Over 40 pounds of elephant tusk. These were removed from a carcass killed by poachers, but left behind as they fled the rangers.
I just posted a new gallery to my site. I spent a week this summer embedded with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers in Tsavo West National Park. As drought and political issues tax Kenya’s people, the wildlife, particularly the black rhino and elephants, are being slaughtered by a resurgence of poaching. Ivory and rhino horn are worth a lot of money on the black market, providing a healthy income for those willing to take the risk. And with few other ways to earn enough money to feed their families, it easy to see the temptation. Complex issue. Nonetheless, the rangers in Tsavo are doing an amazing job of protecting the animals and their habitat. They are out in the park on foot, tracking rhinos, looking for poaching camps, and studying the wildlife populations. Many thanks to Danny Woodley, park warden, for helping facilitate my shoot. The full gallery can be found here. I’ve posted a few photos from the gallery below with added captions detailing some of the story behind the shot.
This is not a paperweight. It is a spike that poachers use to kill rhinos. What they do is take dozens of them, lace the tips with poison and then hide them along rhino trails. Then they lay in wait for a animal to step on the spike and slowly die.
The rhino's sharp teeth leave easily identifiable freshly cut twigs in their droppings.
Herding the buffalo via helicopter out of the 70-square-kilometer rhino sanctuary. The team moved 400 buffalo that day and then put the fence back up. It was one of the largest relocation operation in the park to date.
I spend a lot of time chasing blue skies. All location photographers do. But the truth is, I actually prefer shooting in crappy weather. Sunny weather is great, and sometimes it is absolutely necessary for a shot to work – a lifestyle shoot at the beach just isn’t the same under ominous dark clouds. But there is something about images shot in miserable weather. They have a certain authenticity and ruggedness that you just don’t get on a nice day. Take the above image. It was shot during an flash thunderstorm in Colorado while I was shooting a campaign for Gore-Tex. This is actually one of my clients, but I love the expression on her face and her body language.
Olympics in Whistler
Just wrapped up shooting for Tourism British Columbia and Whistler-Blackcomb during the games here in Whistler. Can’t show the stuff from the shoot yet, but this is what Whistler Village looked like after yesterday’s gold medal hockey game. Blue Rodeo on the stage.