COLLECTORS’ EDITION PRINT: 1 of 20 - signed

SIZE - A2: 42cm x 59.40cm (approx 16.5”x 23.4”)

COLLECTOR’S EDITION: ONLY 20 of these prints were created & individually signed by myself & Mick Fanning.

PRINT: Professionally Printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag (308gsm), producing outstanding print quality demonstrated in the beautiful deep blacks, striking contrasts and the perfect reproduction of detail. This slightly textured Archival quality paper gives the artwork a three-dimensional appearance and impressive pictorial depth.

DEFINING MOMENT

2013 - Mick Fanning - Parc Nationale Des Volcans, Rwanda, Africa.

There was mounting tension that day, a sense of trepidation, exhilaration, respect, and (of course) extreme caution. Michael Eugene Fanning, World Surfing champion takes tentative steps, inching his way ever so slowly, getting closer to one of Africa’s most majestic creatures, a giant Silverback gorilla with his family, in his jungle.

I was feeling pretty good and fairly comfortable in this scene, as I’d experienced a gorilla encounter on another photographic adventure to a neighbouring country Zaire some ten years earlier.

At this point I am high with adrenaline, not in the way you’d image. But rather about the anticipation of what photographic opportunities lay ahead. The sheer excitement about getting ‘the shot’ in such a challenging situation was driving my thoughts.

Navigating the dense jungle undergrowth while dealing with a canopy that created a mosaic of deep shadows and bright light was somewhat of a technical nightmare. All this was going on in my head while working around a family of some sixteen powerful mountain gorillas that demand respect and space.

There was a subtle chaos as I manoeuvred into position to capture any encounter that may occur. I realised that the image to tell the story, needed both Silverback and Mick in one frame and in as close proximity as possible to each other. This would be no mean feat.

By this time Mick had cautiously edged himself closer and closer, which seemed to take an eternity to me, then squatted and looked down as a gesture of non-threatening behaviour.

This massive creature, all 200 kilos of muscle is acutely aware of Micks close presence. It seemed like time had stood still.

It was quite a battle moving through the undergrowth to get the perfect angle, I was now paused, ready and waiting patiently.

Then Mick looks up, for one moment, the Silverback slowly turns in Mick’s direction as if to acknowledge the glance, and there it was ‘a connection’ an unspoken dialogue.

That fleeting moment, a fraction of a second, never to be repeated, one glorious moment etched in Mick’s memory forever.

The Silverback moves on.