Wolves from weekend (pics included)

[Steve Foss]

These are images of two different wolves from the same shoot as the eagles. All with Canon 1D MarkII, Canon 400L f2.8, Canon 1.4 teleconverter (total lens power with TC and camera conversion factor was 728mm), all at iso200.

1/500, f4

1/500, f4

1/800, f8

And the wolf always leaves something behind for the ravens (which obviously don't have much of a sense of smell )

1/1000, f8

[Cooter]

Awesome! Where abouts? Wolf or road kill? Thanks for sharing.

[Steve Foss]

Two other shooters and I placed a road-killed deer and backed away for two days shooting from cover about 75 yards away from the scene. Placing the deer was the extent our our altering the scene. The eagles and wolves are completely wild and are not fed by humans.

[buzzsaw]

Quote:

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The eagles and wolves are completely wild and are not fed by humans.

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Except this time..... Cool pictures.

[oil painter]

As an artist,all I can say is you have an eye man!!! excelant pics Im envious ofyour talent with a camera you are good!!

[Steve Foss]

Thanks, oil and cooter. A lot of hard work went into it, and it's nice that we had animals come in. That being said, oil painter, if I could do with a brush and paint what I try to do with a camera, I'd never use a camera again. I just don't have that ability with paint.

And yeah, buzz, this time we just took the roadkill into a more natural looking setting instead of leaving it along the road for them to eat there, which wolves and other predators up here do all the time. What I should have said was that these wolves were no more conditioned to getting their meals from human-caused mortality than all the other animals that feast on the roadkills we create every day.

I don't have a problem with what we did, but I'm reasonable enough to know some people might.

[buzzsaw]

I think the pics are cool, how long did you have to wait? tell the story, what time did you get there etc...

[Steve Foss]

We waited a day for the eagles to show up, a day and a half for the wolves. Nice that the weather was nice. Other than that, there wasn't much of a story.

There's little romance in the mechanics of nature photography. It's far more about sweat and setup and hurry-up-and-wait, with no certainty there'll be anything produced in the end. A lot like bowhunting, as a matter of fact. But hey, there are pro shooters who pay more than $1,000 for a half-day shoot of the captive wolves at Sandstone, Minn., as well as shooters who travel to Alaska for bald eagles, and our expenses were virtually nothing for this weekend's deal. Gas for the guys from Iowa and Michigan, somewhat less gas for me, food, etc. The Michigan shooter is a film guy who has won awards for his mother/cub shots of polar bears in Alaska and has had the covers of several national wildlife mags, and he brought along 95 rolls (I think he shot up about 15 rolls). Us other two are digital pukes, so we were all about memory cards and reviewing the backs of our cameras.

As for Alaska, I guess it DOES have a bit to offer when it comes to scenic backdrops. Not many mountains in the Bdub!

[Surface Tension]

Thats something you don't get to see everyday. You must have been excited to see them come in. Nice, thanks for sharing the pics Steve.

[jonny_redhorse]

That last shot of the 3 ravens and the lone wolf is really a sweet image!........I've been checking the 3-4 deer carcasses that I've come across in the Sax -Zim bog area(South Admiral and owl road) but never actually see the wolves that were there,only the tracks ....patience I guess.....again....great photos Steve!....jonny

[Dbl]

My favorite is the last one also. Beautiful shots Steve.

[oil painter]

If I could live where you do and haave the time to paint the beauty that surronds you I would feel like I died and went to heaven. My buddy has a place on Fall lake and when there Im awstruck by the sure beauty of the land and lakes you are a lucky guy to have that talent and time to utilize it. by the way the eagles are unreal!!