Moose series

[IPT]

Hey guys! I just posted a ton of images on my blog page. http://www.iptalaska.com/Pages/blog_pages/blog_page_20.html. Way to many to post here. Go take a look and let me know how you like them. This year I tried to get more action and interaction images vs just portraits. Here are a couple.

 

[Misled]

Nice stuff Louis. Can't say which I liked the most cuz these are something I've never seen here, (although they are supposed to be in the northern Pa. area). The nose touching was pretty cool. I'd really hate to be one of them though!!!

 

[snorvich]

They are all excellent but the second one is my favorite.

 

[Wolverine]

They are all excellent but the second one is my favorite.

Me too.

Louis, your work is going a long way in helping me prod Mrs Wolverine and some friends of ours to take a trip up that way. Thanks.

 

[Recty]

Nice stuff Louis. Can't say which I liked the most cuz these are something I've never seen here, (although they are supposed to be in the northern Pa. area). The nose touching was pretty cool. I'd really hate to be one of them though!!!

Are you refering to the first picture? Nose touching? The female moose on the left, with its ears laid back and looking ticked, is kicking the one in front of it. You can see her front right leg up in the air and coming down on the other.

Unless I'm really seeing it wrong, I'd say those moose are fighting.

Nice pictures, Louis, you really captured some good moments.

 

[Misled]

Second pic on pg. 22 in the blog. And as Louis said, sometimes a simple touch of the nose sealed it. That's why I wouldn't wanna be one touching noses with them.

 

[IPT]

Nice stuff Louis. Can't say which I liked the most cuz these are something I've never seen here, (although they are supposed to be in the northern Pa. area). The nose touching was pretty cool. I'd really hate to be one of them though!!!

Thanks Jesse - really, moose in northern PA huh? That's cool. My parents went up to New hampshire I think and and went out "moose viewing". Apparently they don't come out until dark up there. They saw one or two but they were deep in the woods in low light. They tend to be more active up here at dusk/dawn and through out the night, but you can see one at at given time.

Are you refering to the first picture? Nose touching? The female moose on the left, with its ears laid back and looking ticked, is kicking the one in front of it. You can see her front right leg up in the air and coming down on the other.

Unless I'm really seeing it wrong, I'd say those moose are fighting.

Nice pictures, Louis, you really captured some good moments.

Thanks Grant - yeah, Jesse was referring to the image I had on the Blog pages (see link in my first post). Two big bulls were approaching eash other. I got an image of them about touching noses as they checked each other out! I have about 30+ images of the moose and a few really cool moon rise images too. You are right about those two fighting though. It was pretty fast and furious! I think it was a cow and a spikey.

Me too.

Louis, your work is going a long way in helping me prod Mrs Wolverine and some friends of ours to take a trip up that way. Thanks.

No problem - I hope you make it up. My parents have been up here 4 times now. Every trip has been different for them and they have not been disapointed yet!

They are all excellent but the second one is my favorite.

Thanks - make sure you check out the actual blog pages where most of the images are posted. There are like 35 images there. Here's the link again - a lot easier to just point you there then redo the 4 pages worth of text and post the images again here! http://www.iptalaska.com/Pages/blog_pages/blog_page_20.html

 

[Hookup]

stunning... as a hunter myself, i have some glimpse of what it takes to get these images. outstanding work, there is no way I could pick a favorite, they're all amazing.

could you guess at the number of hours spend "on the quest for the photos?"

 

[IPT]

stunning... as a hunter myself, i have some glimpse of what it takes to get these images. outstanding work, there is no way I could pick a favorite, they're all amazing.

could you guess at the number of hours spend "on the quest for the photos?"

Thanks!

Oh man.... I wonder. I would say that when I went out I was out for a minimum of two hours. Sometimes when things were good 3 hours and on one occasion more than 4 hours. I don't reacal how many times I went out. I would say between Denali and then back around town it was at least 10 times. So on the minimum side it would be at least 20 hours, probably 30! Gads, now that I see that it makes me happy to have my Fiance who supports my passion about my hobbies. She came a handful of times too but I think the cold weather and all the downtime is a bit much for her.

What I really need is for her to support me in buying a 500mm F4 lens ! Though truth be told even if she was on board I'd have a hard time parting with that amount of cash. Truth is I'd only use it from time to time and that's a heck of a lot of money.

 

[Hookup]

That's pretty incredible. To me, possibly as a bad hunter lol, 20-30 hours to capture so many moose is simply outstanding. It must be also that you have a healthy population in your area.

It takes so much time and patience to get close to wildlife, and then to do so while you have good shooting conditions (photographically speaking, not hunting) is even more of a feat.

 

[IPT]

That's pretty incredible. To me, possibly as a bad hunter lol, 20-30 hours to capture so many moose is simply outstanding. It must be also that you have a healthy population in your area.

It takes so much time and patience to get close to wildlife, and then to do so while you have good shooting conditions (photographically speaking, not hunting) is even more of a feat.

Yeah, i'd say we are in a pretty unique situation up here. Moose are pretty pleantiful and especially at the rut fairly easy to find. This is especially so in the areas they are protected from hunters. There are a few valleys they hang out in and also up at the park there is an area where you're not allowed off the pavement. The moose have free range without being annoyed by novice photographers with short lenses chasing them. The park knows they hangout in that area so sectioned it off. They can pop in and out of the woods though so timing is everything. Like you said, getting the right light is the hard part. Or even having light for that matter. A lot of those images were after sunset at ISO 1600, even 3200 wide open at F2.8. Thank the camera Gods for the capability of high ISO settings and my friend who lent me a 300mm F2.8 lens.

For sure there are hunters up here who come back empty handed. Having so many protected areas in and around town though make it nice for photographers. The moose are around and not fearful of humans. In fact I was driving home from the Airport other night at 1am and saw a tall dark shadow in the street thru the blowing snow. I couldn't really tell what it was until I saw the antlers shooting off laterally from the top of it's head. it was a pretty big bull in the middle of the road. I knew whatever it was it shouldn't be there, and it was snowing pretty hard so I was slowing down anyway. Then he just ran off to the side of the road and I went on my way. You gotta love Alaska!