The Ark

2022

Image Story

One of, if not the only time, I've managed to dwarf 30 elephants in a frame.

I often stray away from images with multiple species in, preferring to focus on individual subjects or species.

For this though, the opportunity was too good to pass by.

We had originally been photographing the herd of elephants in the background of the shot, spending an hour with them as they crossed the lake bed before splintering in to two smaller groups.

As they did so we headed to where the giraffe loomed like skyscrapers on the horizon, positioning ourselves so the paths of the giraffe and elephant would intersect in my image despite, in reality, being 100 metres apart.

It is rare 30 elephant are not the focal point of an image, and for me the image is made by two things - the acacia tree in the distant background, and the flick of the middle giraffes tail.

Add in the spattering of wildebeest and zebra and how could this image be called anything other than ‘The Ark’.