Hope

2022

Kenya

Image Story

"If I could only photograph one species in Africa, it would be the elephant - and it's not even a close competition."

Some images you know you got right straight away, others grow on you over time. This image, Hope, is the latter.

Taken on a two week shoot at the end of 2021, I initially (stupidly) rejected the photograph while still in Amboseli. To do this day I am not sure why.

It was not until I returned home and, working through images for my show rediscovered it and, thanks to the expert eye of good friend and David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation CEO, Georgina Lamb, rescued it from the abyss.

The elephant pictured is perhaps the calmest I have ever photographed. Perfectly content for us to photograph him from just a few meters as he used his foot to dislodge grass from the Amboseli lake bed. As he did so dust ballooned out of the ground that almost makes him appear to be walking out of a mist towards the camera.

So heavy was my u-turn on this image that it became the cover of my book, The Last Stand, and has become the headline image for my new show, The Art of Survival.

Enquire Now

Standard: 40" x 30" Large: 64" x 50"

Enquire Contact Will

Behind the Lens

Working in such close proximity to these guys requires an elite level of guiding, something I have been fortunate to enjoy with Eric Ole Kalama, one of the best in the business.