This shot was used as the opening spread for a portfolio interview East & West Magazine (the in-flight magazine for Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa) did with me a couple of months ago.

The image was shot at a large tiger reserve in the Northeastern corner of China, close to the Siberian border. I love big predators, and the tiger has always been high in my top ten of the prettiest ones. As 99% of all the tiger images we see are Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris), mostly shot in India, I decided to go for the largest subspecies of tiger, the Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris altaica). It has a thick coat to protect it from the cold, distinguished by a paler golden hue and fewer stripes.

In the past, tigers were found throughout Asia, from the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea to Siberia and Indonesia. Today the range of the tiger is only 7 percent (!) of what it used to be. Furthermore, within the past decade alone, the estimated area known to be occupied by tigers has declined 41 percent. :-(

I took this shot in a similar way as you'd do in India; from an open vehicle. The only difference being that it was -38C/-36F. I've never been so cold in my life.