Every picture has a story. This is absolutely true. Some are fun, some filled with adventure, some easy, some difficult, some just plain lucky, some could possibly be boring..though I would not subject you to that…LOL. There are usually some fun stories behind wildlife photos. What makes someone want to do wildlife photography? How did they get the shot? Where was it taken? What was going on during the time taking the photos? I am often curious about the same questions when I see certain images. So here we go! The story behind this photo.
I took this photograph via kayak in Maine one summer morning. I have a few locations where I can kayak on some ponds where moose are sometimes visible. Some days I have seen many moose out on the ponds. Some days there are none. Regardless, I am up before sunrise and often out on the water before the light even hits the water. The moose are often out feeding in the dark. So I try to spot them and slowly work my way towards them. I find it interesting that some moose will not even flinch, while others will be agitated when they see me in the kayak. If a moose becomes agitated them I simply back off and let them feed and watch from a long distance, or paddle in a different direction looking for a more cooperative moose. Moose need to feed and it is just wrong to disrupt their feeding.
I spotted this moose at the far end of a pond that I was camping at. I slowly paddled towards him not wanting to spook or agitate him. This particular moose did not have a care in the world. I was with my friend and fellow wildlife photographer Andrew Thompson. We would often photograph together. To increase our odds of spotting moose we would often paddle off in different directions. We would signal each other by raising our paddles if we spotted a moose. I do not remember all the details but this moose let us both photograph him for over 90 minutes. He just kept spinning and feeding and having a great time. He would often just look and us and seemingly smile. He was totally relaxed as we photographed him.
My friend Andy reminded me recently that he took so many pictures that he actually filled up his CF card and he had to paddle over to me to borrow one of mine. We had both just started shooting digitally. Image storage and powering our batteries were a constant concern since this particular location was very remote with no power sources. I always seem to have a ton of extra gear. I was glad I had an extra card for him. I know mine were filling up quickly also since this moose let us photograph him for such a long time. He just kept posing for us and we kept photographing. At some point we slowed down, joined kayaks, and just sat back and enjoyed the moment. We both realized that this was a very unique and special moment. Nature does not always provide such cooperative wildlife. We could both see in our preview screens some of the images we were getting and they were awesome. One was better than the next. The moose kept smiling and we could hear each other laughing as we peeked in our viewfinders just to see what we were getting.
Wildlife photography is often a very solitary profession. I am often alone when photographing, so it was very exciting to be able to share this special moment with a friend and fellow photographer. I just spoke to Andy recently and he told me that his image of the smiling moose is still one of his best sellers. He thanked me because it was an image he captured on the card I gave him. I feel blessed for this experience and was thrilled to hear this. Andy was the one who got us to this particular location so it was rewarding for me to be able to give back so to speak and share in this awesome wildlife experience.
