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| Amboseli, September 2014 (click for larger image) |
The standing subject is possibly as old as the photographer. The subject has surely fought many more battles than the photographer. The marks and deep notches in his tusks tell the story of a fighting life. The jagged long ears have missed their smooth borders long ago, after losing bits and pieces to spiky plants and optimistic predators. The trunk is flaccid. This bull brings to memory Hokusai's metaphorical elephant being examined, guessed by blind men, minus said blind men. Bull elephants are lonely, except when fighting other bulls to allow for the second exception: mating. They live to try to mate, they trumpet, they show rage, they charge, they build the savanna. They bring photographers and poachers.
Domingo Martínez-Castilla
Photo: Amboseli National Park, Kenya; September 30, 2014
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