New magazine cover..look who came to breakfast…..

April 29th, 2009 § 2

Sitting having breakfast near the tent, high in remote Fiordland…..New cover of a young wapiti bull...a surprise visitor made a magazine cover this week… Chomping on our muesli, getting ready for a day climbing over the range above camp, I looked up and saw movement in the distance. Discarding breakfast, we grabbed camera equipment and snuck up the ridge to intercept this wild young wapiti bull before he cut our scent.

The look on his face captures the moment that he became aware of us.  If you look closely you’ll also be able to spot the effect it had on his bladder…. Photographing Fiordland Wapiti can be a very tough undertaking, perhaps one of the hardest photo assignments you could get, so to get shots like this is rewarding.   Here’s the actual campsite:

Read our recent 2 week Wapiti filming trip post here.

Wapiti (some folks call them Elk) in New Zealand are the only free range herd outside North America, gifted to NZ way back in 1905 by US President Theodore Roosevelt . The Fiordland Wapiti Foundation is a large group committed to managing this special herd in Fiordland.

Tech details for those who wish to know – Canon EOS 5D (my 1Ds needed a major weight loss if it wanted to come on a 2 week wilderness trip like this one!), and Canon 300mm f4 IS L series. As a side interest, framing of photos at the time of capture for future potential uses is vital in the professional market, so this photo was taken vertical and framed to allow sufficient room for magazine masthead and cover text, as you can see below.  Cheers, Robwildlifecov_m

Update 30 Sept 2009: Just had another 2 covers of Hunting & Wildlife to come home to. Both these shots were very lucky to get, but very satisfying from the hard work involved. They were taken during the expedition I did earlier this year into Fiordland. I also found a cover I did for the same magazine way back in 1997!
Spring 2009 cover. Again, a nice young wapiti bull photographed on the bush edge at last light in Fiordland National Park.
Winter 2009 cover. Nice young wapiti bull that had never seen humans before. Taken at last light in a tiny hanging valley called Impossible Creek.
Sambar deer hinds (Cervus unicolor) surprised in long grass in the Manawatu.

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