunning view of the Pembrokeshire Coastline as we boarded the ferry back towards the mainland.
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Let me know if you want to be the first to hear once I release dates for the Skomer Island workshop that I will be running next summer!
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#skomerisland #skomer #wales #pembrokeshire #sunrise #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures
#landscapephotography #landscapephotographer #landscape #landscapelovers #nikon #nikond810 #nikonuk #photographyworkshop #photographyworkshops #photoholiday #photographyholiday #photoworkshop http://bit.ly/2RVMkqy

* Skomer Island * ‍ It's not just puffins that m

* Skomer Island *
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It's not just puffins that make Skomer Island such a fun place to photograph. On our final morning as we waited for the ferry to depart, the little fella gave us a wave goodbye!
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If you haven't seen our behind the scenes film, you can check it out by searching for "Photo Escapes Skomer Island" on youtube!
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I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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#skomerisland #skomer #pembrokeshire #wales
#travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer #nikon #nikond810 #nikonuk #photographyworkshop #photographyworkshops #photoholiday #photographyholiday #photoworkshop
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http://bit.ly/2NwNyKh

* Puffins on Skomer Island * ‍ The other aspect

* Puffins on Skomer Island *
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The other aspect of Skomer Island that makes photographing the puffins so enjoyable is the stunning location. This shot was taken at creatively named "High Cliff", which has views back to the Pembrokeshire Coast on the mainland.
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As well as close up shots like the previous one, I love capturing wildlife in it's environment as I think it gives a portrait more context. In this instance I lay on my front on one of the paths in order to have the white Sea Campion in the foreground and the puffin's distinctive shape jutting out into the blue ocean background.
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If you fancy joining next summer, I have set up a 2 night workshop on Skomer Island, so just let me know and I'll make sure you are the first to find out once the dates are finalised!
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http://bit.ly/323Jowt
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#puffin #puffins #skomer #skomerisland #wales #pembrokeshire #travel #travelphotography #travelphotographer #travel_captures #wildlife #wildlifephotography #wildlifephotographer #nikon #nikond810 #nikonuk #photographyworkshop #photographyworkshops #photoholiday #photographyholiday #photoworkshop

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