In Kenya in 2024, I moved in as close as I possibly could, so close that her face spilled beyond the frame. One eye. One nostril. The raw texture of her fur. And that gaze, filling every inch of the image, direct, unfiltered, without distance.
At that range, I was no longer photographing an animal. I was photographing a presence. An intention. Something that was looking at me just as much as I was looking at it.
Half a face. A complete image.
