During Shenzi’s photo-shoot, Banzai—my other Hyena plush—kept watching me from off to the side. In real life I could imagine him sulking around the room and muttering under his breath, “Come on! Hurry up! When do I get to have my turn?” (Maybe I should do something about these voices in my head. What do you think, Banzai? Nah, you’re fine. Heh heh heh! )

Anyway, to bring this cycle of loopy photographic experimentation to a close, I decided to stage Banzai’s own photo-shoot. Unlike Shenzi, he was much less cooperative. It took me hours of experimenting just to find an interesting posture and camera angle to complement his unique fixed expression, which did not suit a profile but called for a more action-oriented pose. Banzai did not help matters because he kept trying to lie down on the job. (Hey! I said ‘Hurry up,’ didn’t I ?!) As before, I shot everything in black and white, but the blocking just did not suit that kind of mood. So I created Banzai’s own sunset photograph, and—just to increase the scope—threw in a cinematic 16:9 crop to give the impression that this is a still frame taken some bizarre Lion-King-with-plushies rendition.