Survival. Never an easy feat when you’re dealing with a lion pride. You really can’t expect to go out, photograph the pack as if you were one of their own and live to tell the tale. Unless... you’re a photo camera protected by a motorized armor.
This is exactly what New Zealand photographer Chris McLenan did. The man packed his Nikon D800E, fitted with a 18-35mm lens, inside what he calls the “Car-L”. This funky name describes what is actually an AquaTech sound blimp that had received quite a bit of customizing.
The thing is now a remote control buggy, with four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering. While these features may make it sound like a 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo, the rig’s main feature stand in its protective powers.
These became pretty important when Car-L once again proved that females pay much more attention to details than males - the rig managed to get a clean shot of a big kahuna male lion, with Chris planning retreat.
Alas, a group of females got really curious about the four-wheeled creature, so they tried to have it for lunch. This time, curiosity killed the rig, not the car. Perhaps if Chris has fully inspired himself from the 911 Turbo, a bit more power could’ve allowed the rig to outrun the big cats...
However, since the wheel that had been bitten off wasn’t exactly rich in protein, Car-L was finally abandoned and its master was able to retrieve it. Fortunately, the Nikon inside has survived, at least to the extent that it was able to provide the rather entertaining images included in the clip below.
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