I took many wide-angle close-ups of elephants over the past month, but this encounter was special. It was just my guide and me in the vehicle when a mother and her calf broke away from the herd and approached within a foot or two of us. They weren’t aggressive—just curious. For twenty minutes, they raised their trunks and sniffed the air in every direction, all but tapping me on the forehead. The calf is in front and appears larger because of the lens’s perspective distortion. You can tell the larger mother is in the background by the difference in the size of their tusks. I used my inverted-monopod technique, with the camera resting on the ground while I fired the shutter remotely. Eventually, the elephants came so close that the camera was beneath them, and I began to worry they might step on it. More to come, including video. Nikon Z8 with Nikkor 24-70mm lens (at 24mm) ISO 450, f/2.8 at 1/250th of a second.