Aunt and Nephew on the Stones

the story

I found them out on the open riverbed, where the water has worn the stones smooth and left them scattered across the grey silt. There was almost no cover, which meant no rush and no hiding, just two tigers in the middle of a wide, quiet space. Pedwali was already down, stretched long and flat against the ground with her tail trailing behind her. One of Paarwali's cubs, now big enough to tower over her, had come to stand beside her head. He leaned in with his mouth open, and she tipped her face up towards him. I kept the frame wide so the stones would read as a landscape rather than a backdrop. The colour is all in the two of them, orange and black against everything else the river had bleached out.

the encounter

The light was flat and the riverbed offered nothing but stone and silt, so I let the emptiness do the work and framed both tigers small within it. Pedwali lay stretched out low on the water-eroded stones, tail extended, while her nephew — one of Paarwali's cubs — stood over her with his mouth open and his head turned down towards hers, doing his best to annoy his aunt. I held the position and took multiple frames of this B-E-A-utiful moment. This is the one where their faces align, close enough that the exchange between them is unmistakable.