We saw this monitor lizard, a reptile about four feet long, crossing a road. It is actively searching for food, perhaps a snake, or squirrel. Even a large insect might do. It swallows its prey whole, and can maneuver on both land and in water. To seize the essence of monitor lizard, a portrait won’t do. When I looked at the two-pronged shadow this animal was casting, I noted that its extended claws reached for one of the prongs and its extended forked tongue reached for the other. The image becomes a moment stopped in time, rich in tension and incongruity. This is a cropped version, displaying only one third of the original picture. The full image showed the entire lizard, including its full belly, rear legs and distinctive long tail. It was too literal -- there was too much going on at once in it. The tension, the hallmark of a stalking monitor lizard, only appeared when the image was cropped.