Denali - Moose

I was fortunate to be able to get out into the park when the leaves were turning. The moose were also gathering in their traditional rutting area within the park. My goal was to capture some bull moose with fall colors in the background. The bulls begin to loose their velvet approximately around August 20th. Fall generally occurs in Denali the last week of August. The photo on top was one of my favorites captured during this time period. The lighting conditions were certainly challenging though. He appeared well after sunset. I rarely shoot above 400 ISO to maintain image quality with my Canon MarkIIN. When he posed, remaining still enough, I began raising my ISO and using whatever shutter speed I could manage to capture the shot. While on my tripod, this image was actually shot using ISO 800 and a shutter speed of 1/40th of a second. Sometimes things work out.

As this bull walked away, he looked over in my direction. I liked the way his eye is framed by the brush.

He found this cow earlier in the evening and was hoping his head gear would attract some interest. She seemed more concerned with eating.

On another afternoon with great light I located these two younger bulls.


After watching them for awhile, they then decided to spar. Although not a real fight for ownership of females, was still a thrill to watch.

The fall colors are all gone now. Still amazed at how stunning the colors are in the tundra, as seen in the above image. Soon the moose rut will peak and snow will arrive.

Blue Skies.