In the Field

Innocence? Red Burn Creek, BC, Canada. August 27, 2004 (image processed early in 2010).

I photographed this gray wolf along a rocky trail in a thick and very green sub-alpine forest in the northern tip of the valley in which I live. In a way this is an exceptionally simple image - just a wolf standing in the forest. But to me the image represents so much, including what wilderness in North America is supposed to be (and what it's supposed to contain!). The wolf was obviously very aware of my presence and shortly after I shot this image it trotted away. Chance close-range encounters with wolves in wilderness settings are very rare things - it's happened to me only 3 or 4 times over my lifetime. But now every time I walk in the woods near my home, I know it's at least theoretically possible that I will run into a wolf (or bear, or cougar, or wolverine). And that knowledge gives the wilderness an indescribable appeal and allure. I hope that future generations have the same opportunity to experience that feeling...

One of my personal goals when photographing wildlife is to transcend what I call "of a" photos. "Of a" photographs are those which when viewed often illicit a response like "Oh, that's a nice picture of a wolf" - i.e., they feel the need to add the qualifier "of a wolf" rather than simply saying "What a beautiful photograph". In a way "of a" images are akin to what we also think of as "documentary images", as opposed to wildlife art. Finding a way to transcend "of a" images with wildlife is always a huge challenge. One approach is to find a way to show personality or emotion in your subject. This, of course, is definitely easier said than done, especially when photographing hard-to-find subjects like carnivores! One thing that I find helpful is to carefully watch the animal's eyes and postures - when they illicit an emotional response from ME I know it's a good time to press the shutter release! When this wolf gave me this fleeting glance I was instantly struck by how innocent (and almost forlorn) it looked, and I almost instinctively released the shutter. There are those who would think that calling a very large wolf (this guy easily ran over 100 lbs) "innocent" is a tad inappropriate, but that's definitely the emotion I felt when I captured the image. And, this very simple wolf image has become one of my personal favourites (of those in my own collection) and every time I look at it I'm struck again by the apparent innocence of the wolf.

Disclosure of Subject Status: When photographed, this wolf was free-ranging in a natural environment and not restrained in any way. However, it was/is NOT a fully wild wolf - it inhabited a nearby wolf education and rehabilitation centre and was released from captivity shortly before this image was taken. None of the photographs exhibited on this website are of captive animals in zoos or game farms or restrained in any fashion.

Behind the Camera

Innocence? Red Burn Creek, BC, Canada. August 27, 2004 (image processed early in 2010).

Digital Capture; Compressed RAW (NEF) format; ISO 200.

Nikon D2H with with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR lens @ 90 mm (135 mm EFL) - handheld. VR turned to "On" and in "Normal" mode.

1/320s @ f2.8; -0.7 stop exposure compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

Innocence? Red Burn Creek, BC, Canada. August 27, 2004 (image processed early in 2010).

RAW Conversion, including first-pass sharpening, using Phase One's C1 Pro 5.0.2. Three raw conversions at different exposure settings to balance final exposure. Raw conversions at -0.25 stops (to reduce brightness of foreground and background rocks) through to +0.8 stops (to retrieve shadow detail on portions of the wolf).

All further digital correction on 16-bit TIFF file using Adobe's Photoshop CS4 and Light Craft's LightZone 3.8.5. Photoshop adjustments included compositing (layer and masking) of 3 exposure variants, selective colour saturation and desaturation, and selective sharpening for web output. Final tone tweaking and adjustments using the Tonemapper/Re-light tool of LightZone.

Conservation

Innocence? Red Burn Creek, BC, Canada. August 27, 2004 (image processed early in 2010).

Ten percent of the revenue generated by this image will be donated to Wildsight.

Species Status in Canada*: Only Eastern Wolf listed as species of "Special Concern" in May, 2001. Other populations not listed as Endangered or Threatened.

Species Status in the United States: Western Great Lakes population removed from list of Endangered and Threatened species on January 29, 2007. Proposed delisting of Northern Rockies population on January 29, 2007. Both actions are a direct result of a successful recovery plan. Congratulations! Wolves in other areas of the lower 48 states (including the Southwest wolf population), remain on Endangered Species list.

Probably no species alive today has suffered as much direct persecution from humans as has the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus). Once extremely widespread in North America, the Gray Wolf was virtually extirpated from the contiguous 48 states of America and now is regularly found within only a fraction of its historical range in Canada. While the Gray Wolf is currently listed as endangered in most of the 48 lower states of the United States and enjoys the privileges associated with such status (if lack of persecution and abuse can be thought of as a privilege), it is still official policy in much of Canada to rid the countryside of this magnificent keystone predator. As an example, in British Columbia, there is NO closed season on the wolf in most hunting jurisdictions and opportunistic slaughter is encouraged by policy (it is the ONLY fur-bearing species for which NO hunting license is required in British Columbia!). Conservation of wolves presents a puzzling paradox. Reduced to the most basic principles, wolf conservation is simplistic: we need only to stop persecuting this species in order for it to survive. Yet accomplishing this invariably proves incredibly difficult - it's as though wolf persecution has been institutionalized directly into government (and societal) bureaucracy.

I commend and support those individuals and groups that have the patience and determination to fight for the Gray Wolf. This wolf was photographed in the Columbia Valley of southeast British Columbia. Wildsight is an effective conservation organization that protects biodiversity and promotes sustainable communities in Canada's Columbia and Rocky Mountains. Support for Wildsight, through donation or becoming a member, will help ensure that they remain effective in their efforts to conserve threatened or endangered species and ecosystems.

*as determined by COSEWIC: The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada