STORY BEHIND THE STILL
PHOTOGRAPHER’S NAME: Graeme Purdy WEBSITE: https://purdy.photography
IMAGE LOCATION: Masai Mara, Kenya, Africa
TYPE OF COMMISSION: Personal
SHOT DETAILS: Canon EOS 5DS R, 24mm, 1/400sec,
f/5.6, ISO 800
ABOUT THE SHOT: Many wildlife images, no matter how impressive or well-timed, possess a feeling of distant observation, lacking an immersive perspective. Graeme Purdy’s work goes beyond the mere record shot made from afar, instead capturing an intimate point of view.
“I wanted a more up-close and personal image of wild and dangerous animals,” says Graeme. “I’d been photographing the Ridge Pride for years, and at this stage the pride was very settled, allowing for images of the whole pride together. The pride was fabulous to watch and photograph, but when this image was taken uncertainty was in the air. I spent more time than usual with the pride as change was coming. One of the males was very poorly and passed away just weeks after this shot. I wanted one last image of a happy, established pride. Within weeks a pride takeover had begun – six males marauded into the pride, chasing off the lone male and taking the lives of all but one of the cubs.
“The pride had chosen this track to take a rest. My main concern was losing my camera – I’d lost one camera to this pride six months before! The best shot was looking down the track, but this pride had more members arriving all the time – they kept out-flanking my camera – and before I could start shooting I had to bring the camera back to safety, before re-deploying it. My next consideration was moving my camera to pique their feline curiosity without any of the pride breaking ranks, thinking my camera would make a good toy!
“Regarding processing, with wide-angle (24mm) shooting, where your subject is placed up against the sky, it almost always requires me to bring out the dodging and burning to make a good exposure. Another challenge of remote shooting is achieving level horizons, so a little cropping was needed for this image, which was a personal assignment for my book project Eight Feet.”