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Gallery: WildlifePosted March 15, 2011386 views20 comments

In February I was fortunate to have a family of river otters to myself for about an hour-and-a-half out in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley. They spent most of the time diving in and out of the partially-frozen Lamar River in search of food. During the entire encounter, all five otters only surfaced together one time. The rest of the time, I'd get to watch between one and four of them come onto shore, preen, run, slide, poop and rest before they dove back in the water.

In this case, something grabbed this pair's attention out in the valley. I believe that's an older pup climbing up on mom's back to get a better view.

Canon 7D
Canon 500mm f/4 IS + 1.4x TC
ISO 400
1/800th
f/7.1
+1 1/3 Exp. Comp.

Max

Comments

20 comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on March 15, 2011 at 11:03 PM

Really cute composition Max. I love the similarity of the body positions, great title. The negative space above the otters is perfect. Wonderful opportunity and you made the most of it.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Balan Vinod on March 16, 2011 at 12:54 AM

Max ..beautiful comp and and apt title ...they looking away is very effective ..well done..

Balan Vinod

Registered on March 20, 2006, 889 Posts, 2312 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on March 16, 2011 at 4:40 AM

Super Cool Max

I wanted so bad to photograph them while I was out there, just wasn't sure where to look.

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Andrius Pašukonis on March 16, 2011 at 6:48 AM

Sooo cool!

Registered on July 23, 2005, 111 Posts, 408 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on March 16, 2011 at 7:44 AM

I really like the composition and the action of the two animals. I would have liked a larger image to see the detail in the otters. Fine shot and sounds like a fun time. The kind of action that you don't even feel the cold.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on March 16, 2011 at 8:28 AM

that's awesome, Max!

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on March 16, 2011 at 10:01 AM

This image has huge appeal Max and has me smiling ear to ear :^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Darren Colello on March 16, 2011 at 12:01 PM

Awesome comp. Max.

Registered on July 27, 2009, 175 Posts, 1100 Comments

Comment posted by Sally King on March 16, 2011 at 3:12 PM

Very cute. I love how the otters are lined up perfectly with the break in the ice.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on March 16, 2011 at 3:16 PM

Wonderful shot Max! Excellent composition, and I love them against the white BG.

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Phil Mclean on March 16, 2011 at 4:10 PM

What a fantastic experience with these wonderful mammals.
You've captured a really nice image and I guess there are loads more on your hard drive too.
Really jealous Max.

Phil.

Registered on March 16, 2010, 30 Posts, 153 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on March 16, 2011 at 4:45 PM

Great capture. The interaction adds to the strength of the moment.

Registered on April 6, 2004, 119 Posts, 1989 Comments

Comment posted by Oscar Benavides on March 16, 2011 at 6:33 PM

Original pose of this otters. Simply but nice composition. You were fortunate to watch the behaviour of these animals.

Registered on January 2, 2011, 12 Posts, 141 Comments

Comment posted by Lizzie Shepherd on March 16, 2011 at 7:23 PM

Wonderful - what a great moment to capture and you really want to know what they are looking at!

I was lucky enough to see a couple of our rather smaller otters in the river a couple of villages along (Yorkshire, UK) the other day - such a thrill to see them locally, having only seen them along the coast in Scotland previously.

Registered on March 2, 2011, 18 Posts, 120 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Willison on March 16, 2011 at 8:03 PM

One of those images that really pop.

Registered on April 10, 2009, 292 Posts, 3967 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on March 16, 2011 at 9:00 PM

Sounds like a fabulous experience and this picture does a great job of capturing some of it. The pose is outstanding and the composition and processing add to the quality of the result.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on March 17, 2011 at 12:17 AM

Nicely done, Max

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on March 17, 2011 at 8:49 AM

Hey Max,

Cool! How the heck did you manage to train them to do this in only one hour??

Great interaction, well composed and technically very strong - well done! That thin band of open water adds a nice line to the image and the behaviour of those otters didn't hurt either.

Cheers...thanks for sharing this...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on March 17, 2011 at 10:05 AM

Love the comp on this Max. I only wish for a larger version to see the details better. I think the pose is top notch and really like the placement in the frame. My only nit (and it is a very small one) is for enough room on the left so the tail doesn't run right up to the edge of the frame....but it certainly doesn't take away from the overall impact of this.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Vijay Raj on March 17, 2011 at 12:14 PM

This is such a wonderful one, love the symmetry , would love to see a bigger file.

Registered on November 22, 2010, 29 Posts, 100 Comments