This is a magnificent black rhinoceros that is clearly far closer to me than its skittish behaviour would normally countenance. Rhinos have poor eyesight, but this is compensated for by a great sense of smell, so he knows all about my presence and it shows. Just after this, he charged me.
The horn of this rhinoceros is worth $ 500,000 today at end market prices and this clearly constitutes a big problem in a country where the average annual wage is $5,000. Sometimes the job of a photographer is merely to document a subject as aesthetically as they can, rather than to create art per se. This is one such picture – I wanted a powerful portrait of a $ 500,000 animal and this is the best I have. The horn is quite remarkable and it is imperative that our children and our children’s children have the chance to see what I saw that early morning in Lewa. In my view, it is the most extraordinary surviving animal to look at on our planet and that must continue to be the case.
This portrait image is at its best printed large because the rhino is itself so large. It has great intensity and power when in large format because the focus is pin sharp and the light was generous. The last time I counted, I found 45 flies around the rhino, but there must be more.
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