Congratulations Andrea!---Assigment #88: Walk on the Wild Side

[Kayaker72]

On behalf of Assignment #87 Winner, Jonathan Huyer, we would like to present the topic for Assignment #88: Walk on the Wild Side


As described by Jonathan:
Show your wildlife photos! All wild animals (except birds and insects) are eligible. The wildlife photography must be ethical --- no baiting or disturbing the animals. Photos from zoos are allowed and welcome (please specify if it's a captive animal). Please share the story behind the encounter too!

This was one of my earliest wildlife photos, from 9 years ago in British Columbia. A black bear walked out of the thick rainforest right towards us. My first instinct was to get the shot, and it remains one of my favourites to this day... an experience I'll never forget!

The Finalists:

Jamsus - Capriolo
Interesting framing of image adds to the intrigue of the shot. Nice eye contact and pose.



Joel Eade - Twins
Great portrait, very sweet pose of siblings, lovely lighting



Kayaker - Silhouetted
Great lighting, varied poses tell the story, gives a sense of awe and wonder



sedwards - Fox kits
Cute subjects, great action



Minerve101 - Afternoon snack
Sweet peaceful scene, very nice to see without disturbing the deer



Congratulations to all the finalists. The poll will be open for 5 days

[Jayson]

I don't necessarily think of this as baiting, but thought it was funny. Here is the story:

So, I was lazy and set the pizza box on the deck table with a couple pieces of crust left over. A few hours later we heard rustling on the deck. The dogs and I were confused, so we went to check it out. Much to our surprise was a visitor finishing off the leftovers. You wouldn't believe how we were no more than 7 or 8 feet from each other, me and the drooling canines behind the patio door and him just hanging out on the table. This baby opossum continued his meal watching our every move as I snapped away. Once he finished up, he climbed off the table, left the deck and over the fence.

[jamsus]

I was wandering around a natural area behind my house close to the sunset hour. My goal was to mainly observe some nice spot for night owls & other local birds that i, still now, did not have photographed. When i was walking her around, my eyes catches another pair of eyes glimpse and... here the shot, it was just a moment. Then the roe just walked away.

"Capriolo"


Capriolo by Andrea Magnelli, su Flickr

[Joel Eade]

"Twins"

[Busted Knuckles]

A male was coming in the right, the mom lead her cubs away... and then came back and chased off the male. Watching the bears run through the trees was very humbling and reminded me that I am not on the top of the food chain.

Tetons54 by mbarrett5076, on Flickr

[wsmith96]

During our trip to Yellowstone we stayed in a cabin by the Lake Lodge hotel. Every morning around 5:30 we'd wake up to what sounded like someone sweeping a sidewalk while stumbling through the bushes. This guy decided that the grass and bushes by the front door of our cabin was the breakfast buffet. He was awesome to see that close, but he did pose a problem when we were ready to leave to explore the park. I wasn't that brave to step outside


Big-Fred by Wesley Smith, on Flickr

[Jonathan Huyer]

Great story and photo --- and you're correct that it is not baiting. Terrific submissions so far everyone, and thanks especially for including the stories!

I don't necessarily think of this as baiting, but thought it was funny. Here is the story:

So, I was lazy and set the pizza box on the deck table with a couple pieces of crust left over. A few hours later we heard rustling on the deck. The dogs and I were confused, so we went to check it out. Much to our surprise was a visitor finishing off the leftovers. You wouldn't believe how we were no more than 7 or 8 feet from each other, me and the drooling canines behind the patio door and him just hanging out on the table. This baby opossum continued his meal watching our every move as I snapped away. Once he finished up, he climbed off the table, left the deck and over the fence.

[Kayaker72]

Hi Everyone...just a reminder, last week to enter.

Here is mine.

This is from an aborted landscape photography run. I had waited until near sunset, and I drove out into the Palouse, near where I grew up. I was driving gravel roads, looking for good shots. For whatever reason, I wasn't liking the lighting or anything else that I was seeing. So, with this thread in mind, I decided to cut in a bit closer to the mountain range as evening after a hot day is also a great time to see deer. Within minutes I saw a fawn scamper down the side of the road. I pulled up and took pictures of what ended up being twins. I drove a bit more and then saw a doe and another set of twins. I drove a bit more and saw a third set of twin fawns. Thinking I had just had my best hour of deer photography ever, and how I was losing light, I headed back toward home. Just a bit after that, I saw a doe silhouetted on a hill. After getting a few shots, I noticed that she kept looking back and it was then I noticed two bucks. They slowly moved out of the shadows and this is my favorite shot of all three.

"Silhouetted"

1L0A4235 by kayaker72, on Flickr


So, I went with that as I was actually thinking about this thread when I shot it.

One of my favorite wildlife stories is with the shot below. Pure...simple...luck. And thank you photographers. In 2015 I was at a conference in Banff. I had a break so my co-worker and I headed to a scenic run to Lake Louise. Jonathan had given us a list of places to stop along the way, including a great spot for Castle Mountain....

Small-1076 by kayaker72, on Flickr

After taking a few shots directly looking at Castle Mtn, we headed underneath the bridge to the downstream side, just looking for whatever. I even tried a few shots of the bridge with Castle Mtn in the background. It was then we heard all this banging around in a parking lot on the other side of the river. The noise spooked a herd of elk into crossing the river and I (unfortunately, with my 24-70 II lens on my camera) got this shot:

Small-1092 by kayaker72, on Flickr

Funny thing? It was a photography tour that had made the noise. And they were primarily looking for wildlife/elk. A bunch of people had big whites on tripods. They had just stopped at Castle Mtn to get a few quick shots and were grumbling about how they hadn't seen anything.

Final shot (first is my entry)....but in 2016 my nephew got married in Alaska. I traded "my" day from going fishing to heading over to Lake Clark National Park to photograph bears that dig for clams on the tidal flats. I have plenty of pictures of bears I have shared ....but I still get a kick out of this one:

Small-5048 by kayaker72, on Flickr

Hardly seems fair.

[sedwards]

This will be my entry fox kits wrestling in a city park in Montreal.
_DIV3683 by Stuart Edwards, on Flickr

[Minerve101]

Nursing fawns by dfwatsoneuro, on Flickr



Mother love by dfwatsoneuro, on Flickr

These guys showed up just in time for this assignment! The first is my entry.