The White Wolf

Gallery: WildlifePosted May 7, 2014277 views5 comments

Every time I return to Yellowstone, I hope that I'll be lucky enough to see my favorite wolf in the park again: the beautiful white alpha female of the Canyon Pack. She's around 7 years old now, and still going strong.

On New Year's Eve, 2011, I had my best photo session with this pack, after they had taken down an elk on the other side of a river not far from the road. Visitors were allowed to set up along the road and get a rare close look at the wolves as they came down to feed late in the afternoon. You'll find a couple other shots from that encounter with the Canyon wolves scattered throughout my gallery, but I don't think I've shared this one here (apologies if I have).

Canon 7D
Canon 500mm f/4 IS + 1.4x
ISO 400
1/1250th
f/7.1

Max

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on May 7, 2014 at 4:06 PM

Max--A good use of vertical format and composition. I like this image.................................Jim

Registered on January 17, 2004, 705 Posts, 3594 Comments

Comment posted by Joe James on May 9, 2014 at 12:53 AM

Lovely shot Max! It's so nice to see her as a magnificent Alpha female like her legendary mother 540F. We were very lucky to see her as a youngster.

Registered on November 20, 2009, 89 Posts, 808 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on May 9, 2014 at 2:06 PM

Excellent look and a beautiful subject. I like the lighting and the color palette, with the cool blues in the snow, reds in the willows and warm yellows in far background. Nice eye contact, too.

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

Comment posted by Max Waugh on May 9, 2014 at 3:39 PM

Thanks guys. It was a very special moment. Joe, I only saw 540 from a great distance in Hayden Valley back in the day, so it's nice to have some decent photos of this one. The story is that the wolf project team had a choice of collaring her or the black alpha male, and they knew if they collared the pretty white wolf all the photographers would be ticked off... so we got lucky in that regard.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on May 10, 2014 at 7:38 PM

Neat vertical composition with the wolf in the corner and the 2 different bands of grasses Max, different and well done.

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