Little Bighorn

Gallery: WildlifePosted March 20, 2014787 views11 comments

In the northern foothills of the Rockies we tend to get our heaviest snowfalls of the year in March and April, it is snowing heavily today as I look out my window. This young Bighorn was making his way along this ridge in April last year.
Nikon D4 600+1.4 tele, 1/800, f6.3, +0.3EV, 400 iso, full frame. I cloned out a small black rock in front of the sheep that attracted my eye a little too much.

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on March 20, 2014 at 3:54 PM

Very simple and powerful image. I like the snowfall, the placement of the subject, the grass stems poking up through the snow. Well done!

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Cloran on March 20, 2014 at 4:36 PM

Super image Gary

I like everything about it. It has the feel of one of the nature prints you might see from John Seerey-Lester or Nancy Glazier.

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

Comment posted by Peter Cross on March 20, 2014 at 8:36 PM

Love this one, Gary. You've reduced it to a simple form which conveys a message so powerfully. This reminds me of a Robert Bateman print. Things really fell into place and you made it sing. Love the BG while the FG helps to make your subject sheep really stand out. Certainly happy you were there to capture all those photons.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Alan LaFaver on March 20, 2014 at 11:46 PM

i can't find anything I would change on this. the snowfall and resulting contrasts are nice. the lines are interesting. it's simplicity is appealing. it's subtle, yet shows strength in the power of a Rocky winter and how strong an animal needs to be to survive it.

Alan

Registered on February 28, 2014, 18 Posts, 147 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on March 21, 2014 at 9:32 AM

Hey Gary,

This is both real simple and real nice! I like how the subject is the only thing with much colour to it (aside from the dead foliage) in this otherwise monochromatic scene. Given you've already cloned out a rock, wondering if cloning out the two bits of vegetation on bottom (bottom centre and bottom right) might be in order too (to leave the image even simpler)?

I have a resident herd of these guys living about 2 km from my home and this scene could so easily have been shot there (meaning it's kind of a classic shot!).

Cheers...

Brad

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

Comment posted by William Bickle on March 21, 2014 at 2:11 PM

Hello Gary

Well done. As Brad said Simple and Isolated capture. Beautiful... Winter-effect is very evident with the falling snow .
the upslope of the diagonal left to right compliments the image!

thanks for sharing

bill

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Bunch on March 22, 2014 at 1:22 AM

Excellent winter wildlife shot. Love that heavy snow. It's amazing how the animals can endure such harsh conditions. They can, and have, survived many things including, so far at least, humanity.

Registered on May 18, 2004, 124 Posts, 2503 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on March 22, 2014 at 11:34 AM

Thanks for your comments everyone, much appreciated.

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

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on March 22, 2014 at 4:32 PM

Lovely wintry scene and composition with the lines of the hill.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on March 23, 2014 at 11:09 AM

Love the texture of the heavy snow in the sky, Gary!

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on March 23, 2014 at 8:14 PM

A beautiful winter portrait of this gal Gary. A very pleasing composition. I like that the snow flakes look like flakes and not streaks.

Sweet Photo!

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