What Are You Looking At

River Otter found at the WNC Nature Center, standing at attention to see who had come to see them. Always worth walking around the park. When I first wandered up to their enclosure they were just lounging on the rocks... Then they noticed they were being watched, and sprung into action, a quick dip in the pool, and then they both stood up and were hanging out, I barely had time to get my camera up and shooting before they were back in the pool.... Which led to almost thirty minutes of aquatic fun before they went back to the rocks and began sunning themselves.

Animals, wild or enclosed are an interesting subject, and yet a challenging one. Every photographer should give it a try, birding is fairly popular, or going to a location such as a Nature Center or zoo gives you the chance to see this wonderful creatures up close. I am fortunate enough to live in an area where wildlife is everywhere, however getting a chance to take their photo in the wild is very difficult and you must be patient. Moreover, you run the risk of stressing the animals when you’re in their natural habitat, or worse, putting yourself and the animal at risk for injury.

While I love wildlife photography, I don’t love the idea of stressing my subjects out. I recently happened upon a Timber Rattlesnake native to the area I live, and while I had wanted to go and grab my camera and take as many photos as I could of the creature, I also knew the longer I stayed in the area the more stress I was putting on the creature. A stressed mouse may look cute, but it can lash out, a stressed out rattlesnake may bite you despite it just wanting to be left alone [keep in mind, snakes have little to no interest in us, as long as you keep a safe distance and be aware of your surroundings you’ll be just fine]. You can see examples of photographers all over the world getting too close to animals, and I would caution any of you against doing the same. We never want to cause harm in the world that we photograph, never want to create unsafe environments for ourselves or our subjects. If you want to be a wildlife photographer, invest in good glass, stay back a safe distance, and enjoy these animals safely.

I will discuss in future posts how to adjust for taking shots like this, either at a zoo, or even out in the field.

ISO: 1250
Aperture: f7.1
SS: 1/2000th
Focal: 400