The Moral of the Story..

Hello All.

I'm not quite sure if this belongs in the EPJ or the Wildlife gallery, but here goes.

So, here's the story: I was walking the trail to my truck after work in downtown Edmonton, when I spotted a fairly large buck awash on a gravel bar on the other side of the North Saskatchewan River. I'm thinking "You've got to be kidding; what the heck is this?" When I got there, I came upon a really nice (albeit unfortunate) Mule Deer buck. Much to my dismay, the lighting was terribly harsh, I had my dress clothes on so I couldn't wade to the gravel bar and I'm in a bit of a hurry to get home, etc. but I did (at least) have my camera with me; so I took a few pictures notwithstanding.

The moral of the story? Well, I keep thinking "Darn!" when I look at this.

- Darn, that I didn't have the gull in better focus (perhaps that's good depending on your "artistic" opinion).
- Darn, that I didn't include the city skyline as a backdrop; which would've made a PERFECT EPJ shot, but my lens was a bit long, I couldn't get it in focus and I didn't have my tripod and 24mm TS-E... or a pair of boots to get to the gravel bar.
- Darn, that I was pressed for time and had to get going!
- Darn, that the lighting was so harsh!

I know; it's Friday! I'll come back tomorrow morning with my tripod, TS-E, perfect morning light - and the time to take a really great image!

So I did! I got up at 5:00 AM, carefully packed my things to get a GREAT EPJ shot...

Alas; during the night, the river rose, submerged the gravel bar and washed the buck and any opportunity I had at another shot down the river... Oh well.

The moral of the story is: try to get the best shot under the circumstances; all things considered - the opportunity might just pass you by... We all learn from experience.

I don't know how this magnificent fellow met his end, and I don't care to speculate. He certainly was in the prime of his life. For all I know, he ventured too close to the river a few months back and, in poor judgement, fell in - who knows?

The usual suspects: Canon 1Dx, EF400mm/f5.6L@f5.6, 1/2,000 - I did my best to tame the light/extract the shadows using curves, etc..

Cheers.