Camera: Canon R5

Lens: EF600mm f/4 III

Aperture: f/4

Shutter speed: 1/100

ISO: 1000

Description: An elephant forages calmly and methodically undisturbed by the torrential downpour.

Story from behind the lens: It was a wet and gray afternoon when my guide and I departed camp for our afternoon drive. Some people may have been put off by the bad weather but I was excited to find a subject that would tell the story of the rain. For me, bad weather offers unique photographic opportunities. My vision for the image was to create streaks with the rain by lowering my shutter speed. For this to be effective, I wanted a large dark subject against which the white streaks could stand out. The elements came together for me when we came upon a small group of elephants foraging. I was in a jeep with doors off for a low angle so we placed the vehicle at a respectful distance so as not to disturb the elephants. From there, I could optimize the low angle with my tripod on the floor, legs flat. I experiment with various slow shutter speeds and different positions of the elephants. In post processing, I chose a vertical orientation. I also converted the image to black&white for greater contrast of the light rain streaks against the dark wet body of the elephant and to add texture.