North Carolina Elk ...

My FAVORITE Elk shot, like EVER!

Yeah! He was standing out in a well lit field ("Hard Light"!), over there in Cataloochee Valley, with the trees (that BLACK!) in the background! I just had to wait until the trees went into SHADOW!

And then just, ahh, "lined them up" so that he was in front of the shadow (trees), and ... BAM!

Just FIRED AWAY!

And duh?

MINUS, MINUS, MINUS!

And yes, I checked the data! And get this ... Just, ahh, "MINUS".

Yeah, that's it!

"Just" MINUS ONE!

You know, as in ahh ... -1.0 Stops!

Too EASY!

Go figure!

Perfect!

Again, "EXPOSE FOR THE HIGHLIGHTS", and let everything else go BLACK! That are what shadows do, remember? Turn black.

MINUS,MINUS, MINUS!

Make your image, don't just TAKE IT!

Like this one ... At the same place, but yeah, in DIFFERENT light! It could have even been in the same field, just at a different time ...

It is all about the LIGHT, right then and there!

Duh?

That's why I made it, you know, RULE NUMBER ONE!

Shot at the same place, but yeah, in DIFFERENT light! It could have even been in the very same field (there are a couple different ones up there)!

Different time and place ...

It is all about the LIGHT!

At that certain place and time!

"Soft Light" (no shadows!) just lets everything, ahh, stay that way! Just get it the way you want it, and that's GREAT! Now true, I'm sure I got some MINUS in there somewhere, you know me, but yeah, just my "NORMAL" minus ...

Depends on the LIGHT right at that second!

Period.

Like THIS!

Out along the Pacific Coast of California, ahh, that summer I drove out to pick up my younger brother, Mark, who was out there for a few months, at a place to help him on his quest to free himself from the drugs and alcohol in his life ...

It helped for a few years ...

And, best of all, he got to see this elk, high above the Pacific Ocean ... Remember, he grew up in Florida.

Cataloochee Valley, NC. Yeah, really. You need to get "over there" in the Fall, for the RUT!

GOOGLE it.

See you there.

The males get all "fired up" about fathering the next generation of elk, here in Western North Carolina. If you have never heard the unique sound of an "Elk Bugle", ahh, you need to get over there to experience it first hand!

Unreal.

I love it!

And yes, I believe I captured this young bull out in Yellowstone, National Park, early one summer (notice the "velvety" antlers!) while out there shooting a raft trip on some river, you know, somewhere! I've been down a "few" over the years, you know, back in the day! Ahh, Pre-Covid, that is!

But yeah ... I like my elk!

Ahh, anywhere.

Oops! Close, but yeah, NOT elk! But hey! I was driving by, they were in the neighborhood, what do you expect?

SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT!

Pronghorn antelope.

Hey, they have antlers, that works for me!

Good luck with that!

Can't wait till, ahh, LATE summer around here! Yeah, that is when the ELK RUT begins! Get on I-40W and drive to Exit 20, and follow the GRAVEL road up the mountain, until you reach the "Park" (there is even a sign!), yeah, it is actually "Part of" the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, just, ahh, separated from, you know, the "Main Park", by the Interstate!

Safer for everyone involved! I did mention that these are HUGE, WILD animals, right?

Really.

GOOGLE IT.

Cataloochee Valley, NC.

Trust me, it's worth the effort, you know, if you like BIG, elk, out in the fields, looking for their "girlfriends", as "THE RUT" is to begin! Only the biggest, baddest males get to mate!

They FIGHT each other to see who "WINS"!

Just look for all the cars parked along the road! You can't miss them.

Oh! And yeah, all the tripods, with their cameras, and rather BIG lenses, on the edge of the road as well ... CRAZY!

Yeah, just like the boys at school, and the elk in the fields, yeah, "SIZE" matters!

Ha.

You'll figure it out!

But yeah, stay CLOSE to your car! Or, you know, somebody's car!

These are WILD elk, and yeah, like I said, the males get all "FIRED UP" around the "ladies", and yeah, don't mess around!

With anyone, or anything!

I know!

I taught middle school, and yeah, went to MANY school dances dances over the years!

Same idea, only, yeah, these males are much, LARGER! And have rather huge, and very sharp looking ANTLERS!

And no! That is not "rain" you see on their faces, and necks. And that's all I'll say about that!

Oh yeah! And you thought the boy's locker rooms were crazy at school!

But if you like nature, and elk, and even some deer, and other wildlife as well, yeah, make your way up that twisty, gravel, road, until you reach the pavement once again (The Park), and see what you can come up with.

You never know ...

But yeah, it's "OUT THERE", just letting you know!

I always "filled -up" with gas, there at the exit, and yeah, "Fill-Up" myself, for the long day up that twisty, gravel/dirt road, before ever making it to the actual "PARK" ...

True, there is a CAMPGROUND up there, but yeah, that fills up EARLY, like, weeks (MONTHS!) in advance, so yeah, if interested in that, yeah, do your "Homework"!

Book your site EARLY!

Remember, I had my Honda Elements, and yeah, there is an REST STOP, just down

I-40W a "short" ways ... Just saying.

But yeah, for a QUICK visit, just to experience the "MADNESS", yeah, get there early, and just leave before whatever it is that you have to do in order to get "home for the night", or wherever, before it gets too late!

I know I have enjoyed my time up there the MANY times I have driven up there. And yes! I have even "lucked out", and found an open campsite up there as well! But like I said, call in advance! It is well worth whatever it is I paid, that was for sure.

That said, it's been awhile.

Maybe these images will get me "fired up" for this Fall ... You never know!

We'll see.

I have time.

Good luck with that!

See ya!