On my recent trip to Tanzania we came across a carcass being cleaned up by vultures. If you have ever been privileged enough to witness such an event, you will know that such scenes can be chaos. The vultures cover the carcass. They go after each other. You have a vast number of heads bobbing in an out of the carcass' frame. They overwhelm the photographer because chaos rarely makes for good images. We have to simply, eliminate, and find something that stands out rather than photographing eighty bodies where one hardly knows which head belongs to which body. Then there is the issue of the carcass itself. Most of the time it is hardly visible under the chaos of excited vultures. Without seeing what they are feasting on our images of such scenes are typically not that exciting. How do we solve these issues?

One possible solution is to forgo the carcass scene and shoot on the edges of the scene so as to isolate one or two vultures. We have to find a way to not have just chaos. Now don't get me wrong, chaos can make for great images, but not if there is only chaos. Something has to stand out. Something must not be chaotic or something needs to be the focal point on interest. If you can find a scene in which you have a clear focal point of interest in the midst of chaos then you may have a golden opportunity for making good images. But how do you find that clear focal point of interest in the midst of chaos? This is no easy task.

The solution is to be patient, but ready. You have to watch the scene intently through the camera's viewfinder, ready to click away at any moment. Chaos is constantly changing. We just have to wait for that change to favor us. Wait for something to stand out, for something to be different. Wait for something to be clear amongst the chaos.

Sooner or later some vulture has to pose. The carcass has to be exposed at some point. perhaps that only happens towards the end of the feast. We just have to be patient to catch those moments. Those moments work best if we can see something of the carcass and some bird stands out. Perhaps it is only a head, but there has to be something that is clear and not just chaos. In the end you may be rewarded.