Stripes in the Grass

This portrait was taken in Kruger National Park, South Africa, while I was working through my CATHSSETA NQF2 field guiding qualification. One of my peers on the course was driving while I shot from the back.

This zebra had paused in the long grass, and in black and white the stripes somehow gain even more presence - the pattern becomes almost graphic against the soft texture of the grass around it. There's something about converting zebra images to monochrome that feels right; it's an animal whose entire identity is built on contrast, so stripping away colour only sharpens that.