Этот потрясающий снимок альфа-самца горной гориллы - результат 10-летней работы фотографа

За последнее десятилетие Дэвид Ярроу из Шотландии 7 раз бывал в Руанде и проехал около 77 тысяч километров, пытаясь сфотографировать в естественной среде обитания горную гориллу, находящуюся под угрозой исчезновения.

И хотя за это время 53-летнему экс-финансисту удавалось видеть диких зверей в кустах, он никак не мог сделать четкую фотографию.

«Я хотел сделать настоящий снимок большого альфа-самца, но это должен был быть портрет с чувством принадлежности», — сказал он The Times.

На днях мужчина отправился из деревни Бисате с гидами и носильщиками в лабиринтоподобные лесные хребты в горном Национальном парке вулканов в Руанде — туда, где вдали от опасностей живут величественные существа, которых в дикой природе осталось всего около 1 тысячи особей.

Около 400 горилл, разделенных примерно на 10 групп во главе с альфа-самцами, свободно перемещаются между национальным парком в Руанде и национальным парком горилл Мгахинга в Уганде, а также национальным парком Вирунга в Демократической Республике Конго.

«В эту поездку я отправился без других туристов, но работал в тесном контакте с пятью рейнджерами. Вокруг находилось около 12 горилл, что было немного угрожающе, — говорит Ярроу.- Рейнджеры издавали гориллоподобные звуки, чтобы успокоить их».

Фотограф проследил движения одной из групп и нацелился на потрясающее животное, которое мы видим на его невероятном изображении.

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As seen in this weeks Sunday Times . Judge and Jury . Finding a silverback gorilla high up in the volcanoes in Rwanda in a position offering a sense of place and a wider narrative, is a tough ask. It’s effectively a numbers game in that the more times you make the trek, the greater the chance that an opportunity will arise. Until Wednesday of that week, I had not had a break and my records are proof of that after ten trips. There have been ten encounters of course — the rangers and trackers ensure that no trek goes unrewarded — but they have always been in dense forest with little or no backdrop. . Some of the guides and the lead ranger knew my frustration at the lack of depth I was finding and suggested a troop, the Umubano Gorilla Family, that was quite far west of the group of volcanoes. I agreed to give it a go but was curious when I was told that I was the only one to be making the trip this day. . When we set off from the village of Bisate with my guide and porters at 7.30 am, it quickly dawned on me why I was alone — this was going to be one hell of a climb — and we were already at 9,000 ft. Normally the wall crossing to the rainforest is about 20 minutes from a drop off point and on Wednesday it took 90 minutes — all uphill. For mountaineers this would be a piece of cake, but I would be the first to admit that I am no mountaineer. . Anyhow, it was good for me and when we reached the wall and looked up to the rainforest, I could see why the area had potential — there were plenty of ridges and look out points. It was still dense, but there seemed more room to breathe in places. . I left most of my gear with the porters and took just one camera and my trusted 58mm lens. I wanted to roll the dice a little and also be nimble. When we reached the troop, they were on the move and I focused on the lead Silverback. And so it was that I got my moment. The perspective was exactly what I was looking for. . I want to thank the team that looked after me on the way up and indeed on the way down. This certainly was a team effort — it’s “no country for old men”! . #itsfiveoclocksomewhere

A post shared by David Yarrow Photography© (@davidyarrow) on Mar 10, 2019 at 12:10pm PDT

«Я выбрал место, а затем подошел альфа-самец, сел чуть выше и посмотрел прямо на меня. Самыми удивительными были его левая рука и огромные пальцы».

Дэвид Ярроу говорит, что сделал много снимков, но «сразу понял, когда у него получился желаемый».

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Kong . I have travelled north from Kigali to the Volcanoes National Park in #Rwanda 6 times over the last 8 years and I have generally failed to come home with anything that does Africa's "Jurassic Park" justice. There are many reasons — including — of course — my own ineptitude. . A big issue is that these magnificent mountain #gorillas are only accessible in mid morning and if the sun is out, the rainforest floor is not an ideal canvas on which to work — it's a nasty cocktail of overexposed and underexposed. Then there are compositional puzzles — it is difficult to have a sense of proximity and a sense of place in the same image — the forest can be exceptionally dense and this works against offering a wider contextual narrative. In my experience it does not pay to be greedy visually here. . Thirdly, the encounter is so other worldly that it takes time to work out what to actually do with the camera — and every cameraman — no matter who they may work for — only has just an hour to work. It can be a battle against time with a troop of 22 or more gorillas to think clearly about what to do. . So before I arrived late notice on Monday, a few decisions had already been made. We would go when the chance of cloud cover was best and we would only focus on the lead Silverbacks. Most importantly I knew there was no point in deciding prior to the hike what lenses to take, as we would have no idea what sort of topography the trackers will find the gorillas in. But I knew I could leave some gear half way up the mountain and then work with whatever the layout dictated. In other words, this year the goal is to be spontaneous and not prescriptive. . #Itsfiveoclocksomewhere

A post shared by David Yarrow Photography© (@davidyarrow) on Feb 27, 2019 at 11:09am PST

«Перспектива была именно такой, какую я искал», — добавил он.

Несмотря на наличие у животного семьи с самками и детенышами, которых нужно было защищать, Ярроу говорит, что альфа-самец просто «посмотрел на меня, почесался — а затем встал и ушел».