Documentary photographer David Chancellor spent seven years meeting people who traveled to Africa to hunt
Sport has come under a harsh spotlight since the slaughter of Cecil the lion by Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer
Chancellor said reactions of those after they took the fatal shot were mixed, explaining: 'Some will cry, others pray'


With a smear of dark red blood on his canvas trousers, the American hunter looks dead into the camera as his guide struggles to hold up the leopard he had just shot.

David Chancellor had camped with the party for days in Namibia as the hunter tracked the beast, before he killed his prey with a rifle.

The photographer was given access to the lawyers, mechanics, accountants and dentists who spend tens of thousands of dollars to travel from the U.S. to shoot big game on the plains of Africa.


A harsh spotlight has been thrown on the industry of big game hunting in recent days after Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer sparked global outrage when he lured Cecil the lion to his death in Zimbabwe, stalking him with a bow and arrow before delivering a fatal shot with a gun.

After spending seven years photographing hunters in the wildest areas of Africa and back in trophy rooms in the US – Chancellor said there’s stark difference in the reactions of the hunters after they take the killer shot, just like many of the hunters themselves come from different backgrounds.

People he has worked with include heart surgeons, lawyers, mechanics and one American who ran a pet cemetery.

‘They all react so, so differently, depending on what they are hunting, where they are hunting. Some will cry, others pray,’ he told MailOnline. ‘People react in different ways, there’s no consistency between them at all.’

‘Hunters come from a complete cross-section in society,’ David explained. ‘I’ve photographed people in their trophy rooms who didn’t have a penny. Every cent they earned from their shop, or mechanics, who went on hunting trips, because that was their life and that was their passion.'

Among those he have photographed for his documentary series ‘Hunters’, was Alabama teen Josie Slaughter, who was brought to Africa with her parents for her first kill.

The photograph of the then 14-year-old, riding proudly with a dead buck resting over her horse, won Chancellor the coveted 2010 Taylor Wessing portrait prize.

TO COMPLETE THE STORY AND MUCH MORE PICTURES CLICK HERE [url][/url] http://www.nairaroot.com/dreadful-pictures-including-14-year-old-girl-who-pay-tens-of-thousands-to-hunt-down-the-animals-in-africa/#.VcUWoMj23IU

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