Prints of rarely seen black panther up for sale

Rarely seen images of Africa's elusive Black Panther are up for sale, with proceeds set to support conservation in the country. 

British wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas captured the unique images in 2019, with some of the shots taking more than six months planning to achieve. 

“Since childhood I have been fascinated by stories of black panthers," Burrard-Lucas said. "For me, no animal is shrouded in more mystery, no animal more elusive, and no animal more beautiful." 

A black panther is essentially any melanistic big cat, with melanism being a condition in which an animal has an excess of dark pigment. The main cats that tend to exhibit this trait are leopards in Africa and Asia, and jaguars in South America. It means that a black panther in Africa is actually a black leopard.

Burrard-Lucas' dream was to capture one at night. 

"A photo of a black leopard under the stars would be both the rarest and most difficult wildlife photo I had attempted to date," he said. 

In Kenya in 2019, his dream photo became a reality, with his own pioneering nocturnal camera trap technology critical in capturing the unprecedented series of photographs of the animal. Speaking about how he captured the images to The Guardian earlier this year, he said at first he almost skipped past the first shot taken by the camera trap. 

"I almost went straight past this picture because, on the small screen, almost everything in the centre of the frame was black. But those two bright eyes in the middle made me pause. It took a while for the significance to sink in.

It was an incredible moment: such a rare creature photographed in the black of night. I took the memory card out and, keeping it as safe as a priceless diamond, rushed back to get it on the computer. Only on the big screen could I check the focus and see if it had really worked. I had no idea how the world would respond, but I knew it was something special."

In 2021, Burrard-Lucas published a book documenting his pursuit of the images, The Black Leopard: My Quest to Photograph one of Africa’s Most Elusive Big Cats, and now he is offering a highly limited edition series of his images to collectors.

Each image in the collection is available as a carbon transfer print, a traditional handmade photographic process which predates gelatin silver printing, and is favoured by art collectors thanks to its beauty, texture, deep blacks, and longevity, with carbon being stable over time.

Each sale will directly support efforts to protect and conserve Africa’s most precious wildlife, with 20% of proceeds from each sale being used to fund donations of high-quality equipment for rangers and conservation organisations in Africa through Burrard-Lucas's new Escarpment initiative. 

Escarpment’s donation of equipment directly from source means that funds will stretch to approximately double the donation of equipment compared to that purchased at retail by conservation groups.

Prints are available in a highly limited edition and only by private request, signed and numbered, direct from the artist via www.willbl.com for between £2,000 and £15,000.

Follow this link to learn more about Escarpment. 

Cover image: Will Burrard-Lucas