The Black Leopard is a new hardcover book by photographer Will Burrard-Lucas. The subtitle is My Quest to Photograph One of Africa's Most Elusive Big Cats. It was released yesterday and I received it today. It's a high quality hardback just over 200 pages (roughly 8x10 inch). It appears to be largely a biography of the author's journey as a wildlife photographer, including his innovations in radio control camera buggies and remote camera traps and night photography. Some of the night shots with wildlife and a full sky of stars are breathtaking. The culmination of the story is his photography of a black leopard in Kenya, but the leadup includes lots of other wildlife. This includes a chapter devoted to his work with the Ethiopian wolf and a chapter on the last big tusker elephants in Africa. I look forward to delving into this book and I think anyone who enjoys wildlife photography and/or big cats would enjoy it. Amazon.com: The Black Leopard: My Quest to Photograph One of Africa’s Most Elusive Big Cats (9781797202914): Burrard-Lucas, Will: Books
Thank you for reviewing the book! He's one of my favorite photographers, and I'd been wondering what was going to make up so many pages for the book. I'll have to add it to my list.
I just finished it and the best way to describe it is the autobiography of a wildlife photographer. It deals with his life so far (he is still young) as a photographer. Much is devoted to how he developed new technology for closeups via a remote control buggy and for high resolution camera traps. (I learned that he is the founder of Camtraptions). He also talks a lot about family life (getting married and having two small children). The book culminates in his year-long project to photograph the black leopard of Laikipia, Kenya. If you are a photographer like myself, you will no doubt love this book as I did. If you like biographies and wildlife, you will probably enjoy this book. If you are interested primarily in natural history, you may not enjoy the book as much. It is most definitely not a scientific tome and what little natural history is built in is lightweight stuff that most ZooChatters know. The photos, though, are stunning. The Black Leopard - The Black Leopard (blackleopardbook.com)
I first found his work a decade ago, with his BeetleCam photos. The bottom right image on this page was one of the first: BeetleCam | Photos Pictures Images She ended up stealing the camera and carrying it around for a bit
