"Ranthambhore Rush" was inspired on a recent trip to India, one of my most interesting trips - it was an out-of-time experience. The main purpose of visiting India was to see tigers. Our first tiger sighting on this trip occurred in a wildlife park in Ranthambhore in central India. For me, tiger sightings are heart-stopping experiences; each one I've had will remain with me forever.

When a tiger is on the prowl, usually in the early morning or late afternoon, you can often hear the alarm calls of its potential prey. In India, the sambhar deer is one of the tiger's main prey. Here, a group of sambhar deer was quietly walking through the shallow water, browsing and feeding on the vegetation in the water. Cattle egrets often ride on the backs of the sambhar, waiting and watching as the deer stir up food for them as well, at which point the egrets hop off to eat.

This tranquil scene suddenly changed as the tiger burst forth from its hiding place in the elephant grass. Even when riding on the back of an elephant, when you are already more than 12 feet off the ground, elephant grass still towers above your head. The sudden speed of the tiger's rush into the water was both amazing and unnerving. Unlike lots of cats who only go into water to drink, tigers seem to enjoy the water; they are very good and very powerful swimmers. They will often make their kill in the water and drag it off into cover.

There is a striking quality to the light in India that is most unusual. It is a diffused sunlight unlike any I've seen anywhere else in the world. In "Ranthambhore Rush", I wanted to recreate this Indian atmosphere - to recapture the sense of being in these ancient lands.

- John Seerey-Lester