Photographing wild cats like Siberian tigers can be exhilarating when there are no enclosures between you and the tiger! I had the opportunity to do this in both the summer and winter at Triple D ranch in Montana. Ultimate trust is put in the handler's ability to control the cat. He did this with food which was lunch for the hungry tiger. He cautioned photographers, who were a mere 15-30 feet away, to not make any sudden moves towards their photo bags because the tiger would conclude you were getting a treat for her! So a shoot like this requires a lot of setup preparation to ensure you are prepared to shoot several hundred frames with as little as possible movement. The shot shown here was taken in a moment when the cat looked away from it's food towards me. Fortunately it preferred the lunch it was offered over me!!
There's a big adrenalin rush when photographing potentially dangerous animals without enclosures. In future blogs I'll share experiences with bears, a snow leopard and a young cougar.
