As I slam the car door, I am welcomed by a swarm of small insects, hovering in the shadow side of the the tree, where I parked. I imagined collecting my things slowly, but the insects seem to be a little hungry for salt or blood. I don't want to stay too long to find out.
I rush into the open and head towards the gates to Jægersborg Deer Garden. My usual style of wildlife photography is alone in forest, but here I am met with dog walkers, families strolling, a children birthday party, groups of tourists, and other photographers. Maybe this was a mistake?
I contemplate the deer to human ratio, and hope that the crowds will thin out the closer we get to dinner, and prime television time. At least the mosquito to human ratio is improved with more victims to prey on.
The forecast seem to hold up, giving me hope of capturing backlit shots of either red deer or fallow deer in the August evening sun. The antlers are almost fully re-grown, at this time of year, but they still have the fuzzy velvet-like cover before they are fully calcified and ready for the rut in fall.
As the sun dips closer to the horizon and just before the golden hour begins the crowds retires from the park, however the mosquitos doesn't take a break. On the contrary, they move away from the safety of the shade and into the open leaving me nowhere to hide.
I just have to accept them.
I unzip the bag and reach for my camera (Nikon Z8) and the attached 400mm lens, and start to think about the suns path across the cloudless sky.
A group of male fallow deers is relaxing in the middle of the meadow.
I slowly step off the path and into the meadow keeping my distance. I got my eyes fixed on the white-fured one which is the one closest to me. I am almost at the right angle for backlit shots. I sit down in the tall sun burnt grass and let the deers get used to my presence. Time to take a couple of safe shots.
10 minutes later, I move slowly 5 meters closer without looking directly at the deers. The deers are still just resting, not taking much notice of me. I know this wouldn't be possible anywhere else than in a deer park, where animals are habituated to people. They are not tame, but not wild either. 5 meters more and I am in the spot where I don't think I can get closer without breaching the comfort zone of the deers.
I am far enough away from the park roads to stop noticing the the dog walkers, the few tourists, occational laughs from friends enjoying a glass of wine on stairs of the Hermitage Palace, and the sound of wheels on gravel from bicyclists using the park as a shortcut. Occationally I see a few people pointing in my direction.
I can't hear what they are saying, so even though it is not the silence I am used to, or the thrill of being unnoticed by the deers it is good enough for me to feel that I have my own space for photography.
Using a prime lens, I can't do better or worse in terms of zooming.
A short 2 minute light rain shower breaks the otherwise warm and breezeless evening. I decide to play with the shutter speed for a while and drops it to between 1/20s and 1/50s, trying my best to hold the 400mm lens stable. I don't have a tripod, so this will have to do. I cradle the lens in the camera strap and let it hang to avoid having my hands touch the lens directly. I only manage to get a few shots before the rain stops.
I keep the camera low enough to the ground to get the foreground just a meter in front of me in the bottom of the frame, as a out of focus abstract element. Keeping the aperture between f/4.5 and f/5.6 the background is kept out of focus as well letting all the attention fall on the white fallow deer and the light. As usual the camera is set to manual mode with auto-ISO. The only thing I have to change is the shutter speed, which is back at around 1/640s, which should be enough for the resting fallow deers.
Everything is simplified, so I can focus on this small group of subjects. The small insects keep dancing their evening dance over my head and above the fallow deers as well. The Sun illuminates the velvet antlers, and even the tiny insects swirling above and in the background.
The white fallow deer lifts its head, shake off some of the ever intrusive insect, before closing its eyes and settling the head in a slightly upward gesture. I give the trigger button a slight squeeze.
This is the moment I have been waiting for.
Not the exact pose, but any pose that can reveal some kind of emotion.
The slight upward tilt of the head, gives me a sense of the deer enjoying the final soft, but still warm light rays of the setting sun. Maybe it is stretching it a bit, but looking up is, at least to humans, full of hope. Whatever the deer is thinking about, I don't know.
However, when we look at an image where the animal has a posture that resemples one we as human would have when having a specific emotion. We can connect with the animal on a mental level, or experience a similar emotion by just looking at an image. That's when an image stop being a simple portrait and instead a story or a vehicle for our own emotions.
The insects, despite being a constant source of irritation, ends up being the element that gives many of the images I take this evening, a sense of magical glow and atmosphere, as they show up as bokeh in many of the photos.
Camera/Lens: Nikon Z8 + 400mm f/4.5
Settings: 1/640s | f/4.5 | ISO 1250 (Auto)
Photography Insight: "To get the 'magical glow' of the insects, I had to position myself exactly opposite of the sun. The backlighting doesn't just illuminate the deer; it turns every hovering mosquito into a tiny light source. I underexposed by 0.7 stops to ensure the highlights in the velvet didn't blow out."