A funny thing happened last spring.
I had a bunch of old slides scanned so I would have content for our now retired feature, Throwback Thursdays. In looking through my old images, I found a series of elk silhouettes I took in Waterton with my family.
I had completely forgotten about the photos until that moment and though the scans weren’t great, the concept of animal silhouettes captured my imagination.
Every year, as we prepare to head out into the field, I try to set a challenge for myself. Shoot more images at eye level. Or try using Auto-ISO more often. You get the idea.
In 2014, I decided my goal would be to see how many animals I could capture in silhouette. Good quality silhouettes. Diverse wildlife in silhouette.
For this post, I want to share my results with you.
Deer:
I love this shot. I managed to capture it near Sedge Bay while waiting for a grizzly.
Elk:
For whatever reason, this appears to be the animal easiest to catch in silhouette. The first three shots were taken at in Yellowstone – the first two near West Thumb and the last at 4:30am in Antelope Valley. These next two were taken in Waterton National Park at sunset.
Fox:
On our very last night with our foxes at their den in Waterton, I was able to snap these parting images of Curious and Shy-Friendly as they moved up the hill and toward a new den.
Black Bear:
And finally this young chap. The sub-adult black bear had been hanging out near the beach by Waterton Lake and one day, while searching for salamanders (long story), we heard some very excited people running to their cars. Apparently a black bear was on its way toward the dock, where the family had been having lunch (the family was able to pick up the food before they ran to their car). I made it back to our vehicle in time to grab my camera and get these shots as it ran by…in partial silhouette.
I hope you enjoyed this effort. My biggest disappointment was not being able to catch a bison or pronghorn in silhouette – two animals that should have been easy to shoot in this setting. Oh well. It was a fun challenge and I’m already thinking about what I can do this year.
– D. Simon Jackson | GhostBearPhotography.com
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These are wonderful. Silhouettes are very enchanting. Thank you for sharing.
Simon thank you for sharing. It is fun going through years past pictures, brings back memories. It takes me back to the place the photo was captured, love it.