The Lion
Dinokeng, South Africa 2025

I had a peculiar dream recently in which I was having a drink in an isolated, but unidentifiable, members only bar. It was a cold and rainy evening and the bar represented a place of relative warmth and comfort. There were a handful of customers in the club and I have no idea why my unconscious mind was taking me here - it was certainly not a place known to me. I have had the odd drink alone in a bar when the weather has been awful outside, but it’s not an obvious lifestyle trait.

Anyhow, at some stage there was some noise outside and the barman asked me to open the door to the club and check out what was going on. I did as requested and there, in the doorway, in the pouring rain, was an enormous male lion.

I woke up immediately in a panic and remembered the dream more vividly than normal. The imagery of the wet lion standing in the rain stayed with me and as time passed, I started to muse as to how we could create such a photograph. The idea was certainly authentic and I knew with the help of my dear friend Kevin Richardson - The Lion Whisperer - that anything was possible.

Kevin and I spitballed over the phone as to how we could make this happen. It was not an easy premise to convert as lions do not like to get wet and will either seek shelter or shake off any surplus water immediately. But we worked out an approach with the rain and coupled that with a cage set up that would keep me safe. The key was then to convey a sense of nighttime even though we would be working at dawn.

I haven’t seen a picture like this before and even better, I have never had the dream again. They are both hopefully one-offs.