Wildlife Photography


Wildlife photography is tricky. Thats why we like still artistic shots. We finally have a decent lens and decent camera at the same time. We had a rough go of it there for a bit. We had purchased a zoom lens and it worked well for about summer, fall, and part of winter. Something happened to it after using it in the cold and winter and it stopped working. We saved up for a new lens and bought one that spring. First time out with the new lens and I dropped the lens and the camera. The weight of the lens busted up the camera.  After some trial and error attempting to fix the old camera in which I was completely unsuccessful we purchased a new camera. Now we have the camera and lens back in action. What do I do one of the first trips out? Leave the camera at home and see a wolf and pups on the riverbank at 50 yards. facepalm#

I missed out on a glorious opportunity for photos of a lynx because I didn't have the camera ready. I spotted a lynx stalking along the river bank. Watched it with my eyes seemed like forever while I'm trying to get the camera ready.  I place the camera on the tripod and attempt to locate the lynx in the viewfinder. I watch it walk behind a clump of willows never to be seen again. scenicviews#

See photo below for lynx hiding behind a clump of willows. 


Luckily we have bears that are photogenic and plentiful. Now I just have to figure out how to focus on the animal and not the rocks in front or behind, or the trees, or the ravens, or every other little thing besides the animal that I want to be focusing on. I probably took 150 pictures of these 3 different animals and sadly the following images were my very best. Much to be improved upon.

We called this bear "Zombie Bear" because it has a wound to the left side of its face. It was eating fish on the riverbank when we saw it and we have seen this bear a few different times. 







Some seals at the mouth of the Eli River. If nothing else they offer a target rich environment. You get lots of photo opportunities, but for only about 1 second before they dive back under. They pop their head up and then right back down again. 


Saw this bear out by the dump. I could have sworn I had like 20 good photos of this guy. Nope. Get them on the computer and trees in the way, out of focus, head down, etc. I know if I would have been more patient with this bear I could have gotten at least one good photo, but those are the breaks. At least I brought the camera!





 

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