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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery One: Travel Abstractions -- Unlimited Thought > Biding his time, Madison Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006
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27-SEP-2006

Biding his time, Madison Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2006

We visited Yellowstone at the height of the elk mating season. A female has just rebuffed this male elk. He was quite agitated that his charms had failed him. He slipped into the high grass to watch the female graze only a few feet away. He has abstracted himself, leaving only his huge antlers and slowly flicking ears visible, making this image far more compelling than if he were in full view. In wildlife photography, less can often be more.

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Phil Douglis27-Apr-2018 02:35
Thank you, Merri, for noting the attitude of the female elk here. Your focus on the feminine point of view tells an entirely different story than I envisioned. The striking contrast in our viewpoints illuminates the strength of this image, rather than a weakness.
Merri 25-Apr-2018 06:01
COOL!! This is one I'll keep in mind for future reference when I'm trying to capture an animal in it's element. Those antlers do indeed make so much more of a statement. The cow in the background almost seems to taunt him with her rejection the way she's facing. I don't know if elk do that, but horses do.
Phil Douglis04-Aug-2007 18:50
Glad you enjoyed this moment as much as I did, Patricia. You view it from the female's point of view, as she shows her backside to the slowly vanishing male. It is interesting to compare your response to Christina Conroy's -- she looked at the image in purely aesthetic terms, and thought the female's rump and the surrounding trees hurt the "compositional balance." You look at it as I did -- making the most of a unique moment in time to tell an amusing story, mainly through the female's indifference to the male. Thank you for placing content over form, which for me, anyway, is the key to expressive photography.
Patricia Lay-Dorsey04-Aug-2007 16:29
A moment in time never to be repeated. At least not in this particular way. Such an amazing capture, Phil, and yes, less is definitely more. To me, her turning her back--her rump, to be specific--on this magnificent display of male power and beauty is most telling. It gives me a chuckle. I love it.
Phil Douglis29-Jun-2007 17:44
This is another image that requires verbal context, Daniel. Once you learned that this was a mating game, the meaning of the image became clear to you. Glad you enjoyed it.
Guest 28-Jun-2007 22:53
When I first saw this photo, I didn't realize that these were male and female elks engaging in a mating game. I actually chuckled a bit when first viewing this photo. It looks like a elk hunting another animal, trying to sneak his way up to him (I thought it was a male), yet doing an embarrassingly bad job due to his antlers sticking out!
Phil Douglis16-Apr-2007 05:24
Well said, Xin. Thank you for noting the circle of life here -- that is exactly what the mating process involves.
Sheena Xin Liu16-Apr-2007 02:58
A strikingly Juxtaposition between two forces in the circle of life.
Phil Douglis20-Nov-2006 02:39
Glad you like this image as much as I liked making it, Jen. I can see that it has triggered your imagination. Wildlife photography must be more than animal portraiture. It is essentially all about life -- and emotions and relationships are the stuff of life. That's what I try to do in all of my wildlife images. You are right, Jen. Every living thing shares common ground in some form. It is my joy to tell stories about the lives of animals, as well as humans.
Jennifer Zhou19-Nov-2006 12:37
I first thought this picture is related to life and death because the antlers seems to be lain on the ground and belongs to a dead elk. I was amazed to know it was a love(mating) story. It seems like the male elk is too shy to show himself after getting turned down, but the antlers revealed his presence. Or he is showing the most attractive part of him and try his luck one more time.. But obviously it doesn't work. I love when you show emotions and relations with your wildlife photos, I feel at some points, all the creatures on this planet has something in common.. Your photos really bring us close to them..Thanks for making all these wonderful images Phil!
Phil Douglis27-Oct-2006 07:00
I have to disagree with you here, Christina. There are times where we must throw aesthetic considerations out the window in order to tell a story. There was no time to move around -- a ranger was yelling at me to get back into the car because the male elk was considered dangerous. I pointed and shot and came up with, as you say, an unusual take. It tells the story well, in spite of the merger and the lack of fine composition. As for the female rump, it says "indifference." I consider it an important part of the story here.
Squared C27-Oct-2006 05:53
I find the tree coming out of his antler distracting. I love the abstraction that he created by not being seen very much, but I'm not in love with the rump of the other elk and the trees. Somehow they leave the composition wanting for balance. I do like the unusual take on the scene though. Kudos for that!
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