Behind Enemy Lines

This remarkable scene was shot last February on this year's White &Wild Japan workshop. We got up early to see the Japanese craneswake up at their roosting spot, when we suddenly saw something movingin the forest on the left. It turned out to be a red fox, trottingtowards the river, where a couple of cranes had just started theirmorning routine. I've seen foxes going after white tailed eagles onnumerous occasions, and also cranes, so I expected the cranes to makea run/fly for it. But to my astonishment, the cranes didn't move afeather and just continued with their business. The fox didn't seemtoo interested in the birds either - it just needed a drink.

There are many, many fox images around, and it's hard to get somethingtruly original, so we all returned to our ryokan for breakfast withbig smiles on our faces.

The cloudy effect is caused by steam rising from the water - it was -28C.

Nikon D3, AF-S VR 600/4.0, 1.4x TC, 1/125 @ f/8.0, ISO 1600

[if you would like to join me on one of my trips, please have a lookat my website: squiver(dot)com]

Very nice shot, Marcel. Hard to believe that the cranes seem so unconcerned.

Truly remarkable

I love this photo.  I want to hang it on my wall. 

I really like this shot but it just seems a little too dark. Maybe brightening it up just a little?

Thanks for your comments.

 

Colton - the image is not as bright as you'd expect, because it was shot before sunrise. This is a realistic representation of how this scene looked at the time. I could easily brighten the shot, but then it would look like a regular daytime shot and lose the early morning atmosphere. Hope that explains my choice to leave it like this. Thanks for your feedback.

Well looking back now, it wasn't the whole photo I was thinking of, just the fox seemed too dark. Don't get me wrong though, it's a fantastic shot!