Red Fox kits (cute warning!)

Acting on a tip (thanks Steph!) about a Red Fox den, I've made several visits to track them down and finally lucked out this morning. The den is under a shed, which doesn't make for a great background, but I'm banking on the cute factor of the kits to help carry the photos!

These were photographed out of the window of my new mini van (first shots taken from it) with my lens resting on a "Blubb" beanbag. All shot with a Canon EOS 1Ds mark III and 500mm f/4 IS lens; the tightly framed shots were using teleconvertors. In the bright morning light I was able to stop down the aperture to achieve enough depth of field so both animals were in focus and still have a fast enough shutter speed for sharpness. You can bet I'll be making many more visits to try to get similar images with a better background!

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.
--
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.
--

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.