Standard: 40" x 30"

Large: 60" x 43"

This might be the hardest I have had to work for an image to date.

The elephant in this shot, known only by his codename; X004, is the most uncompromising bull I have photographed.

Living away from Amboseli national park and eager tourists, unlike many of his more famous super tusker counterparts, means he is far less accustomed to the human presence and, naturally, far more suspicious of it.

On my latest ten day shoot in Amboseli, we heard news a large elephant had been seen but no one could get near him without being angrily chased away. It was day three, time was on our side, we had to try.

We found him the following evening, parked up over 50 metres away from where he stood and, true to rumour he came straight at us and we were forced to move. This was going to be a long shoot.

Over the next week we spent hours around him, our interactions getting slowly more receptive on his part. Often this time was spent without my camera in hand, just watching, hoping a chance would materialise.

On day nine, with one day left, he was following a herd in a bid to mate with one of the females. He was following the path they left so we took our chance, parked up adjacent to the path and waited as he approached.

Unlike five days previously he did so slowly, gently, chewing on grass he had just torn up by the roots. He came to within two metres of where I lay in the car, stood over me and left me feeling smaller than I ever had before, staring up at this six tonne giant.

Knowing the shot was ‘in the can’ we left him, following the herd of females in a bid to pass his genes on to the next generation. To continue the super tusker dynasty.