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Shot in the Dark, by Frans Lanting

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Many people know the aardvark by name, but few have seen one in the flesh, and photos of this enigmatic animal are exceedingly rare. Aardvarks are nocturnal and often don’t become active until after midnight to avoid leopards and lions. Despite countless nights spent in the African bush, I had never caught more than a glimpse of this strange creature, which lives on termites, using powerful claws to dig into their mounds and a long sticky tongue to lap them up. By day, aardvarks hide in deep burrows, many of which they may use for only a day or two before they’re taken over by other animals.

While on assignment in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, I decided to pursue aardvarks in earnest and scouted around for promising burrows, only to discover that the inhabitants were warthogs, porcupines or even pythons. But one day, I found fresh diggings around a sandy hole, and I sprang into action, hoping that an animal might still be inside.

I set up a camera trap consisting of an infrared TrailMaster sensor connected to a digital Canon camera with three Nikon SB-29 strobes. I carefully positioned the camera, guesstimating an aardvark’s size and how it might emerge. I set up strobes on either side of the hole and a third one behind it to create a rim light. I put the strobes in manual mode and calibrated their outputs using a Minolta light meter until I arrived at a balanced lighting mix that maximized the depth of field I needed.

When I returned the next morning, I got excited when I saw fresh tracks leading out of the hole, and my heart began to beat faster when I looked at the frame counter and noticed something had triggered the system. When I checked the images, a single frame had perfectly captured the aardvark shuffling out of its burrow – a fleeting moment that shows the power of photography to illuminate the seldom seen.

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Shot in the Dark, by Frans Lanting	013150-01.jpg
Many people know the aardvark by name, but few have seen one in the flesh, and photos of this enigmatic animal are exceedingly rare. Aardvarks are nocturnal and often don’t become active until after midnight to avoid leopards and lions. Despite countless nights spent in the African bush, I had never caught more than a glimpse of this strange creature, which lives on termites, using powerful claws to dig into their mounds and a long sticky tongue to lap them up. By day, aardvarks hide in deep burrows, many of which they may use for only a day or two before they’re taken over by other animals. While on assignment in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, I decided to pursue aardvarks in earnest and scouted around for promising burrows, only to discover that the inhabitants were warthogs, porcupines or even pythons. But one day, I found fresh diggings around a sandy hole, and I sprang into action, hoping that an animal might still be inside. I set up a camera trap consisting of an infrared TrailMaster sensor connected to a digital Canon camera with three Nikon SB-29 strobes. I carefully positioned the camera, guesstimating an aardvark’s size and how it might emerge. I set up strobes on either side of the hole and a third one behind it to create a rim light. I put the strobes in manual mode and calibrated their outputs using a Minolta light meter until I arrived at a balanced lighting mix that maximized the depth of field I needed. When I returned the next morning, I got excited when I saw fresh tracks leading out of the hole, and my heart began to beat faster when I looked at the frame counter and noticed something had triggered the system. When I checked the images, a single frame had perfectly captured the aardvark shuffling out of its burrow – a fleeting moment that shows the power of photography to illuminate the seldom seen.