It’s interesting to witness the evolution of my own wildlife photographs.
I recall oh so many years ago taking photographs of animals so very far away. Today, I look at those photographs and wonder what it’s of. Oh, there it is, that little dot in the distance is some almost unrecognizable animal. Hmmm, I guess I have improved!
When I bought better equipment, bigger lenses, and learned more, I began filling the frame with the animal. But it’s more than that, it’s clearing the clutter of a messy background.
It’s including some background that shows the animal in it’s environment.
It’s including action, if you’re so lucky.
It’s catching that glint of it’s eye, making sure it’s sharp and looking in your direction.
It takes anticipation of the animals behavior and patience to wait for the animal to come to you, look your direction and capture what it does in it’s environment.
It’s a ‘sport’ that is humbling, gratifying, and frustrating at the same time. It takes practice and time, lots of it. Something I try to apply as I continue to learn and improve.
1. Big horn sheep on wall in Zion National Park
2. Big horn sheep close-up in Zion National Park We saw these sheep watching the world go by in November (2016). There wasn’t a lot of traffic or cars in the park this late in the year, so these ram were just hanging out watching cars go by.
3. Black bear in our front yard! I can’t believe we saw a black bear out our window while having dinner! I had to wait for it to get off the front deck eating out of our bird feeder before I could pursue it to get this photo. It was about 5:30pm and the sun was just waining. Easily the most thrilling animal sighting of the year for me.
4. Elk in Happy Jack, AZ It’s not uncommon for us to see elk where we live. But this bugling baby was a treat as he bugled to his mom in the snow.
6. Elk mom & babe It’s always a treat to see the new born elk with their spots. It doesn’t happen often, but when we do, it is a thrill. The new moms are always so watchful of their playful and energetic new borns.
7. Elk in the Middle. It’s fun when we get a group of elk, as you can see the different ages and sizes and interaction with the elk siblings, cousins, moms, and gatherings.
8. Newborn Elk I could do a Top 10 on Elk alone.. but I have to move on to different animals. I had to include this one though, as this little babe still had wobbly legs and was just too precious to not include.
9. Canyon Owl I love owls, but rarely see them. I’m lucky if I see one a year. We saw this guy carefully watching us from his little perch along the canyon walls outside of Canyon X in Page, AZ
10. Puffin Wave While I’m on birds, I have to include this awesome puffin we saw in Englishtown, Nova Scotia.
11. Eagle Flight I would have been happier if this eagle had a fish in his mouth… but nonetheless, it’s a close up eagle in flight, so it goes to the diversity of animals (in this case birds) we saw in 2016.
12. Gobble gobble. I don’t know about you, but it’s not everyday you see wild turkey. I have never seen one in gobbler mode strutting his stuff…. but I’m happy with any opportunity to photograph a turkey in the wild.
. 13. Chippies. Moving on to little animals, I caught these two little chipmunk ‘talking’ to each other. If this photo had sound you would hear the chirping the one on the right was making. She saw me and stood there with her foot up and just chirped incessantly until this other little chipmunk came up to see what all the ruckus was about.
14. Tufted Ear Squirrel. I love these cool squirrels with their tufted pointy ears. I really like the texture of this tree bark against the furry critter and blurred wooded background.
15. Tufts in Flight. Then there is this guy caught in flight mid air jaunting across the rocks looking for just the right pine cone to nibble on.
16. Porcupine Scowl. I’m not sure how many porcupine’s I have ever seen… but I caught this fella scowling at me on an overlook in Northern California. He was not too happy that I was in his face with a camera. I took his portrait and backed off and left him in peace as he wasn’t nearly as happy to see me as I was him.
17. Ground squirrel pose. We stopped at an overlook in Utah outside of Lake Powell for lunch. This little guy wanted hand outs in the worst way. He was a riot to watch because he didn’t want to get too close, but he really wanted a nibble. What a curious fellow he was. We tipped him for his entertainment, took his photo for posterity and went on our way. We left him an apple core that was about as big as he was. He dragged it off like the coveted prize, but not before he posed for us and flitted about trying to get our attention.
18. Hiding among the Daisies. This little bird was digging up bugs amongst a field of daisies. He squatted down as if I couldn’t see me. Can’t hide from my camera, little guy.
19. Young ‘un. I had this young elk’s attention, until it realized I was no threat and went about it’s business. She looked right at me, as if to say, ‘what ya doing?’.
20. Ram Alert. We saw this young ram munching on these trees on the White Rim road within Canyonlands National Park. The road was thrilling all by itself, but made more fun seeing this guy along the way.
1. Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia
2. Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia
3. Cape Breton Eastern Shore, Nova Scotia
4. Mt. Hood, Oregon
5. Bodega Bay, Northern California
7. Maple Drop, Mogollon Rim
8. Burnt Art, Mogollon Rim AZ
9. Snow Burst, Happy Jack AZ
10. Toadstools, Utah
11. Smoked Tree, Mogollon Rim AZ
12. Harris Beach, Northern CA
13. Lake Powell, AZ
1. Alstrom Point, Lake Powell
2. Mesa Arch, Canyonlands Utah
3. Mogollon Rim, Northern Arizona
4. Mogollon Rim, Northern Arizona
5. Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia
6. Olympic Peninsula, Washington State
7. Peter Iredale wreck, Ft Stevens Oregon
8. Leaf splash, Northern California
9. Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
10. Quinault Rain Forest, Washington
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