Foreshadowing

Hi all! Been a little tied up in the Christmas rush but wanted to share this one with you from this spring. 

You may remember on Mother's Day I shared the heartbreaking story of a beautiful fox vixen that my family had grown close to who lost her life in early May (here's our blog post celebrating her). 

This picture was taken just days before she was killed, and I thought it was particularly poignant because she had just headed out from the den on a hunting foray when she paused to look back at her kits for a moment before disappearing over the ridge. Days later after embarking on a similar foray, she would never return.

The background is the lower slopes of a nearby mountain with snow still holding in some of the deeper crevaces, creating the white lines you see here. While the scene is very colourful with the deep blues of the mountains at dusk in the background, I was thinking black and white when I took the picture and decided to stay faithful to the choice I made in the moment. 

I did clone out a couple of blades of grass that had intruded on the fox's body.

As always, I welcome your input and feedback!

Warmest wishes to you and yours for the holidays and new year...

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Nikon D600
Nikkor AF-S 500mm f/4D IF-ED
ISO 1600
1320sec @ f/5
-0.3 stops underexposed from meter
Mounted on FEISOL CT-3372 Elite tripod with Acratech GV2 ballhead and Wimberley Sidekick