C-Boy, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, 2012

Aperture is pleased to release these stunning limited-edition prints by Michael “Nick” Nichols, the acclaimed National Geographic photographer. These prints coincide with the Aperture publication A Wild Life: A Visual Biography of Photographer Michael Nichols. In every one of his images, Nichols touches the very spirit of wildness.

A Wild Life author Melissa Harris writes of this striking image of C-Boy, “There, C-Boy is set against a dramatic sky of dark clouds and streaks of setting sun, at that moment of dusk when lions come to life—a propitious time for photographing. ‘I was always looking for this image,’ says Nick. He lies in a sphinx pose on the savanna, head held high, gazing monarchically straight into Nick’s lens. And Nick, photographing at C-Boy’s level, meets that gaze: the strength of the image comes in part from this parity and clear visual engagement. And closeness. Nick was lying down in the Land Rover when making the photograph: ‘I’m not more than four to five feet from C-Boy. Maybe closer. In the car, we were silent. No movement. No fumbling with stuff.’"

Harris states, “Nick is a photojournalist working in a time of crisis. Habitat and species are continually threatened by humans. For nearly thirty years, Nichols has conspired with scientists, naturalists, journalists, and activists to take on these issues. "Wildlife photography" is not the right term to describe what Nick does. Nick approaches his work in this reportorial tradition: he is a photojournalist working in the wild."

Pigment Print
Image Size: 9 3/8 x 14 inches
Paper Size: 11 x 15 3/8 inches
Edition of 10 + 2 Artist Proofs
Signed and numbered by the artist

Michael “Nick” Nichols (b. 1952, Muscle Shoals, Alabama) is an award-winning photographer whose work has taken him to the most remote corners of the world. He began his photojournalism career in 1979, working for GEO magazine. From 1982 to 1995, Nichols was a member of Magnum Photos. He became a staff photographer for National Geographic magazine in 1996 and was named editor-at-large for photography in January 2008. From 1982 to 1995, he was a member of Magnum Photos. His previous books with Aperture are Gorilla (1989), with an essay by George Schaller; Brutal Kinship (2005), with an essay by Jane Goodall; and Earth to Sky: Among Africa’s Elephants, A Species in Crisis (2013). The Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibited Wild: Michael Nichols in June 2017, which explored Nichols as an artist, technical innovator, and ardent advocate for preserving natural habitats. He is represented by Steven Kasher Gallery, New York.