Masood spent the evening tracking a tiger in a nearby forest. Just as he was heading home at sunset, his driver spotted this big cat, lying on the wall of an abandoned village school. Finding himself short of time as the light faded, Masood selected a high-sensitivity setting, or ISO, and shot hand-held, risking camera shake. But the risk paid off. Leopards are highly resourceful cats. They have survived in many human-occupied regions by adapting to hunt dogs and livestock.
Even so, their population is shrinking. In India, the main threat to leopards is poaching for the illegal trade in their skins and body parts. They are also persecuted in areas of development, where wild land is being replaced by housing, roads and mining.
India
Masood is an electrical engineer but has been fascinated by wildlife since childhood and always wanted to become a wildlife photographer. His journey began in 2009 when he could afford his first DSLR. In 2013 he was awarded a distinction from the International Federation of Photographic Art, France. His exhibitions raise funds for the underprivileged and for conservation causes.
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