Tigers being mostly nocturnal are full of survival instinct, coexisting with predators whilst keeping solitary. Their preying behavior amongst indigenous territories is often captured by photographers, yet how often do we get to see a hugging tiger? Cuteness-overload mainstream images showing caresses, maybe – mostly captured at zoos. How about an Amur tigress hugging an ancient Manchurian fir within a national park in Russia? Now that’s exclusive. Such quirkiness explains why photographer Sergey Gorshkov recently won London’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year award, staving off over 49,000 competitors.
Prestigious Photography Through Reluctance To Bear Arms.
Gorshkov, born in Siberia in 1966, has had a career in photography for a mere 12 years. He started taking pictures on his first trip to the Russian peninsula, Kamchatka. So stunned by the richness of nature he decided to buy a photo album of the landscapes. When he couldn’t find one he liked, for the first time he thought: “I’ll come back and make my own photos.”
It was a later trip to Africa that really inspired. It was no secret that he enjoyed hunting animals; up until then, he’d only seen wildlife through a rifle scope. When he saw a leopard there he was so fascinated by its beauty, he simply couldn’t shoot to kill. He now shoots his one shot with a Nikon camera only (1).
Hugging Tiger Photograph Compared To An Oil Painting.
In the Land of the Leopard National park in Russia which spans 260,000 hectares, Gorshgov left a camera trap in the forest for 10 months before he went back to retrieve the memory card and image files. When he saw this capture he entered it into the World Photographer of the Year Competition, now in its 56th year. His skill and patience in knowing where to place the trap, and how long it might take to capture an image of a tiger, won this image and won him the whole competition.
WPY judge Roz Kidman-Cox told BBC news ‘“The lighting, the colours, the texture – it’s like an oil painting. It’s almost as if the tiger is part of the forest. Her tail blends with the roots of the tree. The two are one.” (2)
The tiger is actually rubbing her cheek against the tree bark to leave secretions from her scent glands, yet a hugging tiger in a moment of ecstasy is really what is seen. The fact that Amur tigers must range over vast distances to find food, mostly deer and wild boar -which are now almost diminished, also shows how the timing of this capture is so unique.
Like so many 2020 events the ceremony was held online, with the Duchess of Cambridge announcing the winner. Photos showing the exploitation of animals in captivity and photos taken by young adults also received mentions with high praise during the ceremony.
Full Circle Of Love From The Hugging Tiger.
Willingness to re-evaluate your first principles can be a secret to success. Kamchatka, Russia being famous for the abundance and size of its brown bears was the start of Gorshgov’s career. The leopards in Africa made him never want to bear arms again. The hugging tiger won him this award.
He says “I am not ashamed of my past, but I realized that wildlife photography satisfies my hunting instincts without having to take the life of an animal.” (1).
