Elk

The Oak Creek Wildlife Center is a government managed feeding station for the wild elk and sheep. By feeding them, the animals stay out of the vineyards and competition between a dominant species (us) is mostly avoided. The wildlife center offers tours on a tractor, where one may get extremely close to these still wild animals. Though the sheep (different feeding station) are quick to scatter, the elk could care less. This shot was taken during a snow storm, which proved a challenge to photograph in. My camera autofocus kept latching onto the snowflakes, and I wound up shooting the entire day in manual focus.Photo Project #846.

Icelandic Horses

While the jaw dropping vistas and landscapes draw the eye in every direction, I've yet to meet a photographer who hasn't halted his vehicle to catch a photo of their adorable horses. It almost seems like a law, where everyone has to return with the obligatory horse shot. Smaller than most others, the Icelandic breed is an easy horse to learn on and ideal for kids. For those who spend every waking hour looking for the shot, I recommend a relaxing horse ride as a way to see some of the country.

Happy Seal

The trip over the Jokusarlon lagoon was supposed to be a peaceful one, only my lack of attention to detail nearly cost it. I had failed to notice that we needed to be there a half hour early in order to suit up, and when we arrived a few minutes before the trip we frantically had to suit up while everyone else jetted off. No sooner were we ready, did my younger son have to remove his suit to go to the bathroom and we were more delayed. Yet finally, we embarked, and instantly the experience was magical. While I managed some interesting shots of the ice, this seal caught my attention and was the main purpose of the trip in the first place. Seals are my favorite animal, and after all the panic I was ecstatic to spend some peaceful time with this magnificent animal.

Arctic Fox

Although cute, this arctic fox kit in Iceland had a sad story. Its mother was killed by a farmer, since foxes have been known to prey on sheep. After the kill, the farmer found several cubs and relocated them to a small burrow, where we found them anxious to play. Yet without a mother to teach them, and in the presence of the ultimate predator, the young faced an uncertain future. I do wish we could learn to share the land better.

Mink

The only time I had a clear view of a mink at Marymoor Park, I was in the midst of testing a new camera. I had on a Canon 7D Mark II, which was absolutely horrible in the low light conditions. Aware that the mink could disappear at any moment and it may be years before another such chance, I took the risk to switch to my 5d3, which handled the conditions much better. To my relief, the mink stayed for a couple minutes, just enough time to get this shot.

Yumm!

This is one of several shots that made the Bing home page. Before masses of condos were built on the forest edge, coyotes were very common in the fields of Marymoor Park, and when the frost covered the reeds, I knew my odds were very high. So confident I was of finding one, that I nicknamed this particular frost "coyote weather". Sure enough, I was right. He'd found a vole or some other small mouse and I caught him in the process of chomping it down. Of course, when I sent Bing the images they preferred the less violent of the two. Here he is, licking his chops after a delicious meal.

Coyote Portrait

After photographing a coyote enjoying a vole breakfast, I was surprised to see it stick around for a bit. It approached, though in the perfect way. From spending time with them I knew that if I approached it would flee, so I gently walked parallel to it and the coyote, evidently sensing that I wasn't a threat, approached while on the lookout for another small snack. I managed this shot of it before a dog from the neighboring dog park caught on and chased it away. Still, it was a magical experience while it lasted.

Muskrat

The muskrat is one of the odder creatures of our waters. Neither a beaver nor a rat, it resembles the mutant offspring of the pair. Normally the best view one gets is ephemeral. They're quite shy, and will take off immediately upon recognizing us. While photographing this one, I moved carefully and stayed hidden enough for this shot.

Beaver Portrait

There's a location that I will not divulge where beaver are quite common. They frequent it enough that I once took my wife there, guaranteeing a beaver, and they backed me up. Evidently their eyesight isn't the greatest, since I've noticed that if I'm absolutely still they don't notice me unless very close. In this case, he turned right toward me and enabled this straight shot.

Hello Jaguar

This is a shot that was initially bypassed. Jaguar photographing in the Pantanal can become stressful due to the number of other boats out there. After witnessing literally 30 boats surrounding a rather freaked jaguar, with some of the photographers cursing at their guide to cut us off and film crews blocking everyone with tremendous cranes, our guide decided to search for our own jaguars. To our amazement, we located three that were completely at ease. It was a female with two competing males, and we had the pleasure of spending an hour with these magnificent animals. While my intial favorite photos consisted of the jaguars interracting, there were a number of vines that distracted in the end shots, and I had to make the tough decision to not include them in my portfolio. But could I have at least one jaguar shot? That's when I reexamined this one, and found that when I reprocessed it, it stood out even better than the originals. The jaguar is up front and in your face.

Forager

On another day that I liked to call "coyote weather", I traipsed along a path where they used to be common and found this beautiful coyote, helping himself to an apple. One thing I've learned from photographing coyotes is to never approach them, or they take off. However, when I got no closer, it looked at me for some time, then slowly left the scene. I no longer see as many coyotes in this area due to new condo complexes, but I'll always cherish the encounters I had. Photo Project #1496.

