"Finding myself just 2 metres from such giants while they drink as if I were not even there is a memory that will stick with me forever. One Ton, to the right, is one of the largest 20 or so elephants in Africa. He is without doubt the King of The Chyulu Hills and he is greeted with an immense amount of awe and respect by all animals and humans that are lucky enough to lay eyes on him. Meeting a Big Tusker in the 21st Century is nothing short of a miracle and a privilege to behold.

This image would not have been possible without Richard Bonham, the co-founder and CEO of Big Life Foundation who knows this elephant better than anyone. Their friendship has grown for more than two decades and One Ton often visits Richard to say hello and to have a drink in what was previously a swimming pool, which now created the opportunity for this photograph.

The making of this image has to be one of my favourites of all time. It is an indescribable feeling sitting right beneath an elephant of this size and stature; being so close that I feel the air leaving his trunk and splashes of water as his trunk swashes around the water before taking another drink.
"

The Gentlemen's Club, Chyulu Hills, Kenya.
20% of sales goes to support Big Life Foundation
Available sizes
18" x 40.90" Edition of 15
30" x 68.18" Edition of 10
40" x 90.90" Edition of 5

"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)."