Time passes and the camera only got taken up to NC for Thanksgiving. Which I only used for a few minutes trying to get an image of smoke coming out of my dads smoker as we prepared brisket for the next day. (as it turns out, brisket is a few hours to smoke not a full day, pro tip look up a recipe beforehand.)
But sometime in December I grabbed the camera and went for a walk at a nearby park. One I had been to before for pokemon reasons, I’d even seen deer here back in July. Although that was at the entrance. I was hoping to see deer this day as well, but this time I was going through the trails. I actually remember I wasn’t going to go because it had been raining and was very cold. But just because I felt the urge to be doing something. (also it was Sunday evening and I didn’t want to feel like I wasted the weekend)
I managed to get out there to a mostly empty park, and this place is usually packed. Like I said the weather probably kept people from going. And although it was maybe 4 or 5 and there was barely any sunlight left, I did manage to see some wildlife.
For the first half of the walk I took pictures of logs, trees. Forest type things. Not anything particularly interesting, to me at least. Part of the trouble with growing up in this area my whole life, I’ve seen everything before so none of it looks new to me. This forest trail looks just like my friends backyard creek where we would shoot airsoft guns at each other year round. I have a hard time finding something to shoot landscape wise in a forest. I need a subject that intrigues me.
And that’s when I heard a noise, turned and spotted this.
Canon 5D Mark II w/75-300mm @300 - 1/100 Sec - F5.6 - ISO 3200
Oh boy, exactly what I was hoping to find. A deer! two of them even, three of them maybe? Yes. You’ll see in the rest of the images. I followed them for well over a half an hour, slowly watching and keeping my distance. One of them kept an eye on me and stomped a hoof if they felt I was getting too close. These deer that live in this extremely busy park are very used to people and just keep a distance but don’t bolt immediately.
Canon 5D Mark II w/75-300mm @300 - 1/80 Sec - F5.6 - ISO 3200
Canon 5D Mark II w/75-300mm @ 300 - 1/100 Sec - F5.6 - ISO 3200
I was able to get a bit closer, but mostly was using the zoom. Also they were across a little creek, so I’m sure that helped allow me to get closer. Kind of a safe guard between myself and them, they didn’t seem to mind. Just casually walking along while I took pictures.
Canon 5D Mark II w/75-300mm @ 300 - 1/100 Sec - F5.6 - ISO 3200
Canon 5D Mark II w/75-300mm @ 155 - 1/100 Sec - F5 - ISO 3200
Canon 5D Mark II w/75-300mm @ 270- 1/100 Sec - F5.6 - ISO 3200
Canon 5D Mark II w/75-300mm @ 300 - 1/60 Sec - F5.6 - ISO 3200
Canon 5D Mark II w/75-300mm @ 300 - 1/60 Sec - F5.6 - ISO 3200
Eventually they turned and went their own way, and I did the same. I did come across a squirrel that let me get rather close as it darted up and around a tree. I have a large fondness for extreme close ups of animals. Being able to see the details you wouldn’t otherwise see from your own eye.
Canon 5D Mark II w/75-300mm @ 180 - 1/50 Sec - F5 - ISO 3200
Canon 5D Mark II w/75-300mm @ 75 - 1/60 Sec - F4 - ISO 1600
And that was it, just a short trip on a fleeting Sunday evening. Low expectations of finding anything, but fantastic results.