The Witness

THE WITNESS
Amboseli, Kenya – 2020

It was quite a busy evening alone on the ground underneath Kilimanjaro a few weeks back. I had my moment and the temptation later that night was to crop out the elephant on the right. After all, the charging bull is coming right towards me and is almost symmetrical to the mountain - so perhaps less was more.

But we went back and forth with both options and we all agreed to keep the smaller elephant in the final crop. There were two reasons for this: firstly; the elephant to the right adds a sense of scale to the big bull and secondly; if anyone disagrees they can do the crop themselves. There is no such thing as a correct image, it is whatever works for the viewer.

So, whilst I am an advocate of the power of reductivism, hence my preference for monochrome, we thought it best to show this memorable capture in its widest frame. There is perhaps that little bit more compositional balance this way than in the tight portrait. What do you think?
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