Black Howler with Baby

I encountered these black howler monkeys while on vacation in Costa Rica. While I'd love to say that I was deep in the forbidden jungle, in truth we were at an all inclusive resort. However, there was a troop of monkeys who frequented the area, and I asked the staff for the best times and places to find them. Then, during mornings while my wife and kids slept, I spent some time with them each day. The trickiest part with monkeys is the lighting. Since they have the same phobia of bright sun as we, they're often in the shadows where it's difficult to shoot. They also spend almost their entire time in trees, which means often shooting up through the sky. Only with patience did I learn to seek out spots where the lighting was perfect, then hope they would pass through them.

San Juan Island Fox

San Juan Island is famous for its foxes, though it took me some time to find the best place to photograph them. This particular fox had unfortunately been fed by people before, and instantly approached when I arrived. Since it didn't approve of my stance to not feed wildlife, it soon left, but not before at least allowing me some closeup shots. While most people expect foxes here to be red, the majority I found on the island were black.

Southern Right Whales

While we'd read plenty about Hermanus being the center of whale watching for southern Africa, we had a rather difficult time seeing them when we first arrived. They simply weren't in the numbers typical for the season. Luckily, I'd already planned for that and had arranged for a scenic flight to view them. While flying, the operator noted that the whales were all hiding in areas where sight seeing boats were not allowed. We saw roughly thirty whales that day, with all but one of them in the protected areas. Clearly they didn't like the tour boats, but they didn't seem to mind us.

Southern Right Whale

A Southern Right Whale goes to the surface off the coast of South Africa. Whales are truly one of the most amazing animals out there. It's entirely possible that humans are not truly the most intelligent animals out there, just the only ones with opposable thumbs. For the best view of whales, the air is very convenient. They also seem to mind planes, as long as they fly high enough, much less than tour boats.

Dassie

This is a dassie, also called a rock hyrax. After spending the day photographing countless numbers of them, I finally prepared for a good night's sleep at our lodge at Plettenberg Bay. To my surprise, there was something warm and fuzzy in the bed! After the initial shock, I found this to be a hot water bottle placed there to warm the bed. Ever since then, we've given them the nickname "dassies".

Bottlenosed Dolphins

The waters around Plettenberg Bay have one of the greatest marine concentrations I've witnessed. Within a short period of time we found multiple species of whale and dolphins, along with countless seals. We saw these particular bottle-nosed dolphins while on a tour, and they didn't disappoing as they jutted along the beach. To my frustration, though there were roughly forty of them, they were challenging to photograph. It was difficult to figure out when exactly they'd pop out of the water, and I would've loved another trip to get some more shots.Photo Project #2083.

Lion Cub

This was one of the very first shots I took on any safari. Immediately after arriving at Tintswalo Safari Lodge, they took our bags and our guide started the vehicle. His eyes grew wide when we mentioned that we'd never been on a safari, and upon pulling out he stated that he'd "blow our minds". He was true to his word. Only a few minutes later we pulled into an entire pride of lions, and spent the next half hour just peacefully watching them. The mothers mostly slept, but the young were at play. I never thought I'd hear the phrase "don't back up. There's a lion behind you."

Sibling Love

While watching a lion pride, we noticed this young lion with a paw around her younger sibling. Was she just resting a paw, or was there emotion there? While we humans tend to attach our own emotions to every action, not everything corresponds to our experiences. That being said, I cannot be help to think that animals exhibit very similar emotions to ours.

Mother's Watch

While most of the wildlife in Africa are perfectly used to the safari vehicles, that doesn't mean they're unaware. In this case, a mother lion keeps an eye on us while we admire her cubs playing. The look was a bit unsettling, especially since this was the first time I'd seen lions in the wild. Had she wanted to, there was nothing preventing her from grabbing us as a snack.

Lion Approaching

A male lion walks toward us in the Manyeleti Preserve, South Africa. This occurred during an attempted pride takeover, when four very healthy male lions moved into the territory of the resident two males. Since one of the resident males had a bad limp, the prospects seemed very dim. This was particularly heart breaking because male lions will kill the cubs after a pride takeover. Luckily, after several nights of lion chess, the four males never located either the two resident males or the rest of the pride, and left shortly afterwards.Photo Project #2084.

African Wild Dog

Though still quite rare, african wild dogs are making a comeback. What used to be a once in a lifetime experience is now just uncommon. During our time in South Africa, we had just this one encounter. The pack was laying down in the grass - not all is hunting and fun, and were nearly imperceptible if it weren't for a very good tracker. Lucky for us, this lone dog put his head up to check what the commotion was about.Photo Project #2085.

African Buffalo

The most feared animal in Africa is neither the lion nor the leopard. It's the African buffalo, one of the most surly animals ever encountered. Huge beasts capable of goring or trampling, African buffalo are unpredictable and are responsible for a large number of deaths every year. Though lions prey on them, there's mutual respect on both sides and more than a few lions have met their end at those sharp horns.

Leopard

This is another shot that took me longer to appreciate. While initially it didn't even make my album, when I went through the photos a year later I noticed this shot of a leopard walking past our vehicle in the late afternoon. Leopards are mostly nocturnal, making lighting difficult often when photographing them. Lucky for us, this particular cat decided to give us a good show by coming out of the brush.