This
bizarre frame, captured by a watering hole on the North east side of
Amboseli dry lake, was taken with a 28mm lens placed on a
remote-controlled camera. There is no doubt that it was a low percentage
idea because my focal point required a huge giraffe within no more than
three meters of the camera, otherwise a 28mm is all too loose a lens to use against a flat backdrop of an arid desert.

I
chose my focal point because I wanted a low chance of a big shot rather
than a good chance of a boring shot. That has to be the way in 2019.

Giraffes
are also very skittish and even setting up the camera is an issue if
they are within 400 yards. They don’t like human presence and why indeed
should they? Over the years we have failed with giraffe, but in August
2019, one unbelievable piece of luck resulted in this image. When
I looked into the camera’s screen from the then deserted watering hole,
I could not believe it and I just hoped that the focus was pin sharp -
not easy when the head of the giraffe is much further away from the
camera than the hoofs..
The
focus was fine, although I have no other photograph from the series. By
the time the giraffe arrived, the sun was getting low - and the camera
was pointing that way, so this was not an easy file to work with. I
wanted detail in both the giraffe and the sky.
.
The
end result is surreal and then the next problem was to find a name. Our
team threw ideas around in the jeep in Kenya and when we came up with
“Keeping up with the Crouches”, we knew we had it. Of course it is a nod
to a tall British footballer and overseas audiences will no doubt be
confused, but Peter and Abbey Crouch are delighted with the name and
they do indeed have four children.