But There Are Also Epic Shoots
Eszterhas is one of the few photographers that has been allowed to photograph a wild tiger den, which are closely protected by the Indian government. After getting permission, she was on-call for 18 months until the mother gave birth. Finally, she got a call from a friend who was on the ground helping her with the shoot one day: You should come now, he said.
It took her about 10 days to find the tiger’s den, which she said ended up being in a gorgeous cave at Bandhavgarh National Park in India. Although the mom was very relaxed, the cubs were shy, and it took them about another week to get used to her. The conditions weren’t easy to deal with. It was monsoon season, and temperatures rose to 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46 degrees Celsius).
But it was worth it. When the mom brought the cubs out to a lip so they could catch the breeze, Eszterhas said it gave the viewer the feeling that she was in the den with them because they were almost eye-level. It felt very intimate, she said. Eszterhas also got to watch the mom take the cubs to their first kill.
“There were just all these sort of adventures that I felt like I was able to document with these tigers. And it was truly, truly one of the highlights of my career,” she said.
