John Isaac: Beasts and the Beauty

A "ten-point" elk in the safety of high grass at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. An elk sitting out the harsh Yellowstone winter. Bison butting heads in the snow at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Sandhill cranes in flight at New Mexico's Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, one of Isaac's favorite places to photograp A puffin with its catch on Maine's Machias Seal Island. "I was on my knees in the blind and spotted a bird sitting on a rock after a dive, but couldn't get off a shot in time," Isaac recalls. "Almost three hours later, he landed there again with a mouthful of fish. It was worth the wait." An Alaskan bald eagle debating whether John Isaac is worthwhile prey. A bald eagle scooping a snack from icy Alaskan waters. A grizzly bear makes a perfect catch in Katmai, Alaska. A tigress and her cub cuddling in India's Bandhavgarh National Park. The mother was later hit and killed by a jeep in the middle of the night, a suspicious incident still under investigation. A tiger cub bathing at India's Ranthambore National Park. A Ranthambore tiger cub practices her stalk. Though two years old, she and two siblings were still being fed by her mother at the time of Isaac's photograph. The mother was killed by poachers last summer after giving birth to another litter. A Ranthambore tigress cornering a sambar deer at the watering hole. A tiger owning the watering hole at Bandhavgarh National Park. "I always carry a wide-angle zoom along with my long lenses to capture overall scenes like this," says Isaac. Proof that cats, here a tiger cub at Bandhavgarh, lick backwards to drink—scooping water into the bottom of their mouths. A tiger resting in the cool of evening, Bandhavgarh. "Late-day light is wonderful when you have a beautiful model posing for you," says Isaac. A Bandhavgarh chital deer with its nursing baby, on edge because tigers are prowling nearby. A group of chital deer poses against the brushy palette of Bandhavgar. Bandhavgarh tigers after a mudbath. Namibian zebras race to the watering hole in the morning. Male zebras sparring near a watering hole in Etosha National Park, Namibia. Gemsbok locking horns in Etosha National Park, Namibia. An elephant strolls nonchalantly by the fight. A rhinoceros in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya. A crested crane feeds its offspring in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve. "They use their beaks to strip the grass of its seeds, then put them in the baby's mouth," Isaac explains. Springbok and a giraffe under a cloudless Namibian sky. A young Springbok drinks as zebras wait their turn at a watering hole in Etosha National Park, Namibia. Zebras line up for a drink at a watering hole in Namibia's Etosha National Park. A tiger scrutinizes a lizard at Bandhavgar National Park. "The lizard didn't know who he was messing with," says Isaac. "I was surprised the tiger didn't swat him." A young gazelle crosses an elephant's path at Namibia's Etosha National Park. Zebra friends at Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve. These baby langur monkeys "had just had a fight," Isaac recalls. "One was comforting the other because he'd hit him hard." A tag team of Namibian cheetahs. A cheetah blending in, Namibia. A Namibian cheetah speeds toward its prey. Cheetah portrait, Namibia. The red sand dunes at Sossusvlei, in the Namib desert, are over 300 feet high. A trio of Indian blackbuck antelope, endangered by human development. Migratory sandhill cranes perform their ritual dance at New Mexico's Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, one of Isaac's favorite places to photograph. The eagle is landing, Homer, Alaska. A young egret learning to fly in Florida's Wakodahatchee Wetlands. "It took him a while to get his balance on that branch," says Isaac, who has a long series of the struggling bird. "But eventually he was able to fly away." Sandhill cranes in flight, Bosque. "I went the night before with all the other photographers to shoot the cranes by the moonlight, but the birds were just black silhouettes," Isaac recalls. "So I went back early next morning as the sun was rising and the moon was setting." A waterfall near Mount Fuji, Japan. "Instead of doing a wide shot, I took this with a 300mm lens and 1.4X converter—the equivalent of 840mm on my Olympus E-3," says Isaac. "Sometimes a detail works better than the whole scene, even with big subjects." Wild horses in Iceland. A cheetah yawns at Namibia's Etosha National Park.