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Goose attack
Josiah Launstein
On a cold February morning, while photographing ducks and geese on a lake in British Columbia, Canada, Josiah noticed a Canada goose behaving very aggressively. It was a little before the usual breeding season, but this individual had clearly staked out its territory and didn’t want any intruders. ‘It would call loudly and rush out at any other goose that swam by,’ says Josiah. ‘It even flew up to deter geese that were coming in to land.’Native to North America (but now also common in parts of northern Europe, where it was introduced as an ornamental and game species), the Canada goose typically mates for life, and pairs stay together year round. Josiah climbed down from the pier with his tripod to be at goose level. ‘I had just got my lens focused on it,’ he says, ‘when it exploded out of the shallows at another goose.’ With quick reactions, he captured the drama. ‘I love how you can see the water and mud flying,’ he says.
Nikon D7100 + 300mm f4 lens + 1.4x teleconverter; 1/640 sec at f7.1; ISO 720; Gitzo tripod.
Snowy scene
Josiah Launstein
Josiah loves photographing owls. The more elusive snowies are some of his favourites, ‘especially the males, because they are so white’. Every year snowy owls arrive from further north to overwinter on the Canadian prairies and can be found near where Josiah lives in southern Alberta. He and his family are keen owl spotters. On this occasion, an unexpected snowstorm lasted the whole day, making conditions almost impossible for photography. After nine hours, they finally spotted a few owls in the blizzard. ‘I couldn’t believe it when this male flew towards us and caught a vole,’ Josiah recalls. Unusual among owls, snowies hunt mainly during the day, locating prey (mostly small mammals but sometimes larger animals such as young hares and birds) by both sight and sound. Josiah’s hands were freezing in the −30 ̊C (−22 ̊F) windchill temperature, but when the owl landed on a fence, he quickly framed his shot through the open truck window and grabbed a few pictures before the owl flew off. Cropping the image to make the most of the ‘cool old fence’, he neatly captured the elegant bird in its windswept environment.
Nikon D7100 + 300mm f4 lens + 1.4x teleconverter; 1/320 sec at f6.3 (+1 e/v); ISO 3200.
（以上摄影作品将于11月25日开始在安省博物馆的“年度野生摄影师作品展”中展出） |
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