The Pirate

THE PIRATE
Amboseli, Kenya – 2020

This is an unusual shot for me, but it "hits the spot" and, overtime, I have grown fonder and fonder of it. It’s actually a punchy photograph. It’s not typical of my work because I tend to avoid the harshness of a midday sun and secondly, I was working from inside my vehicle which, in Amboseli, is rare. I tend to be out and about. The key factor in the image, however, was more prescriptive and truer to form. I was exceedingly close and this enabled me to use a portrait rather than a telephoto lens. To be given that choice, is the biggest luxury for a photographer.

This a huge and magnificent elephant who had enjoyed a morning mud bath. The mud dries quickly as the day heats up and the only evidence of his indulgence lay just under his right eye. From that point on, we always called him the pirate. The whole frame just works.
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