So I was just casually surfing the net, checking out non-serious news on my day off from work. Dealing with world news, albeit in picture format, makes me reluctant to surf anything but casual quirky reads. I was going about reading Jezebel, a blog known for its feminist content, when I chanced upon an entry on a freak accident happening to a teenager (girl, I know, there’s relevance still!) while posing for a selfie at Yellowstone National Park. Ok… Seriously what drama could happen at Yellowstone… Well, one of the worse sort in fact: Bison drama. I rank bear encounters the top of my list. If I see a bear from afar, I’m gonna make a pretty quick escape. This is no doubt the consequence of a traumatizing article I read on a Russian girl being eaten alive by a bear. Despite the level of gore I’ve seen at work, those words in that article scare the wits out of me.
Regardless, I find myself taking petty risks while photographing. I can get really engrossed with getting the shot to the point of putting myself on the edge of trouble. I nearly fell over a boat while photographing dolphins, lost my sunglasses in the process of breaking my fall. I once leaned a bit too much over a flimsy wooden barricade on the edge of a cliff once, while photographing the coastline. Reading the commentary on Jezebel and the attached CNN article for which the blog attributed its report from, made me realize that I really got away lucky in Sri Lanka some 3 years ago. I was traveling with my folks on a family vacation together, when we arrived at Sigiriya. My Dad wasn’t keen on climbing up the rock, with age catching up. My Mum was too exhausted after climbing Dambulla Rock Temple the day before (Oh well, me too). But the biggest reason for me skipping the ascent to Sigiriya is my fear of heights. I cannot go up the long, flimsy, rickety spiral stairs up to the top without worrying about missing a couple of steps and falling, dropping my equipment along the way. Our guide felt it was such a waste not checking out the area around Sigiriya and suggested to me if I were interested in trekking the jungles surrounding Sigiriya for a bit.
Not too long after we searched for different angles to view the rock, we chanced upon a herd of water buffaloes, around 6 of them, peeking out from a pond. This was during the late afternoon. I suppose the buffaloes were chilling out and bathing in the pond to cool off from the heat. I approached them with a couple of feet worth of distance. It was an usual sight for me, the city dweller… Wild water buffaloes up-close in their natural habitat, going about their usual affairs, while being intruded by a voyeuristic curious human. I pressed the shutter quickly, snapped a couple of shots, while observing them. I wasn’t getting away without their notice. When I viewed the photos later on, it was clear the buffaloes were aware of my presence. Some of them were trying to get a better view of me, turning their heads around to catch sight of the strange human. There seemed to be some subtle discussion as to what do to with the two humans looking at them on land. There was a bit of shuffling about among them, but ultimately they stayed put.
What’s wrong with this human… Haven’t seen us buffaloes chilling out in the water? Oh no… I feel intruded, can’t the human see I’m bathing… Private moment for Lord’s sake! Oh no what’s that clicking sound… What the heck is going on… Is that long black thing a weapon? Is that human a poacher? Oh no guys, what should we do now??? How should we react? Should we keep still here or move? Ok I’m keeping still and pretending nothing is going on. Awkward… – The imagined dialogue I believed the buffaloes were having.
In retrospect, I am so thankful that the buffaloes were hesitant to move out of the waters, or perhaps were immensely gracious to put up with my shenanigans. I was pretty close to them, not shoulder close but still… If they were to charge up to land in rage, I wouldn’t know where to run or if I could outrun. I’d be in deep trouble, being in a jungle of a somewhat rural area. Reading the news about how that girl got gored by a bison, and was left with serious injuries, just because she took chance to take a selfie instead of moving quickly to a safer distance made me thankful that the six buffaloes didn’t go all rage mode on me. She was approximately 3-6 feet away from the mammal at Yellowstone, which was roughly around the same distance as I was from the buffaloes in the jungle. If a huge bison could leave the girl with dreadful injuries, I cannot imagine myself at the mercy of the six (smaller built no doubt, but the numbers far outweigh). I’m not sure if age (or mortality) is catching with me, but I’m beginning to second guess the petty risks I take to get my pictures. Do I put myself in harms way for the shot? Do I put people in harms way for the shot? Is this shot that worth it for me to risk my life and others accompanying me? How do you quantify the worth of the shot? The excitement of capturing a rare sight in nature or the monetary value of reselling that moment in time to others as framed art? Granted I wasn’t taken a selfie, but still… Perhaps the answer might be clearer and more resolute to me if the buffaloes had played nasty. Nonetheless I’m grateful they didn’t and I got away lucky.
Pictures taken with my Nikon D800 and the Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8 VR I lens.