Dinokeng, South Africa – 2023

This is a lucky photograph – a fraction of a moment in time captured by my camera. The leading paw of the black panther is the same distance from me as his face, and as a result, they are both sharp. It is rare to see paws captured like this and I sense they add something rather special to a dynamic portrait.

Thanks to the Marvel series, a Black Panther is a metaphor as much as it is a predator. They are not easy to photograph and I tend to work from inside a heavy cage. Over the years I have fine-tuned my approach and the rewards are getting stronger.

We looked at the crop for this image for some time and found the vertical format best suited the content in the frame.