Big Game

Americans are ridiculously sheltered from the natural world. Throughout our history, we have tamed and slaughtered it so that only little birds and elusive mammals have survived. We never expect to find ourselves equal to others; we never not assume that we are the top of the food chain. Africa shattered that perspective for me. When you come face to face with a creature weighing nearly a ton, you realize that perhaps we aren’t so super to our distant cousins. Still though in years gone by living back in the States, I seem to have forgotten the fact that we are equals not only in importance but in size.

She startled me, perhaps even frightened me a little, and in my parents’ garden, on a sunny afternoon was a magnificent doe. Supping on rosebuds, she started and stared at me, and I her. We are equal in the world, yet I was shocked to find her still. It is not ordinary, not common to be among creatures of such size and grace. But Nature will not be denied; we are but citizens of the diverse and myriad world. And I came face to face again with the lesson. She was here before and shall be after; I am only one in endless time.

2011-05-22

1/350 sec, f 6.7, ISO 100, 250 mm