Arun Jain, Lance Whiddon: A woman has a photo of the best goddam gorilla

Written by By Lisa Hilderbrand, CNN

Most people know a gorilla, and perhaps even a hippo, as it, but what does a gorilla actually look like? It’s perhaps the single hardest question to answer. But a new competition that unearths the animal as it is seen by the average viewer will help untangle one of nature’s greatest riddles.

More than a decade ago British photographer Lance Whiddon tried to capture on film a rhino from a helicopter, armed with a camera he’d custom-made himself. But within a few seconds he realized his shot wasn’t right.

Then he happened upon an uncleared rhino.

“There was a moment where, I think, I just dropped my camera and ran up the hill to find a vantage point and wait for his rest,” Whiddon said at the launch of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year’s People’s Choice Award on March 2.

By that moment, the rhino had unkilled himself and also displayed a feature that Whiddon described as “extraordinary.” He didn’t stand straight. His back flapped. His legs jutted forward in the air.

The setting proved to be the ideal environment for Whiddon to shoot some incredibly striking images.

“I just felt this warmth of the sun and the silence of the mountains and what it says to me about the individual animal which I guess I was able to incorporate into my whole composition,” he said.

Photographer Lance Whiddon considers a brother Rhino by Arun Jain Source: Lance Whiddon

Whiddon has earned fame for his landscape photography and won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year for a shot from his 2016 winning image, which showed a lone African elephant.

To judge the People’s Choice Award a total of three images are vying for the top prize.

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