Goodnight Mr Bond

GOODNIGHT MR BOND
North East China – 2016

Once every now and again, I look at my work at the end of a long day in the field and I become a little emotional - not because of the entire body of the day’s work, but one specific image that transcends everything else from that day. The day that I took this “James Bond” like image was one such occasion. I judge a photograph primarily by its visual intensity and certainly the eye is grabbed tightly by the composition of the surreal subject matter. Mr Bond’s time could well be up.

I knew when the magnificent Siberian tiger crouched in front of me there was a chance of a story telling shot evolving and then - as if on command - the fabled stripes of another tiger appeared ethereally over the horizon. Given that there was no time to react, I was fortunate that I had the right lens and the right camera body. When I pressed the shutter, my heart was pounding. That, coupled with the extreme cold, would normally make for a degree of camera shake on the 200mm lens. Luckily there was fantastic winter light and I was able to shoot on 2000/1 second.

The collaboration finally paid off and the second tiger offers such a menacing supplement. We have been transported to the villain’s lair - “Goodnight Mr. Bond.”

There are only a very few wild Siberian tigers left in China - maybe less than 40, but there are conservation centers where the tigers are protected. If it were not for these centers, the animals would be extinct, so those that talk rather too emotively about “wild or not wild” are missing the point. There is romanticism and then there is naivety - sense and sensibility. The tigers in these conservancies are not tame - they will eat a man in a heartbeat. But they are protected and looked after in their natural habitat. It is not a zoo - it is safe acreage for magnificent animals.
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