This is one of those plain ‘ole serendipitous stories. I was leading a photo tour throughout many parts of Alaska. It was part of my “Into the Wild” photo tour/workshop. It was the next to last day of our 14-day trip and we were in Denali National Park.
I got up early to see if The Mountain (Denali) was out. Sure enough it was. I dressed and ran to each of the clients’ cabins and woke them up with the good news and time to get prepared before the sun hit the summit. I suggested they come to the pond where they could get a reflection.
As they arrived I made suggestions as to how to shoot the image and what to expect as the sun began to hit the mountain. We were all set up to make some landscapes of Denali with alpenglow on it as the sun began to rise. I had everything set up for a nice landscape… low ISO (100), some decent depth of field at f11, a 70mm focal length, my 3-stop, hard-edge ND filter to bring out the foreground. I had mirror-lock up engaged. My shutter speed was around 1/4 second. Then, out of nowhere, this cow and calf moose walk into the pond below. They were SO quiet and I was more concentrated on the first light hitting the mountain, that I did not even realize they were there for a minute or two. Neither did the clients. Of course they were slowly moving as they fed and I needed a shorter exposure in order to stop their movement. I increased my ISO to 400 and opened up the aperture to F4 in order to get 1/40th of a second exposure, and I waited until moments when the moose was at it’s most still state to make the exposure. And here’s what I came up with.
This image is the June image in my 2019 Alaska Calendar. All images include information about the camera settings and filters used. Please consider helping support this newsletter with your purchase of a calendar or two. They make GREAT Christmas gifts. Calendars are $12 each and have FREE shipping. Purchase 5 calendars and get a 6th one FREE. Six for $60 with FREE shipping. Order yours today here: https://schultzphoto.com/store/2019-alaska-calendar/
Congratulations on your capture Jeff! What an incredible experience for you and your clients! I look forward to traveling with you again soon. PS: I referred several friends to you. I hope they contact you!
Thanks Vicki… I look forward to seeing you again. And thanks for the referrals. Greatly appreciated. No one has said anything yet, but we’ll see.
was this the pond at Camp Denali? We were there in late August, but no moose.
Yes, that’s the place !!