Under Her Spots

$110.00

Maasai Mara, Kenya 2023

I wanted to show the mother's protection. Not her face, not her body as a full animal — just the shape of her around the cub. I framed the photograph so her spotted body would wrap around the cub like a wall he was safe inside of. She is the frame. He is the subject. The composition itself is the metaphor for what she does for him every day.

The cub is what makes the image stand. He is looking straight at the camera with that calm, almost drowsy eye contact that only happens when an animal feels completely safe. If he had been alert, watching for something, the image would not work. It works because he is relaxed. He trusts the body around him to handle whatever comes. That trust is the whole photograph.

This is the same family as the other cheetah cubs in the collection — brothers and sisters who will grow up together and learn to survive through play, through watching the mother, through trial and error. But this frame is about one cub and what it feels like to be safe. The cubs in the other image were curious, exploring, unguarded because they did not know the dangers yet. This one is unguarded for a different reason. He has a mother around him.

This image belongs to The Heart of the Wild. I am not photographing wildlife to document it. I photograph because the natural world still shows us things we have mostly forgotten to see in ourselves. Safety. Trust. The way one body can frame another and mean "you are held here."

Maasai Mara, Kenya 2023

I wanted to show the mother's protection. Not her face, not her body as a full animal — just the shape of her around the cub. I framed the photograph so her spotted body would wrap around the cub like a wall he was safe inside of. She is the frame. He is the subject. The composition itself is the metaphor for what she does for him every day.

The cub is what makes the image stand. He is looking straight at the camera with that calm, almost drowsy eye contact that only happens when an animal feels completely safe. If he had been alert, watching for something, the image would not work. It works because he is relaxed. He trusts the body around him to handle whatever comes. That trust is the whole photograph.

This is the same family as the other cheetah cubs in the collection — brothers and sisters who will grow up together and learn to survive through play, through watching the mother, through trial and error. But this frame is about one cub and what it feels like to be safe. The cubs in the other image were curious, exploring, unguarded because they did not know the dangers yet. This one is unguarded for a different reason. He has a mother around him.

This image belongs to The Heart of the Wild. I am not photographing wildlife to document it. I photograph because the natural world still shows us things we have mostly forgotten to see in ourselves. Safety. Trust. The way one body can frame another and mean "you are held here."

‘‘For this portrait, I worked with a tight composition,

focusing on fragments of the elephant’s presence — the face, the tusks, the skin.’’

LIMITED EDITION OF 12

Limited edition of 12 across two sizes. Each size is individually numbered.

Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle fine art paper

45" × 30" unframed

Edition of 6

$3,750

72" × 48" unframed

Edition of 6

$8,950

Prices increase as the edition sells through.

Archival pigment print on Hahnemühle fine art paper. Each print is signed, numbered, and shipped with a certificate of authenticity.

Unframed prints ship flat or rolled depending on size. Framing, acrylic face-mounting, and custom display options available on request.

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FRAMING & DISPLAY OPTIONS