Archival Pigment Print

This simple image, taken 10 days ago in Kenya, is emblematic of the good news on conservation in specific areas of East Africa and we must embrace good news, even if it sits uncomfortably with populist headline narrative. The elephant population in Amboseli is thriving. In the last 12 months, over 130 elephants have been born.

Some iconic senior citizens of the ecosystem – notably Tim – have sadly passed away from old age, but none have been lost to poaching in 2020. Indeed, none have been lost to poaching in over six years. Consequentially, the elephant community here is as large as it has been for many years. Huge credit must be given to the KWS and NGOs such as Big Life and Tusk.⁣
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Amboseli is a paragon of conservation models and what has happened here can happen elsewhere. Seasoned rangers who have seen it all, can be forgiven for being somewhat indifferent to animal encounters, but when we found this mother with her twins born during Covid 19, they ordered me to stop and document it. I felt their pride. ⁣
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There are good news stories out there.

Tsavo, Kenya 2017

This magnificent old elephant is not only one of the planet’s few remaining big tuskers, her tusks are actually symmetrical and touch at the tips – to my knowledge this is unique. The Tsavo Tusk Rangers found her taking shade from the midday sun in the heart of Tsavo East – a long drive for sure, but so long as she remained reachable, it was worth making the journey. We were a long way from base camp – maybe a four hour drive.
The difficulty was to determine how to work the camera at ground level – remotes were not an option as there was no pattern to her movement and a prerequisite for remotes is predictable movement from the subject.
The next best option was to work from underneath the jeep – a potentially dangerous approach but Richard Moller knew this elephant has never charged and toppled a vehicle before and whilst there is always a first, I trusted Richard. That’s a golden rule of mine in the field – trust those that you partner with on the ground, otherwise why partner with them?
Nikon’s newest camera – the D850 and newest medium telephoto lens, the 105mm were my combination that day and the textural detail in this elephant showcases the benefit of this combination. I think everyone played a part in this picture – Richard, the jeep, the camera, the cameraman and most of all the elephant. In fact, I don’t think I would get on the medal podium.
This is a high impact portrait of a wonderful elephant in her last years. I will never see her again.

Amboseli, Kenya 2019

Tim – the world’s most famous and largest elephant – is an icon of our times. Like any icon, whether they be a politician, sports star or lm star, there is pressure on the photographer to do justice to the subject in a portrait. Often these encounters fall down as the cameraman simply stands on the shoulders of the icon and does not impose himself on the situation. With Tim, I cannot have him passive – he must be ears flapping, dust flying and coming towards me. at is easier said than done, but if we put in the hours with the right local team, it is possible.

I think that this portrait of Tim does justice to his magnificence.

Archival Pigment Print

“It was quite a busy evening alone on the ground underneath Kilimanjaro a few weeks back. I had my moment and the temptation later that night was to crop out the elephant on the right. After all, the charging bull is coming right towards me and is almost symmetrical to the mountain – so perhaps less was more. But we went back and forth with both options and we all agreed to keep the smaller elephant in the final crop. There were two reasons for this: firstly; the elephant to the right adds a sense of scale to the big bull and secondly; if anyone disagrees they can do the crop themselves. There is no such thing as a correct image, it is whatever works for the viewer. So, whilst I am an advocate of the power of reductivism, hence my preference for monochrome, we thought it best to show this memorable capture in its widest frame. There is perhaps that little bit more compositional balance this way than in the tight portrait.”- David Yarrow

Amboseli, Kenya 2018

​It was sometime after I took this evocative image, that I was able to check whether I had nailed it. It was my very last frame before I got off the ground and ran behind my jeep and there was no time to think, never mind look at the LCD screen. The mother was a colossus of an elephant and I cut it fine in terms of the narrowing distance between us – I guess I was just intoxicated by the sensational imagery I was seeing through the lens. To have been another two seconds on the ground, would have been to take unnecessary risk. I knew I had something very major and it was a relief to find out from the safety of the jeep that my focus was bang on.
Before this privileged moment in Amboseli, I had never come close to a taking a decent portrait of a baby elephant. Babies are skittish, clingy and always well protected – most images tend to be messy with a cocktail of legs – some large, some small and I have also struggled to convey the height differential with a giant adult. The lack of clear opportunities should be no surprise – elephants have great emotional intelligence and no more so than in protecting their young – they are rarely physically detached from their mothers or herd. It is rare to even see them fully exposed to day light, unless they are running between adults.
I want my work to be full of emotion – without this, there needs be a great number of compensating factors for a photograph to be transcendental. I think The Walk of Life will connect emotionally with people on a wide number of levels and provoke the odd goosebump and maybe even a tear. Its strength comes from the deep symbolism of the narrative – there is no more important job in the world than being a mother. 22 months is a long time to be pregnant and it seems to harbour the deepest of loves.
I hope that the serenity and power of this image will allow it to stand the test of time. If that is the case, give the credit to the elephant not me. To quote John Donne; ”Nature’s great masterpiece, an elephant; the only harmless great thing.” Look at this photograph and one can only find accord.
I don’t tend to use long lenses and did not take one to Africa, but I knew from earlier failures in the week that if the elephant herd continued on their path towards me, I needed magnification for an image to work. A 105mm lens would have been too loose as I knew I would never be allowed to get close to the baby. The grass was too high for remotes with wide angles so I was stuffed with my preconceived and default position approach. Luckily, I was able to borrow a longer lens from the team. I guess it proves there are no rules in photography other than to adapt to circumstances as you find them.