Monday, August 31, 2009

Newfoundland luck

I'm not a big believer in the notion of luck. In photography, you have to be out in the field and prepared for the unexpected. In essence you create your own luck. The photos below are two examples of being in the right place and ready to shoot.


Photo 1: Red Fox (silver/black morph), northern Peninsula, Newfoundland; EOS 1DsIII; 500/4IS lens & 1.4x teleconvertor.

This fox was walking along the roadside, so I quickly got my camera ready and doubled-back. I photographed it out of the side door of my van..... there was only enough time for about 10 shots before it took off.
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FOX ID UPDATE: Thanks to a couple of other photographers emailing me about the fox - and some internet research - here's more info about it. The species is indeed Red Fox, but the colour morph is commonly known as the "Silver Fox". Apparently this colour morph was created through selective breeding for the fur industry. Animals in the wild may be decendents or cross-breeds with once captive individuals.
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Photo 2: Sunset, Trout River area of Gros Morne National Park; EOS 1DsIII; 24-70mm lens; Singh-Ray LB warming polarizer & 2 stop hard edge ND grad

After cooking an exquisite surf & turf dinner over a campfire and sitting down to enjoy a glass of wine, I noticed some glowing clouds (it had been heavy overcast all evening). My friend and I raced over to a grand landscape vista we'd scouted earlier in the afternoon. We had only a couple minutes to shoot one of the most spectacular sunsets of the trip to Newfoundland.

8 comments:

  1. Great photos Ethan! The red fox looks a little black...is that normal for them to be so dark?

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  2. Thanks Susan,
    I think the black variant of Red Fox is fairly common in Newfoundland.

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  3. Anonymous10:01 PM

    Gorgeous sunset/landscape!

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  4. Good sunset Ethan, and especially so considering you are looking to the east!

    Re the black morph: Quite some time ago when the fur trade pretty much collapsed it was more economical for the ranchers (???) to let their foxes escape than to eradicate their herds. The black morph probably is a genetic cross with a silver (ranch) fox.

    The above explanation is what was provided to me, and it made good sense, so I never challenged the explanation.

    You are very correct that the black morph is quite common in NFLD.

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  5. Cool shot with the fox Ethan, although a "red" fox, it isn't very common as I undersand it.

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  6. Great luck with the fox! Last summer when I lived in the countryside I did see many animals while I was jogging on the road near the sea. But I never saw one when I was with my camera...

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  7. Exactly in the field we have to be prepared for the unexpected, specially to taking photos that's my passion, I'd like to get an animal like that but it is prohibited.m10m

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  8. hello, this post remember me when i was a child, i do not know why....

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