Ahead of the Herd

Photograph by Alexander Stepanenko, National Geographic Your Shot

"I've been working on a photographic survey, 'The Saami of Russia,' for 22 years (since 1991)," writes Your Shot contributor Alexander Stepanenko. "This picture was taken on black-and-white film in April 1996 near Murmansk." Stepanenko explains that herders were attempting to drive the reindeer into a corral. He captured this shot while riding on a sledge that was leading the reindeer in the foreground. "Fascinated by shooting," he says, "I almost fell off the sledge."