Braving the wild for the perfect shot
Wildlife photographer Nick Nichols remembers a close call with a tigress.
Listen 4:10-
Sita and cub, Bandhavgarh National Park, 1996; from A Wild Life. (Aperture, 2017) (Michael Nichols/National Geographic Creative)
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The tiger Bachhi (camera-trap photograph), Bandhavgarh National Park, 1996; from A Wild Life. (Aperture, 2017) (Michael Nichols/National Geographic Creative)
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A lion called C-Boy (shot in infrared nonvisible light), Serengeti National Park, Tanzania 2012; from A Wild Life. (Aperture 2017) (Michael Nichols/National Geographic Creative)
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Lioness and cubs of the Barafu pride, Serengeti National Park, 2012; from A Wild Life (Aperture, 2017) (Michael Nichols/National Geographic Creative)
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Vumbi pride (robot-camera photograph), Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2011; from A Wild Life (Aperture, 2017)(Michael Nichols/National Geographic Creative)
Michael “Nick” Nichols is a wildlife photographer for National Geographic Magazine, and he’s best known for his portraits of large cats. His work has graced the cover of the magazine many times in the last few of decades.
Nichols takes many of his photos using photo traps: a technique where he spends hours setting up motion sensors, cameras and flashes to catch animals in the wild.
In the late 1990s, that was the strategy he wanted to use to capture photos of a tigress named Sita and her cubs in Bandhavgarh National Park in Central India.
In what he calls a “comedy of errors,” Nichols tells the story of what went wrong on his trip, and what he learned from the experience.
Listen to the audio above.
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