Daily Photo: Old One-Eye

Old One-Eye

Madikwe Game Reserve, 6 August 2008, 19h24

Nikon D300, Sigma 50-500 @ 200mm, 1/200, f/6.3, ISO 500, lit with spotlight from the side and fill flash

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Wildlife photography has got to be one of the most interesting forms of photography.  Apart from subjects that don’t really want to do what you want them to do there is always the choice of going for the crisp, sharp, everything-where-it-should-be shots or to capture the raw moments as you see it.  It is the times when both of these come together that you end up with a winning image.  I reckon that at the end of the day it’s all content and sharing your experience or story with your viewer.  The above image shows one of the largest leopards I have ever seen in Madikwe on a zebra kill.  The kill was found this morning and from all the evidence it looked like it was killed by this big guy.  Unusual for a leopard to take down such a large prey but that’s what keeps going on safari interesting – you never know what your gonna get!  As the spotted cat went about his dinner we looked for gaps to shoot through and in the end this was the best view.  Yeah, I cut off the tail and a bit of his foot but for me this image is all about the face.  Not sure how or when it happened, but as you can see this old guy was called One-Eye for a reason.  The sighting was fantastic, the photography difficult but fun and in the end everybody walked away with some great story telling image.  Earlier this year this leopard was found dead close to a waterhole with a broken jaw.  By the time he was found hyenas had already found him so the exact cause of death and how he broke his jaw was never really found.  At least this magnificent cat lived a long life and gave many people amazing images and memories of a photographic safari in Africa.

Be back tomorrow!

Gerry