There are different ways to engage with wild animals. One way is like Nick Brandt, whose photos from East Africa are breath-taking in the tradition of Peter Beard, and who says things like this: "What I am interested in is showing the animals simply in the state of being-before, in the wild at least, they cease to exist." To get that photo of the lion, for example, he says, "I went back to that lion-because I loved his face-17 days in a row just to sit there and watch him flat on his back, sleeping. On the 18th day, a storm finally came in, and the second that the wind ahead of the storm smashed into his face, he sat up, and I got four photos in 20 minutes." If you're in LA, he has a show up now. READ MORE