>>3263366>things to be methodical and painstaking aboutThat's all wildlife photography is though, especially up here where it's so sparse... weeks of searching for subjects who do their best to avoid you, and then coming up with plans on the fly when you find one. Whether observing the hunting patterns of birds or looking for scat, it's pretty methodical.
It took over 30 minutes to get this fox after I spotted it about 500 feet away. I had to wait for it to find somewhere to settle down, then wait for it to fall asleep. After that, figure out the best angle to shoot from (limited by the sun angle as well as obstructions) and the quietest way to get there. Then, make it over there without it hearing me just to get even a chance.
Once I did get there, a cloud moved in front of the sun so I had to wait another 3 or 4 minutes for the light to come back. The sun was almost down as you can see from the shadows, so time was limited. Once the light was back, I took a couple of test shots of it sleeping and then threw a rock off to the right to wake it up. Got a couple of shots of it looking over there before it heard my shutter and looked in my direction. Few more shots, then it saw me and fucked off.
Weeks of searching and 30 minutes of planning for a 15 second encounter. Very rewarding for me. The whole process is fun every time, even if it doesn't pan out which is most of the time. For every encounter that worked, there are like 10 more that didn't.
