Saturday, July 6, 2013

Bull Moose at 3:00 A.M.

















Last night at 2:00 A.M. I woke to check the aurora index and next thing you know I'm spending the remainder of the night and early morning out in the woods!  During the evening the aurora forecast was looking more and more favorable but not strong enough to head out before going to bed.  So, I set my alarm for 2:00 hoping that maybe by then it would be worth going out.  When I checked the forecast after my alarm woke me it indicated that the aurora was at "STORM" level!  Once I saw that, I was on my way outside with my camera in tow.  Unfortunately, it started to rain just moments after I arrived at my first location along the Lake Superior shoreline.  The aurora was active, I could see it plainly in the sky between the rain clouds.  The rain prevented me from getting any shots so I altered my plan and decided to head inland and see if the sky was clear away from the big lake.  

On my way up Old Highway 61 in Grand Portage I drove right by a swamp and there, standing not more than 20 feet off the road, was a big bull moose!  He didn't even move when I drove by, so I slowly backed up to get a better look at him.  He still wasn't moving, so I turned the truck a bit until the headlights were shining right at him.  He just stood there, staring at me as I stared back at him.  This photo was taken through the windshield of my truck.  I think it turned out pretty good considering it was a hand-held shot from behind the wheel of the truck and at ISO 6400!  I took a few more pictures of him before he started to walk away.  As he walked away I shot a couple of video clips of him as well.  It was a great start to my late night photo outing!

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