All for a reference photo

Friday morning I got up and headed down to the beach to see my parents. Just as I was leaving Sheridan, I saw a small herd of elk running beside the highway. Naturally, I slammed on the brakes to see if I could get some reference photos.

elk_running1elk_runningThis turned out to be more of a challenge than expected. First, those elk were running faster than some racehorses I’ve seen. Second, they were completely spooked by something. I new my first attempts to get a photo weren’t good, so I turned off the highway to see what I could get.

Even this wasn’t good enough, so I took a chance and took my little car off into the cut hayfields to see if I could get closer. But these were wily elk…

They stood behind trees, and bushes, and seemed to know just when to stop to offer the least photogenic moment.

In the end, the farmer came over to be all like “what the heck” and the elk took off again. Frankly, I don’t think the last photo is going to make it as a painting…

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