Best of Optic Safari
A short collection of favorites from every corner of the portfolio: wildlife, water, sailing, Japan and big landscapes.
A humpback brings its tail down hard enough to throw a wall of spray. Tail slaps can be heard underwater a long way off, and nobody is quite sure whether they are a signal, a warning or play. Off Montauk, Long Island, in August 2024, we followed this whale for a short while, and this was the moment it gave us.
Kyoto's Golden Pavilion, doubled in the mirror pond. Its upper floors are covered in real gold leaf, not gold paint. The building you see is a 1955 reconstruction; the original burned in 1950. We visited in spring 2026 and managed a clear shot despite the crowds.
Scarred male lion with a dark mane
Blue-hulled yacht charging through the waves
Mount Fuji crowned by a lenticular cloud
Leopard resting in golden grass
A sailfish clears the water vertically, which happens for a heartbeat and rarely within reach of a lens. We were fishing for sailfish when this one took the bait. We brought it boat side and released it, and it was never taken out of the water.
Looking straight up, the bamboo closes into a green ceiling. Being among the bamboo forest in Kyoto was calming, and a little surreal.
Cheetah perched in a tree
The Colorado River bends almost a full circle around a sandstone point near Page, Arizona, about 1,000 feet below the rim. We were staying on the Arizona–Utah border and came here on a day trip.
Silverback gorilla resting, vertical frame, Rwanda
A common dolphin leaps clear in flat, silvery light. Offshore of Long Island, New York, a pod found the boat and rode under the bow and alongside us.
Chureito Pagoda with Mount Fuji behind
White rhino standing at a water hole
Black schooner bow plowing the waves
Mountains mirrored in a glassy lake, Patagonia
Elephants walking down a bush track, vertical frame
Seen from overhead, rays turn the deep blue into a moving pattern. Forty miles offshore, after a day of fishing with no luck, we sent the drone up and found rays all around us, with schools of spinner sharks moving through them.
At a stable's morning practice, wrestlers train in near silence, and the slap of bodies is the loudest sound in the room. Our private visit was arranged through a local contact. We were struck by the wrestlers' athleticism and came away with a far greater appreciation of sumo.
Giraffe silhouetted against the setting sun, vertical frame
Red sun setting behind a building
Zebra pair standing together
A green sea turtle glides over pale sand in clear water. Snorkeling in the Caribbean, we came across this turtle, and it lingered with us for some time.
Wildebeest walking through morning mist, Serengeti
Bald eagle portrait