Shortlist, Night of the Leopard by Will Burrard-Lucas

I spent more than a year photographing leopards in Kenya's Laikipia County. All images were taken using a high-quality camera trap system that I developed myself for photographing elusive and nocturnal wildlife. One of the leopards in this area is a very rare melanistic individual – a black panther. Prior to this project, a black leopard had not been scientifically documented in Africa for more than 100 years. The normal ‘spotty’ leopards shown in this series are thought to be the parents of the black leopard. Working exclusively at night allowed me to get creative with lighting. In some images, I used dramatic, studio-like lighting, while in others I balanced my flash with ambient moonlight or even exposed stars in the night sky. Working with such an unusual black animal in the black of night was both a great challenge and a wonderful opportunity to experiment with light.