Michael Wilkins
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Black and white photograph of a male impala standing alert in long grass, head turned toward the camera, its curved lyre-shaped horns rising against a soft grey background.

Lyre Horns

Pumba Game Reserve, South Africa · December 2022

1D X Mark II, 400 millimetres, f 5.6, 1/500 of a second, ISO 1000

The most overlooked animal on the reserve, given a proper portrait.

Impala are so common on a South African reserve that people stop looking at them entirely — everyone is scanning past for cats. Which is a shame, because the horns on a good male are one of the most elegant shapes out there, a double curve that only reads properly side-on and slightly raised. Black and white to strip out the tawny coat and leave the line of the horns against the grass.