Trying to Escape Our Personal Limits

As much as I enjoy pictures of flowers and birds, I don’t like limiting my photographic attempts to just those areas. I’ve always taken scenic shots, of course, but I’m going to make a conscious effort to take more scenic shots. I’ve also taken shots of other wildlife when I observed it while birding, but I’ve also resolved to actively go to areas where I’m more apt to see other wildlife.

That’s why I didn’t limit my last outing to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. I also went to the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada and the Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, south of Malheur, both better known for antelope, wild horses, mountain goats and wild burros than for birds.

Unfortunately, I’ve found the picture format I’ve set up here rather limiting, and so far I’ve been unable to figure out how to set up pop-up photos that would allow readers to see scenics in larger format by clicking on the smaller version. So, I decided when I wanted to include a larger format picture, I would include a smaller version here and provide a link to a larger picture at another site I maintain. That way, those who are interested in seeing a larger version can click on the link and other viewers with slower connections won’t be overwhelmed by slow downloads.

Here’s two shots that I think suffer by being limited to 620 pixels width. In this one,

Deer and Fawn in Deep Grass

the deer seem too small for me, but, if I crop to show the deer, the setting is lost, and in this case the setting seems to be as much the subject of the photo as the doe and the fawn are.

I took this shot of a herd of deer from high up on a ridge so I could only include a small portion of the the photo here and still have the viewer realize it is a herd of deer,

Herd of Deer on Grasslands

but, again the grassland setting seemed as important as the deer themselves.