One of the points that I feel is important in photographing wildlife -- and I stress this in my Wildlife on-line photo course -- is that shooting from a low perspective gives greater stature to animals. At the same time, it creates an intimate and compelling portrait.
One of the frustrations in going on a safari is that you are forced to shoot from a vehicle (for safety reasons, obviously), and this means that the shooting perspective is higher than what I feel is desirable. Even two or three feet can mean the difference between a stunning image and one that is only mediocre.
On the Namibia photo tour, we visited a cheetah foundation devoted to ensuring the survival of this very special cat. The organization houses many cheetahs that can't be released back into the wild (usually because they were abandoned by their mothers -- or their mothers were killed by farmers -- and the cubs never learned to hunt), and we were allowed to shoot from ground level in certain places on the compound. The snarling cat you see here was behind a fence, but it was a 'photographer friendly' fence with large openings for camera lenses. This particular cat is known for an aggressive disposition, and that allowed each person in the group to get outstanding images. I shot this from ground level, and you can see how dynamic the shots are simply because I was three or four feet below where most other photographers are forced to take pictures of wildlife in Africa.
At the end of the shoot, each of us was breathless with excitement over this remarkable opportunity. Even if we could have taken pictures on the ground, cheetahs would never permit an approach this close. They have been hunted for too long, and they are extremely wary of people.
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