Face-to-Face with Wild Animals: One Woman’s Passion

It started with a close encounter with a giraffe. More than 20 years ago, photographer Nine Francois was compelled to capture the image of a towering ungulate at an exotics farm in rural Texas, which led to an extended passion for photographing animals. She has photographed scores of amazing creatures—from tigers to wolves to caimans—and in the process has been charged, head-butted, and spit upon by them. But Nine has persisted, getting “ridiculously close” to wild animals, often times putting herself in danger, because she is determined to make us feel the awe she feels when she is shooting them.

“I'm trying to convey the formidable presence of these animals that I felt when taking their pictures,” she explains. Her portraits convey a personality, a spirit, that can be amusing, moving or surprising—or all three at once.