A large male lion threads his way through the grasslands of Northern Kenya’s Segera Conservancy, a private refuge for some of Africa’s most iconic wildlife. I am always searching for compositions that shift how we see our planet’s top predators, recasting them as part of a larger, more ancient whole. The softness of the grass, the way the stalks bow and catch the light, the painterly blur of bokeh in the background, everything in this scene feels at odds with the usual iconography of lions as fearsome, roaring monarchs. Still, there is no mistaking that regal gaze of a true king.