Artwork description:

A Bengal tigress with a catchlight in her eye lies up to her neck in the dark shadows of a water hole. Her name is Maya 'The Enchantress', and she has orange and black stripes with white patches on her head. Shot with a Nikon D810 in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve in India on 13 May 2017, which just happened to be my birthday!
ISO 220, 800mm, f/5.6, 1/1000

This image was runner-up in The Daily Telegraph's weekly Big Picture competition and won the Exodus Monthly Photo Competition in July 2017:

"We know only too well how demanding wildlife photography can be. And whilst there are plenty of decent tiger portraits around, this one is different; this animal is in repose, with the warm, early morning light on her face. The dark background only highlights her catwalk credentials. Top shot, top cat." Paul Goldstein

It also finished 10th in the photography category of Light, Space & Time's Nature Art Exhibition in 2017.

Materials used:

Paper on card mount in wooden frame

Tags:

#water hole #tadoba #nature #white #water #orange #animal #black #wildlife #cat #sunshine #stripes #tiger #india #big cat #predator #bengal tiger #striped #mammal #panthera tigris