"This is the shot of my dreams and I had tried time and time again without success. Twenty minutes earlier, my head was in my hands because after waiting two hours for HA1 to approach the waterhole where I was waiting. He gently strolled past, pushing my remote camera out the way with his tusk. After careful planning, I was certain it was a success as I waited eagerly to inspect my camera.

On retrieving my camera, which was thankfully in one piece. I was only to find that no pictures had been taken at all! I was sure that such an opportunity would never repeat itself. We followed him for a week and knew our best chance of achieving this image was when he was approaching waterholes to drink. You don’t get many chances as in the dry season, elephants in Tsavo often drink every third day and our trip was coming to an end. Usually, once an elephant has quenched its thirst, their movements become unpredictable slashing the chances of achieving my dream shot.

After some encouraging advice from Tamara, my girlfriend who knows the African Bush far better than most. I tried again, and this was the moment I managed to capture after he had finished drinking.

I will never forget the days I spent with this remarkable and friendly bull, he is a prehistoric survivor living in a modern age. I hope we meet again."

The Big Friendly Giant, Tsavo, Kenya.
20% of sales goes to support Tsavo Trust
Available sizes
18"x29.05" Edition of 15
30"x48.41" Edition of 15
40"x64.55" Edition of 15
40"x64.55" Edition of 3

"Wildlife fine art photographer and conservationist, James Lewin, is entirely self-taught and first became interested in photography whilst in Kenya. He chooses to take black and white photographs using a wide-angled lens and shoots from a low level set against a dramatic background. This approach accentuates the magnitude of his subjects, most usually African wildlife.

James has held his own fundraising events whilst also donating prints to charity auctions. In 2018, at the National History Museum in London, his photograph ‘The Big Friendly Giant’ raised just over £4,000 at auction in aid of The Whitley Fund for Nature.

Several of James’s photographs have been shortlisted for the final round of judging in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year and in 2019, his photograph ‘The Baron of Borana’ received an Honourable Mention in The Monochrome Awards. He has won a number of other awards (Outdoor Photographer of the Year, BBC Wildlife and The Neutral Density Awards).

Alongside his love of photography, James is an ardent conservationist and donates a proportion of his profits to conservation charities to ensure the protection of the animals he photographs. The big tusker elephants are particularly close to his heart.

James's photographs are offered as archival pigment prints (the most commonly used among professional photographers), silver gelatin (the gold standard in black and white printing which surpasses archival pigment prints in longevity, quality and detail) and platinum palladium (these prints are made in a darkroom with photo chemistry and have the very best archival rating of any print - the image is embedded into the fibres of the paper, as opposed to an archival pigment print where the inks are sprayed onto the surface)."