Generations

Generations is one of those images that is almost entirely governed by luck. Yes, knowledge about your gear and how to utilise it properly, an understanding of composition and light and planning goes a long way, but in wildlife photography, luck takes the crown. Photographing herds of elephants is always difficult in terms of composition. It changes constantly, and more often than not I resort to focusing on individuals or small groups. That was the case here, where I decided to zoom in and focus on this mother with two younger elephants walking beside her. I continued photographing and eventually headed back to the lodge. It was only the next day, when going through the images, that I noticed this capture. No amount of planning would ever have made this possible. The sizes from big to small, the tails wagging more from left to right, and only one of their left limbs in the air. The dust in the background was caused by the rest of the herd, which is just out of frame to the right. Having the sun behind and off to the right caused the dust to be beautifully backlit.