Look Down

2021

Image Story

"As she blew dust up over her shoulders a shower of it landed on my camera, this was the last shot in the sequence before both camera and I gave up!"

There are not many elephants or guides I would try this shot with. By this point I was five days in to a seven day shoot with Eric Ole Kalama in Amboseli and we'd spent a number of those following these two elephants, Elliott and Michael as the latter pursue the former in an attempt to mate.

We knew when they finally did there would be chaos, then they would likely be apart, so our window was small.

The first days of trying we were rebuffed by Michael. He would not let us anywhere near either of them. But as the days wore on and his patience was getting tested by Elliott we finally got our chance as he followed her over an open area. The third bull in the background rounds of the composition perfectly, but to be honest I never saw his small frame in my little viewfinder when taking the image - a bonus from nature.