"Look. Imagine. Connect." is the tag line for my book, One World. It is also an apt description of the conversations I hope we will create together on this blog.

My plan is to use the One World blog to introduce my work to those of you who have an interest in discussing the art and craft of photography. I also hope we can share our experiences about travel in other countries and in this one.

My goal is to engage in conversations here that will get us thinking out there -- about people, places, cultures, and the natural world, and how we are all connected: notes in the same grand symphony.

Please visit often. I will be posting new photos and excerpts from One World every week, along with photography tips and insights culled from my thirty years of experience as a photographer, a traveler and a physician.

And please comment often as well. I would love to hear what you think about the images you see, both in my book and in the world around you.

Best,
Michael Lewis

Every Monday I will be posting an image and quotation from One World, along with an informational Q&A that delves into the story behind the picture: how it was taken, what the circumstances were, and what the image says to me now. The following is the first of these interviews.

"No man is an island, entire of itself."
-- John Donne

Like fingerprints, the stripes of a zebra are unique. In a herd, which might number one hundred fifty animals, the mass of stripes confuses predators. Nevertheless, zebras are still the favorite food of lions and hyenas. Each adult stallion commands a harem of four to ten females, which he defends vigorously. Known for their nasty temperaments, zebras injure more zookeepers than any other animal. Cattle egrets follow large grazing animals, such as zebras, using them as "beaters" to stir up grasshoppers and other insects.

Q: This photograph, "Zebra and Cattle Egret", is the cover shot for your book. What made you choose it as the representative image for "One World"?

Michael: That photograph, for me, epitomized, or symbolized, the theme of "One World" -- the theme of two different species together in harmony.

That particular photograph was an exciting photograph to take because it was a beautiful afternoon and the zebra was in the sun, and the cattle egret started walking toward the zebra. As it got closer and closer my heart started pounding... and when it got very close, my heart almost leaped out of my chest, because I knew it was going to be a very exciting image.

Q: What is the relationship between these two animals?

Michael: The cattle egret and the zebra get along. It's not a strictly symbiotic relationship. Symbiotic suggests that both benefit from each other's presence. In this case, it's the cattle egret that benefits from the zebra's presence because the zebra stirs up insects in the grass, and the egret eats the insects.

Q: Why do you think the zebra allows this relationship to occur, since it gets nothing out of it?

Michael: That's a good question. If we can apply an anthropomorphic answer, we can guess that maybe the zebra just enjoys the cattle egret's company?

Q: What happened right after you took this photo?

Michael: The animals were together for maybe another moment. This particular photograph was taken before I had switched to a digital camera, and it illustrates one of the great advantages of the digital camera. That picture was taken in Zambia, and I didn't know until I came back to this country [the U.S.] if the picture was in focus, out of focus, underexposed or overexposed. If I'd had a digital camera at the time, I could have checked immediately and perhaps had a chance to take another image.

This week's photo tip addresses a question asked commonly by beginning photographers: "How do I frame a shot?"

There are several things that are important. One standard piece of advice that one will find in any basic book on how to take a picture is called "The Rule of Thirds".

The idea is that typically you don't put the main subject in the middle of a picture. If you divide the image into thirds, both vertically and horizontally, the main subject would be just to the right of the middle or just to the left.

That's advice that one would find in just about any book on photography.

Another piece of advice that I find helpful is to be very aware of what else is in your image, aside from the main subject.

One of the mistakes that a lot of people make is not being as aware of the background as they might. The classic example is telephone poles coming out of somebody's head. Very often, by just moving a foot or two to the right or left, one can eliminate distracting elements in the background.

Just as a painter is aware of all of the corners of his canvas, a photographer should be aware of all portions of his canvas.