When I am photographing animals in zoos, I try to do more than just describe their appearance. I try to tell a story, and relate that story to the context of their captivity if I can. I saw this elephant enjoying the peanuts being tossed at it by zoo visitors from the top of a wall encircling her enclosure. I also noticed that there was also a thin stake in the wall next to the elephant’s head, and that stake was casting a powerful diagonal shadow on the wall, passing right through the animal’s trunk, which was constantly in motion. I shot this image just as the curling trunk pulls back to snare a flying peanut, rhythmically echoing the diagonal shadow of the stake and the diagonal slope of its forehead and open mouth. The mid day sun reflects off the wall, softly illuminating the shadowed folds of skin, and contrasting its textured color to the textured color of the wall. I cropped the image into a square format, which intensifies the diagonal flow, as well as linking the glowing curving end of a fallen tree trunk to the front leg of the elephant. My eye keeps going back to thrusting diagonal of the stake’s shadow, as well as the diagonal slope of the trunk and thrust of the open mouth. The elephant may be a captive, confined to this spare pen, yet it seems to be enjoying the pleasure of the moment.