It’s a tiring job being a little lion! This one couldn’t fight off the wave of sleepiness that hit the whole pride any longer. This photo was taken in the Masai Mara last year, and this cub belonged to the famous Marsh Pride (from the BBC’s Big Cat Diaries program)

I love to use negative space in my photos – I just like end result. In this case though it was necessary to use it in order to not include various limbs belonging to other lions that would have otherwise been a distraction in the final image. Composition-wise it also helped me with getting a tighter shot of the facial expression and still give the lion cub enough space to gaze into.

Tech Specs: Canon 5D Mark III | Canon 200-400L f4 with 1.4 Extender @ 560mm | f5.6 | 1/500s | ISO 100

My June trip to the Masai Mara provided me with a bonanza of lion cub sightings – exactly what I was hoping for! This is the second tiniest lion cub I have ever seen but it was hard work to get a photo of it as its mom was keeping it hidden away in the bushes. We probably waited around for a couple of hours and were almost on the verge of giving up our quest to photograph this little cutie. At that point mom decided to have a snooze and this little one took the opportunity to have a closer look at our vehicle, before quickly scampering away back into the bushes. It also had a sibling, but it was too shy for a photo, preferring to stick very close to mom the whole time. For those in the know, this was one of the newest Marsh Pride members in June. Look at those sweet white “whiskers” above its eyes – aren’t they adorable?

Techs: Canon 5D Mark III | Canon 200-400L IS USM with 1.4 Extender @ 560mm | f 5.6 | 1/500s | ISO 160