“I love working with leopards. The pace, the sleekness and the fragmentation of the image all inspire me to be minimalistic in composition and style. The thing about leopards is that you have to work with them and the forest in an integrated way.

Photography is nothing like hunting, which is man against beast. Photography is not killing or capturing or taking, but working together to define the best look and position.

I dislike photographs that have wildlife looking right at you, probably because the photographer is coughing or scratching on purpose to solicit a response. That is so ‘old school’, an interference-styled interaction. Having zero interaction is far more rewarding, especially when you end up with an image that is so natural it would have been the same behaviour whether you were there or not.

I’ll also choose elephants. Spending time among elephants in their presence and space is so rewarding on an intellectual level that whether you take a photograph or not doesn’t really matter. Isn’t that the pinnacle of any art, when achieving the highest level is actually not doing it at all? I often even forget to pick up a camera when I am with elephants, accepted into their family, walking alongside them, or sitting in a hide, invisible and yet accepted by nature herself.

I’ll also pick lions. Working with male lions swimming across water in the Okavango towards you has to be the ultimate thrilling image to get. I’ll include meerkats because in certain places you can become invisible to them and get in for super-wide establishing shots with them in the foreground. And finally I’ll pick snow leopards.”

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My Big 5

Leopard
Elephant
Lion
Meerkat
Snow Leopard