The Marsh Pride of Savute, Botswana are famous and revered hunters. The difficulty with lion photography in places such as Savute is simply the ability to work the camera into a position below the lion’s eye level. With longer lenses and greater magnification, the nasty effect of cameras angled downwards can be ameliorated. But we don’t like long lenses and if we can avoid them, we do. It tends not to offer the degree of emotion we are looking for.

This profile shot has a transcending level of detail and crucially, because of a bank in the terrain, our jeep was able to get two feet below the lion’s territory. As a result, the lion’s eye is just a fraction higher than my eye, and I was able to get close, work against the light and play with detail. This profile shot has an intimacy and immersion that may hint at a degree of past experience in the field. By learning how to get it wrong, we eventually get it right.