I believe I mentioned in a previous post that my January trip to Yellowstone was my best-ever winter visit to the park in large part thanks to some outstanding wolf sightings. It’s difficult to photograph wolves at relatively close range in the park, so having 3-4 encounters within 200 yards or so over the course of two weeks was not something I take for granted.
The best encounters involved the Wapiti Lake Pack (the large group I shared a photo of previously), numbering 18-19 individuals at the time. We had sixteen together a couple of the times I saw them. This moment occurred when several of the individuals ran down the snowy hillside to the Yellowstone River. I suspect they were looking for a way to cross to get to a carcass on the other side. They probed different points of the river before turning back and heading back uphill to join the rest of the pack. Sadly, had they followed the shoreline just a bit further upriver, they would have found the shallows that offered the best crossing point… right below my vantage point on the cliff above! Oh well, this was pretty good anyway.
Canon 1DXII
Canon 600mm + 1.4x
ISO 1600
1/2000th
f/7.1
Their body language confirmes that they are looking out for something, the crossing point in this case. You managed to get them in good position across the frame and I really like the fact that three of them are captured on the LHS, beautifully placed themselves in a sort of negative space sans rocks!
The inclusion of Yellowstone river adds to the image.
BTW I haven’t seen many images of Tellowstone river.
I really enjoyed this wonderful image Max. What works so well for me is that it is different than a typical “portrait” image. I also really like the subtle ness of the Wolfe’s set in their environment, blending in with their habitat. I think this works very well in your image. Congratulations!
Really nice image, Max. It has a nice balance to it. I particularly like the wilf that is stopped and looking back. Amazingly, you’d think that black wolf would really stand out against the snow, but it’s the last one I saw. I think it looked lik a rock in the small version.
I like the portrayal of the wolves in this, and the comp with the snow and river is super nice.
Excellent image and story @max. Not much I can offer on the image as it’s pretty darn good as it is. I was there in February and saw the same pack, the black wolf was in the back when I saw them too. We saw two of them mate on Valentines Day. They were too far away for good pictures just watched through a sporting scope. It was an incredible experience.
