Mankind II (B&W)

David Yarrow:

"I never sought to be pigeonholed as a wildlife photographer and have long wanted to explore the cradle of mankind. Upon my friend Lewis Wood’s encouragement, I travelled to the deeply tribal South Sudan to photograph a Dinka cattle camp about 200 miles north of the capital of Juba.

I felt the responsibility of being the first photographer to visit this 25,000 strong cattle camp, which was close to the heart of the recent civil war. I wanted the image to convey its raw enormity in a timeless and biblical setting. Many of the Dinka were fascinated by my skin and my hair but did not care about my cameras. Since cows are their passion, I brought A4 pictures of Highland Cows from Scotland and local cow medicine, which won them over.

It was a challenging trip to the location on 28th December 2014. I had brought a ladder to the shoot, because I wanted to silhouette any key detail against the smoke used to fend off mosquitos. It gives a sense of place and an ethereal countenance - heavenly on one glance and hellish on the other. Two days later the Daily Telegraph gave the image two pages, without precedent".