Intense bushfires swept through the veldt around Dinokeng in September 2021. It’s sadly part of life these days and no continent, other than Antarctica, is immune.

The charred canvas offered a conceptual opportunity, with the scorched earth littered with blackened wood. It was a bleak, apocalyptical scene.

Acclaimed conservationist, Kevin Richardson, cares for a handful of black panthers very close to this area and I recognised an opportunity to do something a little different. Black on black.

I took this photograph from a cage; there is no other way. The credit for it goes to Kevin. I had the easy bit in getting the panther’s eyes sharp. Without that crispness, there is no image.

It all came together as well as we could have possibly hoped.