I love the way that photography can stop time, converting a split-second moment into an eternal freeze-frame. Not only does it give us an opportunity to properly appreciate something that we would most likely have missed in real time, it can also give the photographer the ability to subtly alter reality. Normally, when I think about freezing time, I envisage something like an elephant splash containing thousands of droplets of water all visible and stationary at once, however it was only when I remembered the preceding moments before this photo was taken that I realised I had inadvertently captured something that felt very different to what had actually occurred.
This female leopard had been dozing at the foot of the rain tree when she was startled by a passing herd of elephants, kicking up the dust just a few metres behind her. Acting on instinct alone, and with her eyes as wide as yellow saucers, she leapt up the tree in two lithe bounds before racing across the branch and coming to an abrupt halt no more than a couple of seconds later. I captured a few shots in that short time, but this one stood out because she appeared so relaxed, nonchalantly tip-toeing along the branch without a care in the world, while casting me a side-ways glance - a very different scenario to the one that actually occurred.
The effect was completely accidental - neither the shot before or after gave off the same impression – but I found it a useful reminder of the power of a single photograph to shift our perception of reality, even if it is only in a subtle way. Maybe that's why they say 'the camera always lies'.
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