First Encounter

“First Encounter”

When photographing wildlife, it always pays to be prepared. I often refer to this photo as my 3 second shot, as it was just that. Being the elusive animals that they are, prior to this image, all my wolf photos consisted of butts and tails. But on this particular day, I had just stopped and reset my camera for the changing light conditions. Within moments this beautiful grey wolf ran across the road in front of me and disappeared into the forest! When I got to the point of where it entered the forest, I caught a glimpse of it heading the direction from which I had just come. Recalling a clearing I had passed, I quickly turned around and headed back to that point. Within 30 seconds of arriving, this gorgeous creature appeared at the edge of the clearing! Just long enough for me to capture this image, as it then quickly disappeared back into the protective forest.  Had I not reset my camera for the light conditions at the time, I would have never been able to capture this my first full body encounter with such a gorgeous creature of nature.

-Stan Masters

I have since been told that this wolf was actually the alpha female of the Bow Valley Pack at the time – what a blessing it was to capture this image of her!

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