Maybe, soon in the dark of night, as he steps carefully through the tangles of the equatorial rain forest called Kibale, hoping to find an African rock python in search of a monkey meal, Michael Kern will believe where he is.

He is not in Palo Alto, Calif., in the safety of his comfortable home, with wife and two sons and 25-year career with the global technology and consulting company Accenture. He is not in his garage, adjusting lights and waiting for a gecko to settle on an artificial perch.

He is, just a few weeks after entering a photography contest, the official expedition photographer on a 16-day journey through Uganda. Included in the itinerary: swamps, caves, a famous range called the "Mountains of the Moon" and another place with a hair-raising name: the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest.

That's the word often used to describe Kern's photographs, which have shot him to sweeping wins of reptile photography contests, such as this summer's annual International Herpetological Symposium in Arizona. Some consider it the most prestigious photographic event in the herpetology community.

Judges selected seven of Kern's images as winners in eight categories. No one had ever done that. "It wowed everybody," said Bill Love, a nationally known, highly respected herpetologist. "His work just raised the whole depth of the contest."

And then, in October, came the Nactus Award. The contest, sponsored by reptile terrarium and food company Exo Terra, began with 600 entries from 15 countries and was whittled to 12 finalists. Two of Kern's pictures were among them and, after a few days of Internet voting, a photograph of his pet rainbow boa - known among friends as Buffy - was the decisive winner.

In the 18 months since Kern began reptile photography seriously, he's impressed others, including a partner in one of the oldest and largest reptile stores in the country, East Bay Vivarium in Berkeley, Calif.

The subject matter adds special challenges, he said. "Generally, reptile photography is photography of the very small, very close up, not the kind of vista photography or portrait photography."

The subject matter also generates "an intrinsic fascination," Maercks said, "you are entering an alien landscape. It's not about emotion, it's about design and beauty."

Kern combines a sensitivity to reptiles' lines, curves and textures with another approach for which his work has become known, Love said. "He looks them in the eye and tries to capture them in a naturalistic pose. He lets you appreciate them - and people get a little bit closer to nature from the experience."

Kern, who turned 47 Monday, on his way to Uganda's Entebbe International Airport, was a childhood snake collector. His collecting days ended when one of his snakes escaped in the family home.

He concentrated on other things then, but when his oldest son turned 12, the family went shopping for a snake. "One snake became two, two four and `Aren't those neat little chameleons?'" Kern said. Three years later, a visit to Kern's home presents reptile viewing opportunities in almost every room. "Some people have pictures," he joked. "We have vivariums."

People don't always notice them at first, he said. "They're not in your face. They are positioned as if they were fish aquariums." But when visitors take a longer look, they might say, "Hey, there's a green python in there!"

Kern credits a lot of his talent to his father, a pediatrician whose second love was photography. "I don't think my eye could have developed unless I'd been around it all my life," he said.

One of Kern's goals - perhaps the original driving force - was to help people appreciate the beauty of reptiles. "People tend never to have a chance to get close to these animals." To expand his images, he's begun to network with reptile breeders and collectors so he can photograph their animals, especially ones that are rare or endangered.

Love and other herpetologists hope Kern's work, through its celebration of reptiles, will filter down so that "people will show more interest in the wild, and supporting wildlife preserves," Love said.

They await Kern's return from Africa to see the photographic record he'll make - and think wishfully of the experience, a trip of a lifetime. "If I wasn't tied to the store," Maercks said, "I'd be there!"

This is cache, read story here