I shared this video clip on my Facebook page several years ago. Every year it pops up in my memories. And I rewatch it every year. I’m amazed at the storytelling, and the found story that isn’t necessarily about the lions, but is also about the lions. And my amazement stems from my own experience with lions in Tanzania.
In 2007 I did a safari in Tanzania. It was very early in my life as a photographer. I got some amazing images, despite approaching it all wrong. You can see those images and get more story on that here. I remember one day, midway through the trip, we had heard of a pride of lions near a small grove of trees and we made the approach in our Toyota Land Cruisers. Our guide drove and swung around so that the pride was on my side of the car. My window was open and I saw the most amazing male lion not 10 feet away from me. I was so shocked that I couldn’t bring the camera to my eye. A moment later my eyes locked with the lion and I trembled through my entire body. I had an instantaneous feeling that the lion could in one second leap through the window, and pounce on me. It was that feeling of powerlessness that I couldn’t shake. I didn’t get a single usable photograph from that encounter. But I’ll never forget it.
Holding lions in such high regard, as apex predator, it’s easy to hang your attention on them and not let go. That’s what makes the above video so shocking to me. That we focus not on the lions, but on the lizard eating flies around the lions. We have this larger ecosystem that we see, and then this smaller fragment. This nuanced little story. And I find that so inspiring as a photographer. What opportunities are there in all our encounters to find those stories within stories?
I recently photographed a wedding, which has the overall story of love and marriage between two people. But as I walked around so many other valuable stories emerged. The father of the groom and groom sharing a moment. A cousin taking a quiet moment to feed his toddlers away from other guests. These are other examples of love and family that get highlighted within a larger context. And finding those moments is something I always want to focus on in my development.