Ben McRae became so engrossed in the activities of a passing herd of elephants he almost forgot he was there to photograph them. He tells his story to Armani Nimerawi.
For Australian photographer Ben McRae, the lure of Africa's untamed beauty is an elemental one. With family roots in the region, McRae spends the majority of his time shooting there, living on the road for months at a time. "When we come back into towns it almost feels claustrophobic in a way and the first night in a room after sleeping for months under the stars or in a tent is usually an unpleasant feeling."
This image, taken in the Chobe National Park in Botswana’s northeast, was taken in a rare moment of quiet in in an area usually bustling with tourists. "It was about 3:30 in the afternoon and all of the safari trucks with tourists were headed deeper into the park in search of lions," recalls McRae. "I’m not a fan of lions so it’s great they all buzz off and leave you alone on the banks."
After a few minutes silence, a herd of elephants cautiously came into drink, with a very young calf in tow. After the group had quenched their thirst, two of the larger females moved around his 4x4 on both sides. After calmly checking him out, as an awed McRae dared not move, the matriarch pushed the calf up to the car.
"He was tiny! She pushed him up to the 4x4's bonnet and made him feel the car out. I could not see him at all, only every now and then the end of his trunk would poke up over the bonnet."
The baby elephant continued to make an inspection of the car, and, "with a flap of his tiny ears", decided he'd had enough and the herd moved off. Realising he'd not yet fired a single shot, McRae grabbed his camera from the passenger seat and captured this shot of the last few elephants moving off back down the river bank.
"This image to me is a great image – a reminder of the experience that these elephants had just included me in."
Photo by Ben McRae (Canon EOS 5D MKII, Canon 100-400mm lens @ 400mm, 1/320s @ f/9, ISO 250. Dodge, burn and vignette.)