Moose Grazing

It is alway a unique experience every time I go out on a shoot. It may be a new subject, it may be to follow up a lead or it could be something altogether different. That is where this experience comes in – all of the above including  the possibility of danger. I had never seen a moose in Colorado. In fact, other than zoos, I had never seen a moose. That was all to change and fairly quickly. About two years ago, in the spring, I heard the rumor from a fellow pro of moose at a lake that was about 90 minutes from home. This was too good to be true, I had searched everywhere and now possibility was right in my backyard. Success possible, with great patience and a lot of luck. Now there was hope. So early one morning my wife, an avid and excellent photographer, and I took to the car for the new destination. We had been there many times before with different goals. The hiking is fantastic with lakes and expansive mountain views and altitude bordering on the tree line. The wonders of Colorado easily assessable but moose too? We turned into the area, passed the fee hut- the Federal Senior Pass is great, passed the campsites and around the lake. At this point I was a little discouraged, no moose where I expected. The lakes were empty. No iconic wadding moose shots. A little disappointed, we continued around the lake, then I spotted a set of antlers above the five foot tall willows that were around the main lake.   Moose!    Five big male critters. Now, by reputation, moose are considered dangerous. So ignoring all wisdom, we took off into the bushes immediately discover three other unseen photographers. That was my first hint that this place was no secret. The next question was: How close can I get to a moose? That turned out to be: How close can a moose get to me? I placed myself in a small clearing to watch and photograph the action. My equipment included Nikon D300 and D5100 bodies. The Nikon D300 is a pro-level DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex), 12mp designed for quick adjustment and the experienced photographer. The D5100 is a DSLR, 18mp but not pro-quality for a pro it is difficult to adjust because everything is done through menus on the screen and that is slow.  It is a good choice for many amateurs. The reason  I bought it, and shoot with it, is it has Live View and an articulated LCD screen which can be tilted in almost any direction. As I have gotten older the prospect of crawling on the ground has become less tasteful. The “kit” (what the photographer packs for a shoot) also included a Nikkor 18-200 mm Dx lens and an older Nikkor 80-400 Fx lens. I decided I would use the 18-200 mm on the D5100 and the 80-400mm on the D300 for this situation. The older 80-400mm will not focus on the D5100 body. So this is a common arrangement for me.  I like the DX (I thinks Canon calls it APS) because it increases the magnification of a telephoto lens by 1.5X so a 400mm shoots like a 600mm. The shot came in the clearing as a large moose, almost 6 feet at the shoulders was grazing about 30 feet from me. I realized that with the 18-200 lens I could get a large portion of the scenery and environment the animal was in. So I opened the articulated LCD and turned on the live view and started shooting from ground level. It seemed 30 feet was a comfortable distance. As I shot, I noticed something strange the moose was getting bigger and bigger. He was still grazing but growing in the live view on the camera. I looked up an realized he was slowly walking toward me. Not my choice. Quick thoughts- Do I run? That’s stupid I am very slow runner and a moose could probably do at least 20. Hide behind a tree? Stupid choice of location not a tree within “running” distance Ha! Ha! Plan: Let the moose decide and back up slowly. NO quick movements. It seems the moose either didn’t care or a little less than 10 feet worked for him. Did you know they have red in the whites of their eyes? To be continued.