Close Encounters of the Moose Kind - a photo on Flickriver

            Well, I promise you that I do know that this is not the greatest of moose photos but I thought that no self-respecting northern Canadian should have a photostream on Flickr without at least one shot of a moose on it. S'truth … I missed the quintessential moose shot a few years back when I was out to shoot the hoar frost early one November morning. I had hopped into my truck to drive down to one of the nearby creeks where I knew the frost would be particularly thick and spectacular and I was only a few hundred metres down our road when a grand and great bull moose with a rack of horns the size of a love seat walked up alongside my truck. It was perfect (at least to a photographer). He was backlit by the rising sun, there was rim light on his horns, ears and his back and with each breath and snort that he took a wonderful luminescent cloud of steam poured from each nostril - also beautifully backlit. He didn't move and just eyed me suspiciously with more of an intent to charge than to run away as best as I could tell. I had my camera appropriately equipped with my trusty, sharp as a tack, 70-300mm lens beside me on the passenger seat and I gingerly picked it up … watching the moose watch me all the while … and … then I pushed the button to roll down the window so that I could get a clear shot and with the whirr of the window motor he bolted and ran off into the woods … arrghh! Rule of 'from the car' wildlife photography #106 - take at least one shot through the window before you roll it down to take the shot you really want. There is probably a Photoshop feature for erasing window grime in any case?

The lady moose depicted above was much more cooperative … even to the point where I began to think I was being seduced ever closer by her so that she could have her way with me. I spotted her from the car as I was driving back home to the lake, pulled off the highway and with my camera and that very same lens in hand took a photo from the car (without rolling down the window) and then another with window rolled down. I opened the car door, got out, took a few more snaps … and then I proceeded to walk toward her taking photos all the while. She never appeared nervous nor took even a few steps away from me but simply continued grazing on something tasty in the muskeg at her feet, lifting her head from time-to-time to have a look at the curious creature with the single big eye that was approaching her. When I was just 15 or so metres away I realized that I was much closer to her than I was to my car. You may or may not know that a moose can outrun a human with ease and it was at that point that I realized that I was well past the point of safety.  Had she decided to charge at that point I would have been in very big trouble. I proceeded to walk backwards (still taking pictures of course) secretly praying all the while that she would not decide to come after me and after reaching the safety of my vehicle I cheerily bid her adieu … all's well that ends well! And now you know the rest of the story ...

I have a number of shots that show her much much closer but I kind of like this one which shows her in context and on the move. If you haven't seen a moose up close and personal you can't appreciate just how big they are ... this girl was just over 2 metres high and probably about 350 kilos (just about 7 ft. tall and 750 lbs. - for my American friends :) We will see moose almost daily now for the whole month of May and the beginning of June and then they will be rarely seen until the fall and throughout the winter when once again they will show themselves on a regular basis.

Taken in: Canada / Ontario (show map)

Taken on: May 7, 2011

Tags:

moose

female

forest

swamp

north

Ontario

Canada

Canadapt « less

Sets appears in: • Keefer Lake and area • 'Keefer Lake Wildlife' more » • Flora & Fauna « less

Camera: Sony DSLR-A700, f/7.1, 1/640 sec, 180mm (=270mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony DSLR-A700
Lens:	70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G SSM
Aperture:	f/7.1
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/640)
Focal Length:	180mm (35mm equivalent: 270mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	-0.7 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Contrast:	High
Saturation:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows
Show full info

Stats: 8,224 views / 45 comments