Wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas works closely with newborn animals. In her book series, Eye on the Wild, she follows the lives of animals from birth to adulthood. Eszterhas says she keeps a safe distance from wild animals unless they are in animal shelters. In this photo, she is holding a five-week-old orphaned serval kitten.

 

Eszterhas travels all over the world to photograph wild animals. This photo of a Kodiak bear was taken in Katmai National Park, in Alaska. Eszterhas says the secret to photographing animals close-up is to “approach them without stressing them out.”

 

Eszterhas gets close for a photo of a baby gorilla on its mother’s head. Eszterhas says she feels apes are the most photogenic animals. “As viewers, we can really feel a connection to them because they’re so humanlike,” she says.

 

Animal families are the subject of many of Eszterhas’s photos. In a normal working day, she will follow an animal for 12 to 14 hours so she doesn’t miss a good photo opportunity. Here, Eszterhas captures a moment between an elephant mother and calf at sunset.

 

This bat-eared adult fox sits in a den with an 11-day-old pup. Eszterhas says adult animals are very protective of their babies. To get close, she must stay in their habitat for days and inch her way closer to the animals. “I always feel that it’s a real privilege and honor for them to allow you to be in their space,” Eszterhas says.

 

Eszterhas’s favorite part of being a wildlife photographer is that each day is different. Here, she crawls under a fence to photograph a baby rhinoceros. Eszterhas says she tries to choose subjects that excite her. “There are so many amazing creatures on this Earth to photograph,” she says. “And that is so inspiring.”