One of my favorite moments behind the lens last year was also one of the biggest surprises. While scouting Guyana, I joined an Amerindian black caiman research team on the Rupununi River. I’m normally pretty uncomfortable documenting people at close range—not wanting to invade personal space—but this was a fun and informative night out with this crew. They captured this individual, brought her onshore, and took numerous measurements as part of an ongoing project studying these large crocodilians. Here, after taking bets on her weight, they’re seeing how close they were with their guesses before releasing her.
Oh very cool. Nice to see experts in the field…not sure I’d want to wrangle one of those babies! I love the smile on that guy, too. Definitely not stressed or anything and even the croc seems relaxed. Off to read your post.
Dennis and Jim, thanks. Regarding the lighting, I was working simply with what was available. All night, it was basically the light from the flashlights they were using to do the work. Frankly, one of the biggest surprises is how well so many of the images turned out given the circumstances.
That’s what I had guessed, Max. That kind of lighting seems to be very effective for documentary images. The irregularity of it creates mystery and usually seems to highlight the main subject.
