I was looking out my front window as I turned on my porch light at dusk last night and saw a red fox across the street. Normally, that isn’t all that unusual (we have a large rabbit population in the area, and an occasional fox trotting down the street is common). I noticed, however, that it was playing with another fox – and a third jumped in! I ran and got my camera, popped on my 70-200 (this is the longest lens I have – I wish I had one just a bit longer) and snuck outside. Once outside I noticed that I wasn’t the only one with a spring baby. There were 5 fox pups playing in the yard across the street!

At this point, you might be asking yourself why I put Moose in the title. I live in the Denver metro area – seeing an actual Moose in town isn’t likely. But, as I was sneaking outside, a recent class at Photoshop World taught by Moose Peterson came to mind. The focus of the class was how to get close to wildlife – which seemed very applicable at the moment!

I pulled out my notes from Moose’s class and provided a summary below. I used most, if not all, last night. Thanks for the tips Moose!

Moose’s Tips for Getting Close to Wildlife

• Invest the Time: This was the number 1 tip. Be ready to invest some time. Getting close to animals is easy, if you are willing to take a nice slow approach, stopping when necessary so that you don’t frigthen them. You might also need to find out where they are and just wait. Sometimes, you’ll have to wait – and wait – and wait.
• Go Where They Are: This may sound simple, but it can be very important. Find ou the places the animals you want to shoot are at. In many cases, that includes going to where their food is at. At times, this can be easier than expected. Moose pulled up a great example of shooting some pelicans at a local pier because they were used to getting fed in a particular place. No swamp hiking was required in that case.
• Don’t Get Low: For many animals, getting low makes you look more like a predator. So, a lot of the time, standing works just fine.
• Respect: Always make sure you respect the creatures you are shooting – make sure you provided the lowest possible impact on them and their enviornment.
• 60 Feet or Less: Most shots can happen at 60 feet or less. At first I was a little skeptical of this one, but last night the Foxes let me get within about 40 feet before they started getting nervous. If you follow the other rules, this one can be very true.
• Be Ready to Get Skunked: Moose is one of the country’s best wildlife photographers and he readily admits that he goes out and comes back with nothing regularly (around 50% of the time). So, don’t get discouraged if you don’t get the shot you want. Just keep trying!