American Mink - Vison d’Amérique
After trying to photograph resident Minks in a snowy environment, an opportunity arose recently to try against a different set of colours and textures. This is late winter/early spring in Ottawa: browns, beiges, muted reds, and wildlife.
The Minks in this part of the woods hunt fish through an underwater opening that gets them to the Lake. Several times a day, for a few weeks, the Minks would dash from an opening in their tunnel network, run to the water, slip in and gather fish, and then emerge, dashing back. It was a trip that gave rise to a lot of terrible images that will never see the light of day.
So I formed a different plan: getting there very early, and trying to secure an image before the Mink got into the water. Apart from challenges with light, this plan was more successful, as the Mink emerged from the tunnel opening and surveyed the environment for threats before beginning its operational commute.
The large, almost coconut-like object is immediately above where the opening is to its underground network. I have no idea what that object is, but the Minks found several occasions to scratch themselves on it.
When I showed the image to a friend, the comment was that this reminds them of a diorama in a nature museum - that was not what I intended, but now that I have that in my head, I am a bit disappointed.
That said, I like the alert pose, scanning for threats, weighing the moment when caution surrenders to hunger.
American Mink - Vison d’Amérique
After trying to photograph resident Minks in a snowy environment, an opportunity arose recently to try against a different set of colours and textures. This is late winter/early spring in Ottawa: browns, beiges, muted reds, and wildlife.
The Minks in this part of the woods hunt fish through an underwater opening that gets them to the Lake. Several times a day, for a few weeks, the Minks would dash from an opening in their tunnel network, run to the water, slip in and gather fish, and then emerge, dashing back. It was a trip that gave rise to a lot of terrible images that will never see the light of day.
So I formed a different plan: getting there very early, and trying to secure an image before the Mink got into the water. Apart from challenges with light, this plan was more successful, as the Mink emerged from the tunnel opening and surveyed the environment for threats before beginning its operational commute.
The large, almost coconut-like object is immediately above where the opening is to its underground network. I have no idea what that object is, but the Minks found several occasions to scratch themselves on it.
When I showed the image to a friend, the comment was that this reminds them of a diorama in a nature museum - that was not what I intended, but now that I have that in my head, I am a bit disappointed.
That said, I like the alert pose, scanning for threats, weighing the moment when caution surrenders to hunger.