South Africa 2019

I try as much as possible to work against the light, not directly into the sun, but about 45 degrees either side of it. With a black leopard like this, there is no point even considering the light source, the brief is simply to hope to get something in the limited seconds available. As it happened, on this occasion, the light was almost exactly at that 45 degrees.

South Africa, 2018

Black Panther broke many box office records on its opening weekend ($207m) and he is now a new cult superhero. I wanted to try to take a picture of a panther that did the animal and the superhero justice. The preconception was that the key feature had to be the eyes and that we also needed a ground up perspective. That does tend to be my approach, but it meant remote controls, predictive analysis and considerable distance between me and my camera.

Time after time we failed dismally – it is such a low percentage shot. The light was also low and my depth of field marginal. We took many shots and in the end, we came home with just one. But that is all we will need. Black Panther indeed.

South Africa, 2019

South Africa, 2019

Nikon makes some excellent prime lenses, and the newly released 105mm is now a favourite of mine. After the 58mm, it is the second- most useful lens in my bag when I go to Africa. It is fast and its optical quality is quite magnificent.

This photograph of a black panther required precision in all I could do and then precision in all the camera could do. I shot with 1/1600th of a second, as this cat was moving so quickly toward my cage that I worried any longer shutter speed would risk blurring—and what a picture to screw up by making a lazy setting. I opened the lens wide up to F2.8m to make everything in front and behind the panther’s face out of focus. I think I had three inches of depth of field— just enough. The 45-degree early morning backlight left me with a balancing ISO of 500, which on the D850 is fine. I chose the D850 over the beast that is the D5, as I was happy to sacrifice frames per second for resolution.

​That is quite a technical narrative for this photograph, but the reality is that after the word emotion, I think the next most important word for a photographer is maths. Photography may be an art long before it is a science, but maths does matter.

I look at this photograph with the dust, the composition, the backlight, and the energy and I recognize that my skills as a photographer have improved with age. I make pictures rather than take them, and through failure I have a more refined understanding of what I need to do when I go to work. I am not sure I could have made this image in 2010 or even 2016.

South Africa 2016

There is no doubt this image of a black leopard in South Africa, grabs the attention – social media immediately informed on that – but my role in the strength of the image is secondary. It is the magnificence of the cat that is key – I just happened to have the very best equipment and to be in the right place at the right time. Rich blacks tend to work in considered photography – Matisse said “It has taken me 40 years to discover my favourite colour is black”.

The best colour to work against black is white or off white and this is where the image becomes a little special. I had pursued the leopard for an hour on foot – always circumventing to get ahead and the big moment – if it came – could have come against any backdrop. That the leopard should pose side against the light, in tall wispy grass was the best possible outcome. Whilst luck is the “residue of design”, I totally acknowledge that this is a lucky image. But then again, who cares?