Today we open a week of photography beginning with work by Russell Nichols. He talks about the triptych below, titled “Makali ya jicho yashinda wembe,” from the Swahili proverb: “The sharpness of the eye is greater than the razor.”

In the spring of 2019, my wife and I were living in Kenya. We’ve been nomadic for years, but this was our first time in East Africa. During an excursion through Nairobi National Park with two phenomenal wildlife photographers, I focused on capturing moments of vigilance.

An impala turns its head, fully alert in the field below.

A starling keeps watch from its perch above

A zebra grazes but remains on guard in a rapidly changing world.