The Followers

Maasai Mara, Kenya 2023

Three young elephants walking in line behind the wiser one in the family. This is something I had seen before in elephant herds, but never with three youngsters together. When I spotted the herd I started watching for the formation — waiting for the moment the small ones would fall into line behind the adult. I knew what I was hoping to see. I did not know if it would come.

It came. For a few seconds all three were in the same stride, the same direction, the adult anchoring the left side of the frame. I cropped her body but left her legs in. She is the reason they are walking this way. I did not need to show her face for the image to mean what it means.

This photograph is about guidance. About how the young in any family seek the wiser ones ahead — following, watching, learning how to be. It is a metaphor for what we all do. We look for the people who already know the way so we can become the best version of ourselves. Nature shows us things like this over and over if we are patient enough to see them. This frame is one of those lessons.

The panoramic format was not an editing decision. I was seeing it in the field. The line of three needed room to breathe across the frame — a tight crop would have compressed the walking into a group shot and killed the sense of procession. The wide format lets them move.

This image is from The Heart of the Wild. I do not photograph wildlife to document it. I photograph because the natural world still carries things modern life has mostly forgotten how to see. Nature is a teacher if you pay attention. Rare moments like this one are the lessons.