This shot was taken at a River offshoot of the Whiskeytown Lake in California. This photograph would generally not be possible but the circumstances worked out perfectly.
You see, this River is usually roaring, but when I arrived the morning of this shot the water level was very low. The width of the water stream was about half the amount it usually is.
There is a trail that people like me use to walk around in nature that parallels one side of the river. The trail is set back, especially in certain areas, and it’s about 10 feet above the normal water level.
So as I was walking this trail I noticed down below some motion in the water, just after texting a photo of some Mushrooms I found to my wife. The motion was farther out since the water level was so low. But I looked through my camera’s long lens and I could see that there was a romp of River Otters (yes, a romp, I looked it up right now). I texted my wife again, “Omg river otter,” and then turned around and ran.
I ran in the opposite direction because I knew of spot where I used to climb down to the edge of the water. I took some earlier Osprey photos at that exact location. But now that the water was so low and the riverbed was exposed, I knew that I could try and walk on it back towards the River Otter after doing down to that spot. This was the only way to take a photo at the River Otters eye level. Being level with your subject matter’s eyes makes for very good photos. That’s one of the only reasons why my photos look better than the photos you take with your phone.
As you can see, the plan worked perfectly, although, the riverbed was very muddy as it wasn’t fully dry. I’m not sure people understand the work that is involved with my photography as I haven’t discussed that anywhere yet. Maybe, if people are interested, I will tell you all the work that is involved. But after I was done for the morning I was drenched in sweat even though it was 50ºF.
Anyways, I did my best to run, and then sneak up closer to the Otters. And I did a pretty good job of not being seen by them for a long time, even though I was the only thing larger than a small rock on that riverbed.
The romp was diving down and grabbing things to eat and chewing away on them when they returned to the surface. This particular Otter in photograph River Otter 01 obviously caught a decent size Fish so it brought it over to the shore. Unfortunately it went to the shoreline that was farther away from where I was posted. Other photographers will understand the struggle of wishing a photograph was a little closer. But I love this photo anyways, even if the River Otter is murdering a Fish.
More River Otter photos coming to Field Notes soon!
BAM☺︎
