Grumpy Silverback

Hi! I’m Marcus Westberg, a longtime Gorilla Highlands collaborator. I’m originally from Sweden, but work as a photojournalist all over the world — though Africa is where my heart is.

For the foreseeable future, I’ll be posting a mostly-weekly column focusing on some of my favorite images and experiences from the Gorilla Highlands region, usually accompanied by a bit of photographic advice and my thoughts about the image(s) I share, and about photography in general. Starting with a Grumpy Silverback…

As a photographer, creating a feeling of connection between your subject and whoever will look at your images later is always important. When photographing people, that’s quite straightforward: if you, the photographer, feel that connection, then it can often be picked up on by others, too. With wildlife it’s a little bit different: posture, eye contact and facial expressions all matter. Gorillas and chimpanzees do make it fairly easy for us sometimes though. Who, after a year of Covid, doesn’t know exactly how this silverback in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park is feeling?

Don’t miss our extensive interview with Marcus and head to his website for even more.