honorable mention
Sonalini Khetrapal
Photo © Sonalini Khetrapal
title
Case of the Curious Cat
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entry description
We followed a family of three young cheetahs along with their mother for multiple days in the Serengeti. It was quite unusual to see fully grown cheetahs still live and hunt with their mother. The survival rate of young cheetah cubs in this region is quite low as it’s full of other big cats and hyenas.The entire family got very comfortable with our presence and the mother would frequently use our car as a vantage point to scan for other predators and prey.One day we found them early in the morning and my vision was to portray this beautiful animal with a clean backdrop. I set my camera up around them and waited as the cubs played with each other. Unlike lions, cheetah cubs are quite camera shy and are not as curious due to the extremely unforgiving and dangerous surrounding in which they are constantly hunted by other apex predators. After waiting for quite a bit, one of the cheetah cubs casually walked over to inspect the camera. This fleeting moment gave me a rare opportunity to capture this beautiful animal with just clouds in the backdrop. I used black and white to bring out the tonal details in its eyes and spots.back to gallery
