We were out on a safari drive in Amboseli when we stopped to watch a group of elephants making their way across the open plains.
There were adults and a youngster, the little calf keeping close to the others as they wandered through the grass.
A wonderful sight in its own right.
But then I noticed what was happening in the background.
Mount Kilimanjaro.
Or rather, bits of it.
The mountain was largely hidden behind cloud and haze, with just enough of its snow-covered summit showing to remind us of the enormous presence looming over the landscape.
Now, elephants with Kilimanjaro in the background must be one of Africa’s classic photographic opportunities.
You know the one. Magnificent elephant in the foreground, perfectly clear mountain behind it. The sort of picture that could appear on a thousand postcards.
But that wasn’t what nature was offering us that day.
And I rather liked the alternative.
The elephants were making their way across the grassland, the little calf tucked among the adults, while this enormous mountain almost disappeared into the clouds behind them.
It gave the whole scene a wonderful sense of scale and atmosphere.
So I took my photograph.
Not quite the classic postcard view of Amboseli.
But sometimes what you can barely see is just as interesting as what’s right in front of you.
Behind the Photograph · A Wilder Eye