Symmetry, and Serendipity

Although I may have had no idea what kind of image I was going to end up with when I was shooting The Matriarch, I knew in in my heart and soul that I was witnessing something quite extraordinary when I was shooting the Symmetry sequence.  Of Africa's "Big Five", the rhino and the leopard are generally accepted as the two big game animals that can be the most difficult to shoot.  Both animals are rare and notoriously elusive.  The leopards are constantly on the move, although they will rest in the branches of a tree for long stretches at a time.  The rest of the time they remain hidden deep in the brush and the long grass, so that even when you get a brief glimpse, a clear shot is difficult at best.


During my photo safari adventure I was incredibly lucky when it came to seeing leopards, and saw some twenty-seven different animals.  Without a doubt that number has to be attributed to the skill and knowledge possessed by my guides, drivers and trackers.  And there is no denying the element of luck, pure and simple.  In the case of Symmetry, our guide said that a pregnant female had not been seen for more than a week.  Chances were, she had holed up in one of her dens and given birth.  For several days we cruised past places she was known to inhabit within her territory.  On this morning, my desire to be the first to leave camp and the last to return at night paid off.


We snuck up to one of the female's dens before the sun had barely broached the horizon.  The rocks and brush were is deep blue shadows, and the morning sun streaked the scene with deep yellow and golden fingers of light.  Initially I was at 4000 ISO with my Nikon D3s and wide open with my Nikkor 200-400mm f/4.  Eventually, I dropped the ISO to 1600 and I think its a real testament to the sensor that I was able to crop and still get the image size and sharpness that I finally printed with.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  When the female first appeared, none of us noticed her cub.  It was an extraordinary sight.  And to see mother and cub, in the open, on top of rocks in the relative open, breathtaking.  It's rather difficult to explain the thrill that comes from watching a week old leopard cub attack its mother's tail in the wild.  A cub with the bright blue eyes of a new born kitten.  I felt like I was watching over-sized barn cats like when I was a kid growing up on the farm. 


Lanz von Horsten, an acclaimed South African wildlife photographer with many books to his credit, was with us on this safari, though not with us in the Land Cruiser this particular day.  Looking at the images later that evening, he shook his head and smiled, "I've been doing this for twenty-seven years and I don't have that shot you lucky bastard!"


It's true.  Sometimes you get lucky.  But you can also have a hand in making your luck.  I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.  And I'd like to think that when the opportunity presented itself to me, I was fully prepared to take full advantage of what lay before me.  And I certainly wasn't taking any chances.  In a little over an hour I took 280 shots.  It's incredible to be able to shoot interaction like we witnessed between this female leopard and her cub.  


How to choose the best single shot is what can make editing such an agony at times.  Is it form, composition, the interaction, the story, what will be the best single image.  Sometimes its obvious and the single best shot leaps out at you.  Mostly though, its never quite that simple.  In the end, Symmetry became just that.  A shot that worked in either colour or black and white, told the story, showed the relationship, and was for me the best composition in terms of line and flow.  Symmetry and serendipity.  Sometimes the universe smiles on you and you just get lucky.  And count your blessings...