This huge bull was only a few feet away when I made this portrait. I saw the way the light fell on the tusk and on the green leaves before him, and regarded both as symbolic of the major challenges facing the African elephant -- poaching and sustenance. The full 420mm zoom allowed me to fill my frame with its head and extended ears. I used my spot meter to abstract the image, exposing for the leaves and that tiny splash of sunlight on the tip of the tusk, and allowing the elephant itself to nearly vanish into the shadows. Its eyes are fixed upon us, yet we feel their stare more easily than we can see them looking at us.