After the first walk out looking for crocodiles which you can read about here, I told K about it when I got home and showed her some of the photographs from that day.
‘That’s what scares me Steve’ she said scrolling through the lightroom folder with both a mixture of excitement and disbelief.
‘Didn’t I say that they could be lying there, up high, ready to rush down?’
It wasn’t addressed as an accusation but more of a valid concern.
“I know, I know. But we were vigilant the whole time. Promise you.”
Two weeks later, on a Sunday afternoon, I returned with K who wanted to see them. Driving out from the spot on that first visit I was surprised how close the creek was to the main road since we entered from a different, and much longer direction. Going back I roughly knew that area but it took several drives down dirt tracks until we stopped at the top of a dry creek and made the rest of the way on foot.
The first part of the walk in the creek was wide and with good visibility. We kept in the middle, away from the steep left bank and followed the hoof marks down the creek bed which was about the width of a one lane road. About half way in, the sides narrowed, the overhanging tree from both banks m closed in and caused the light levels to drop slightly . We both paused, looked at each other for confirmation and walked in wordlessly. The body and the smell of a dead cow felt ominous as we walked out of our comfort zone, every step made with caution.
The area looked familiar but I still wasn’t sure if this was it. It was like experiencing deja-vu where you’re mind is scrambling for the familiar within the new. However, to the right there was a clearing in the trees which I approached and looked at from different angles, trying to trigger a memory of my previous photographic compositions. Now I was 99% sure this was it and if so, that croc had moved.
Afterwards, I walked down to what was a muddy puddle two weeks before but now had completely dried up. It’s incredible how quickly the landscape can change in a such short amount of time. All that remained were the remnants of the female that was lying here, her movements captured in the mud. You can see where it’s stomach had made impressions and the tracks from where it has left and entered the water.
Then I heard K call.
‘Steve get up here now. There’s a crocodile in those trees up here.’
I ran up and it took my eyes a while to adjust until I saw it, lying on it’s belly, legs flayed out, tail curled around itself in amongst the trees. This was the one from the previous week, in a new spot not even 30metres away. You could actually follow the track it created through the trees. We spent some time looking at it, in awe of it really. This was a saltwater crocodile, in the shade of the trees, protecting itself from the hard sun and waiting for the rain. We wondered if it was dead, because it didn’t move at all. If it was, flies and the smell would have been the big giveaway.
I was thinking one thing only which was to run back and get the camera. Series wise, this felt like one of the moments that I would be unrepeatable and since I wanted to move away from photos showing the impact we have had on the land, this was an ideal shot; one that was rare and completely blew my understanding of what crocodiles how they behave. I thought it may chase us off, or show some aggression but it just lay there. However, it looked completely vulnerable which is how I wanted to photograph it.
Crocodile in the trees, Ebony 45SU, Schneider 210mm, Ilford 400.
Before posting this blog, I showed this photo to a local man from the area.
“That’s pretending to be dead Steve”
He backed up from the screen and stood in the empty frame of the doorway talking to me with a serious look in his eye.
“That's hiding in the trees, waiting for something like cattle, or even you to walk past it. It wants you to thinks it dead, wants you to get close and boy it’ll grab you”
He came back to the computer screen.
“Look at it’s eye Steve!”
He returned to the door frame.
“He was watching and listening to everything you were doing. They’re super smart and so when I go out camping, walking around collecting firewood for example I’m always looking because there could be one in the trees. Like that one, right there.”
