Meet Mr. E.

by Stephen Schwiesow

Title

Meet Mr. E.

Artist

Stephen Schwiesow

Medium

Photograph - Color Photography

Description

On our last full day in the Serengeti National Park, on our last full evening drive on safari, we approached a bull elephant ahead. It was standing in the middle of the one-lane road, just across a very short wooden bridge. Off to our left, on a parallel road near the elephant, was another tourist van, with cameras out. Our driver waited patiently. We were about 50 yards away from the brut, on our side of the bridge. He approached a bit, then stood looking at us. After a moment, he sidled off to our right, still on the other side of the bridge, and began munching on the shrubbery. He was still 45 yards away. As he slowly moved off the road, to our right, our driver slowly approached the 1-lane bridge, cautiously, slowly, ever so slowly. I could almost hear the ladies in our van, their heavy slow, deep breathing. Mine too.
We crossed the bridge and stopped. The bull was maybe 10 yards away. Mr. E. then started toward us, but on the other side of the hedge, off to our right, but very near. As he approached approximately 6-7 feet away from the van, only separated by the hedge, Mmbaga turned slowly around and put his index finger up to his parsed lips, 'shhh'. We sat completely still. The elephant stood, looking at the nice shrubs, looking at the van, looking at his hedge of nice, succulent leaves... then he reached his trunk into the shrubs and began to pull. The end of his trunk must have been within 3-4 feet from the ladies' windows. I know they were still, I certainly was. His trunk twisted a branch; he then slowly took in his meal. A few cameras clicked. I was on the other side of the van, but could see Mr. E. very clearly between the still heads in front of me. Mr. E. slowly turned and I then got this photo. With my 150-600 lens,(I did not have a chance to change to a smaller one in the moment), I had to shoot the shot in the shortest setting. This is what I got, 150mm.
What I like about the photo is the closeness that we felt with Mr. E. The skin textures, the partial tusk showing, his eye, the velvety portion of his ear, the gland behind his eye dripping moisture...and the tsetse fly at eye-level, just off his trunk. Yes, a tsetse fly. But he was not disturbed.
He then turned, ambled a short way off the hedge, and we continued on our way, hopefully seeking a photo of a leopard. Ah, Africa! What sites you have shown us!

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January 22nd, 2019

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