Behind the Piece: The Shedding Season
Share
Some wildlife encounters stay with you because of what you saw. Others stay with you because of what it took to capture them.
The Shedding Season began on a mid-August evening high in the Colorado Rockies, north of Estes Park. Late in the afternoon, after traveling along a narrow, winding mountain road with hopes of seeing wildlife, I came upon this bull elk standing out in the open as if he had been waiting for his moment. I was in awe.
This outing was especially meaningful because it was my first time out with my Sony 200–600mm long lens. I had been eager to photograph something more rewarding than open sky and distant landscape, but I was also still adjusting to the size and weight of the lens. When I stepped out of the car, I did not have a tripod with me, so I had to work quickly and carefully to steady myself, manage the weight, and reduce shake as I pressed the shutter.
Even in that moment, I knew the encounter was special. But I did not fully realize what I had captured until I returned to the hotel and began reviewing the images with anticipation. To my surprise, so many of the frames held clear eyes — sharp, expressive, alive. With a new long lens, no tripod, and a subject this strong, that felt like a gift.
And what a subject he was.
This bull elk offered far more than I had hoped for that evening. His size, his posture, and especially the striking stage of his antlers made the moment unforgettable. The velvet shedding from the antlers introduced something even deeper than grandeur. It gave the portrait tension, transition, and story — a reminder that even the most commanding figures in nature are still moving through change.
That is what makes The Shedding Season so meaningful to me. It is not simply a wildlife portrait from the Rockies. It is the memory of a first outing with a new lens, the thrill of seeing something extraordinary after a winding mountain drive, and the quiet satisfaction of discovering that the images had held together beautifully when I finally viewed them later that night.
Sometimes the reward is not just in finding the subject. It is in realizing, frame by frame, that the moment found you too.