Africa Photographs

I was drawn to Kenya and Tanzania by their wildlife and traveled through six national parks. Each day, I set off without knowing what I would find. Because the animals did not associate vehicles with humans, I was often able to photograph them from as close as 20 feet away, observing moments of tenderness, watchfulness, and rest.

The experience also revealed the vulnerability of this ecosystem. The parks may appear vast, but the surrounding land and water must support both wildlife and human communities. In trying to protect their crops, farmers have inadvertently killed elephants that stop to eat cyanide-contaminated tomatoes along traditional routes to their watering holes. Meanwhile, indigenous Maasai people have been forcibly moved to make way for conservation.

These images hold both the wonder of my experience in Africa and the unsettling knowledge that the lives and landscapes I encountered are increasingly fragile.