The alarm buzzes me awake before sunrise. I rush about my room getting ready and checking my gear one more time….camera batteries charged? Check, memory cards? Check. I step out into the darkness with a friendly staff member who’s brought a flashlight to escort me to the common area where some light breakfast items and coffee are laid out. Some guests are already there and some are just arriving.
Everyone is still a bit sleepy, but the excitement starts to grow as the minutes tick down before we depart for the jeeps.
The air is still cool and I’m thankful for the warm fleece I have on. As we drive to the gate, I wonder what this day will bring. It’s one of my favorite things, the anticipation. By the time we get to the gate everyone is chatty and excited. After the guides complete the entry paperwork, we are ready to go. We drove through the gate and into the forest. The sounds beckon us forward as we scan and listen. After many years of wildlife photography, I have learned that listening is as important as looking.
The forest is coming to life. A langur gives an alarm call. We stop. The deer are suddenly looking in one direction. We stop again. Everyone is scanning the trees and the grass, trying to figure out what they’ve seen before we have.
And then suddenly, everything changes. I can feel the energy in the vehicle shift immediately. I raise my camera and start searching through the viewfinder. There she is. Just a glimpse at first. Orange and black stripes moving between the trees. Then she steps into the open. I watch her before I even think about taking a photograph. I take in the moment and watch her behavior, notice what she’s doing and the way she moves through the forest and then the moment presents itself and then I take the photo. Sometimes the tiger stays for a while, letting us compose different shots and discuss settings and different angles. And sometimes the tiger disappears almost as quickly as she appeared. But those few seconds can stay with
me for years. That’s what I love about India. You never really know what is going to happen. We might spend hours looking for a tiger and instead find a beautiful sloth bear, a leopard disappearing through the trees, a family of langurs, or an incredible bird sitting in perfect morning light.
There are days when the wildlife seems to appear around every corner. And there are days when the forest makes us work for it. I love both.
By late morning it’s time to head back to the lodge for some rest and relaxation. After a delicious meal of local Indian food some guests go back to their room to take a rest and some work on photos. I like to stay in the common area during this time to help anyone who needs it with editing or taking care of any camera or settings issues. It brings me so much joy to see my guests excited about their photos or learning something new.
In the late afternoon, we are ready to go back to the park and start our evening drive. Yet again the anticipation is high. The jungle is different and the light is different. Warmer. Softer. More dramatic. We all wonder what the evening will bring.
By the time we return to the lodge in the evening, everyone has had a full day. We clean up, have a drink and eventually sit down for dinner. Dinner is probably when the day gets talked about the most. We go back over the sightings, the photographs and the little things that happened along the way.
Without fail, everyone is relaxed and the jokes, stories, and laughter flow freely. I really enjoy these evenings. They’re a big part of the experience for me. The photography is obviously important, but spending time together, getting to know everyone and sharing the experience is what makes leading these trips so rewarding.
After dinner, I’ll usually head back to my room and download everything from the day. I make sure the cards are backed up, batteries are charging and everything is ready for the following morning.
Then I’ll spend some time looking through the photographs and marking my favorites. Sometimes there is an image that immediately stands out. Other times I won’t really know what I have until I get home and start working through everything more carefully. Eventually, I close the laptop, knowing that the alarm is going to go off again in just a few hours.
These trips are about so much more than photography. These are about a group of people who arrive as strangers and start to feel like a little community. And I think that’s one of the most rewarding parts of leading these trips. Yes, we're there to photograph wildlife. But we're also sharing something together. We're sharing the early mornings. The excitement. The anticipation. The unexpected moments. The incredible meals. The stories. And all those little moments in between.
