Michael Wilkins
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A male lion stands broadside in full profile facing right, heavy mane against a muted backdrop, chin darkened and stained.

Standing Broadside

Pumba Game Reserve, Eastern Cape, South Africa · December 2022

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

The full length of him.

Broadside is how you take the measure of a male lion — the drop of the belly, the mane running back over the shoulder like a collar he has grown into. His chin is stained dark; he had eaten recently, by the look of it. He stood like this for a while, facing something we could not see, and I worked the profile until he moved.