Shooting

Picture yourself, camera in hand, in the vast Serengeti ecosystem of Tanzania, where millions of zebras, wildebeest, and other grazing animals migrate annually—in the shadow of their predators. Or the Masai Mara in Kenya, where lions are so accustomed to human company they’ll frequently rest in the shade of Land Rovers.

“We need to beware of mountain lions,” U.S. Navy Chief Mass Communication Specialist David Rush tells me as we wait for his sailors to arrive. Up to now, on this cold, cloudless February evening deep in the Angeles National Forest, my main concern has been simply not getting shot during a live-fire exercise. But now I had another something lethal to gnaw my nerves.

This frying egg has appetizing color and contrast, and its shape defines a trajectory across the pan—more like a comet arcing through space than a breakfast staple sizzling on a griddle.The concept may seem easy, but shooting it wasn’t, and the strategies that Seattle photographer Ryan Matthew Smith employed illustrate how important it is to fully understand your subject. “The bubbles in frying eggs are created by the water that occurs naturally in egg whites,” says Smith.