Black rhinoceros

This is true that I wanted to meet black rhinos when visiting the Ngorongoro crater. This is one of the few places where you can see them in the wild and of the rares locations where they are protected against near certain extinction in the short term. But I did not expect to only find black rhinoceros in the mid-day sun (at the hottest time, when the air is vibrating and pulsating from the heat convection; When the sun is so vertical that all animals are heavily marked with treacherous shadows that any photographer would hate).

So, even if the distance was horrendously long, the air agitated with illusions like in the hottest desert, I decided to snap a few shots anyway. I knew that the image would not have a good quality and that it would be strongly deformed. But I would not have dreamed of getting this watercolor painting kind of effect without using Photoshop. A painted rhino…

A few lessons for the photographer:

• Always keep your camera with you.
• Do not stop shooting because it’s difficult; It may be time to experiment new things.
• Never delete “failed pictures” just from what you see on the rear LCD of the camera (I could only see disgustingly fuzzy pictures).

Black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis, Rhinocéros noir).
Tanzania, Ngorongoro Conservancy Area, March 2013.