08-JAN-2006
Neck bite, mating Lions, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006
Each mating session takes about thirty seconds or so -- the male gently bites the female’s neck at the climactic moment. The pair spent at least four days mating, coupling every twenty minutes at the beginning and then increasing the intervals as exhaustion set in. The male expresses the emotion while the lioness remains passive. Both will sleep until the next encounter. I originally shot this image as a horizontal, and then cropped it into a narrow vertical. It was the only time I was able to get a shot of mating lions from the front, and this vertical format strengthens the image by contrasting the energetic response of the male to the passive reaction of the lioness as viewed from a confrontational frontal vantage point.
07-JAN-2006
Finale, mating Lions, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006
This mating session ends with both parties licking their chops. Unfortunately, lion matings are generally unsuccessful. Most lionesses bear cubs every two to three years.
Lions prefer to mate in the shade, which cause exposure imbalance. I used my spot meter to expose for the sunny area, and let the animals fall into shadow, rather than expose for the shadows and burn out the grass. I knew I could bring out the detail in the shadows later with Photoshop. I used the multiple image option on my camera to expose a burst of frames at the end of the coupling. This was the frame that expressed the strongest emotion, and also created an essential sliver of space between the bodies of the lions.
09-JAN-2006
Mating lions at rest, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006
Another pair of mating lions, asleep in a sun-splashed forest, are alone except for a photographer and his guide. They were oblivious to my presence when awake, and dozed off within a few moments after coupling. Of all the images I made in Africa, this is one of the most idyllic, a study of the natural world in a timeless and memorable context. I made many images of this scene, and as I shot version after version, I found that placing the lions in the lower left hand corner of the frame created the most expressive relationship with the leafy context. Although they are inert, the lions create a diagonal stepping-stone that pulls the eye into the lush environment, making this image represent a veritable “return to Eden.”
08-JAN-2006
Gilded thunderheads, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006
The buildup of thunderheads during Zambia’s rains often last into the late evening and produces sunsets like this one. A surreal touch to what often can be a surreal place. Every evening, while on our game drives, we stopped for refreshments at sunset and often saw spectacular skies such as this one. This image was composed twice, once by nature and then again in the camera’s frame. With the whole sky as a potential palette, I looked for repetitive shapes and colors, and found the billowing back-lighted clouds at right echoing the painterly swirls behind them.
12-JAN-2006
Moonlight game drive, South Luangwa National Park, Zambia, 2006
Our evening game drives began at four p.m. and lasted until eight in the evening. At sunset, we took a refreshment break. On this, our last night on safari in South Luangwa, our sundowner was illuminated by a full moon. Our game spotter casually leans on the vehicle as he watched me make this twilight photograph, while the canopied Land Rover symbolizes the heart of the safari itself. This rugged vehicle, with no walls, and an elevated viewing platform, was far more suited to wildlife photography than the crowded “pop-top” East African minibuses supplied on previous safaris. For many of my game drives, I was its only passenger -- shooting my pictures from the seat next to that ladder. I abstracted this image by underexposing it, barely depicting the vehicle and silhouetting our spotter. The moon is small, but because it rides alone in the vast African sky, it's large enough to be seen instantly. As I made this image, I could hear nearby hippos grunting and the distant trumpeting of an elephant. This photo may not function as photographic art, but it evokes vivid memories – another valuable function of Safari photography.