Atif Saeed has made a living as a freelance photographer. Hailing from Lahore, Pakistan, he turns his lens mostly on his natural surroundings. Mountains. Lakes. The sky. Sometimes, animals. But it’s this picture of lion mid-charge that has suddenly captured people’s imagination. No matter that it was taken in January, 2012 at Lahore Zoo Safari. (And posted to his Facebook page in December, 2013.) Social media has now ruled this lion king of the internet.
Saeed recently recounted the day when this lion was less than 10-feet away, charing him, in an interview with the Daily Mail. He also told ABC News how he got out his car and was a leap or two away from the lion.
“It was a pretty close encounter,” the 38-year-old told ABC. “I was laughing afterwards at the time, but I don’t think I’d ever be able to do something like that again.”
His Flickr account captures some of his best.
Photo Atif Saeed/Facebook
