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Chris Brunskill is 28 years old and has been photographing wildlife since 1996.
Specialising in the wild tigers that roam Ranthambhore National Park in India,
his images have been published worldwide in books, newspapers, magazines and a
variety of other media.
His interest in photography began at the age of 18 whilst travelling through
East Africa where he spent time in places like Serengeti, Virunga and the Ruwenzori
Mountains of Uganda.
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Inspired by the sights he had witnessed in Africa, he decided to take up photography
as a full time career and upon finishing college in 1998, he journeyed to India,
determined to find and photograph, for him, the most impressive creature on
earth, the tiger.
His search for wild tigers soon brought him to Ranthambhore National Park in
Rajasthan. Originally he had planned to travel all over India, but after his
first sighting of a tiger in “one of the world’s truly magical places”
he stayed on and scrapped the rest of his trip.
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Mt Meru, Tanzania |
Ranthambhore Road |
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Entranced, he watched tigers walking in clear daylight on tracks, killing prey,
stalking and even appearing unannounced on edge of cliffs. It was during this
6 week period that he managed to take some of his most spectacular images, images
that continue to capture the imagination of people around the world.
Stunned at the unique beauty of Ranthambhore and astounded at his good fortune,
he was back just four months later, spending another month on trail of tigers
he gradually began to recognise by sight. It was during this time that he first
observed a favourite tigress of his, Machali.
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The challenge of recording rare images is what drives Chris, but it is far
from easy. “Finding wild tigers is very difficult, but photographing them
originally and creating interesting pictures is even harder. You may only have
1 ten second opportunity, during weeks in the forest, to capture your
image.”
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Continuing to return as often as possible,
he began to create a superb portfolio of images, many illustrating wild tigers
in ways they have seldom been seen before.
Describing the elation of seeing a tiger, he says “To see a tiger in
the wild is like a dream, it is a mesmerising experience. To watch and photograph
tigers on their own terms, in their own landscape, in a forest like Ranthambhore
is the reason why I’m a photographer, for me there is no greater pleasure.”
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In another month long trip he famously observed and recorded for the first
time two unrelated tigers hunting co-operatively. It is images like these that
ensure his portfolio is always well represented in any new material released
on tigers, and confirms his status as one of the foremost tiger specialists
in wildlife photography today.
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Shark Attack |
In between his time in Ranthambhore he spent a year living in Australia. Here his photography
took him to Flinders Island in Tasmania and also to the rugged coastline of
South Australia, to dive with great white sharks.
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Learning to dive just a week before the trip and using a rented U/W camera,
he photographed three different sharks in a four-day trip, confirming that his
luck with sightings is not limited to tigers. In one hair raising encounter
a huge 15ft shark rammed the protective cage he was shooting from and managed
to stick its snout through the viewing space cut into the bars! Cowering at
the back of the cage he somehow survived and hopes one day to dive again with
these magnificent fish.
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It is tigers and their forest homes though that continue to enthrall Chris and his work was presented to the world when his book, Tiger Forest - A Visual Study of Ranthambhore National Park, was released in 2003/2004. Containing some of his finest images from his 5 years of study in Ranthambhore National Park, Tiger Forest has received widespread praise across the globe and is a stunning testament to the passion and creative energy that shines through his work.
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