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The Walk of Life
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The Walk of Life

Amboseli, Kenya - 2018
Amboseli, Kenya

It was some time after I took this evocative image until I was able to check whether or not I had nailed it. It was my very last frame before I got off the ground and ran behind the 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 spend another two seconds on the ground would have been taking an 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 spot-on.


Before this privileged moment in Amboseli, I had never come close to 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. Elephants have great emotional intelligence, no more so than in protecting their young; the babies are rarely physically detached from their mothers or their herd. It is rare to even see them fully exposed to daylight unless they are running between adults.


I want my work to be full of emotion—without it, there needs be a great number of compensating factors for a photograph to be transcendent.
I think The Walk of Life connects emotionally with people on a wide number of levels. Its strength comes from the deep symbolism of the narrative—there is no more important job in the world than being a mother.


I think The Walk of Life connects emotionally with people on a wide number of levels.

David Yarrow
Print sizes

Standard

37" x 44" Unframed

52" x 59" Framed

Edition of 12

Large

56" x 67" Unframed

71" x 82" Framed

Edition of 12

Dawn CommuteFully EngagedEthereal DuneHeaven Can WaitThe Walk of LifeShowtimeTwinsSnap ShotColossusKingdomNarniaElephant UprisingI am Black PantherThe HunterKeeping up With the CrouchesDesert FlightDexterSpace for GiantsHoof ItRemains of the DayTimFamilyAcaciaFollow the LeaderThe Old Man and the SeaKongPumbaaMudThe WitnessThe PatricianSuccessionExodusEmmaThe Lion's DenFields of GoldThe River MonsterThe Secret RhinoFirst DownParallel LinesThe CrossingMarvelAfricaSex PantherCraigTiny DancerThe Circle of LifeThe Morning ShowScarfaceLugardThe New TestamentSerengetiNo Nearer