Band of Brothers is a painting that has special meaning to me. It reminds me of the hours I spent watching these magnificent creatures and the unique opportunity I had to study them in close proximity and in their natural habitat. Though they were roughly 200 yards away they were completely comfortable with my presence and I kept a respectable distance and did nothing to disturb them.
In November of 2024 I drove up into a canyon area near my home hoping to see some of the bighorn that live there. It was the beginning of the rut and I had hoped to photograph some of the battles that these rams have. As I drove along I spotted a ram high on a rocky outcropping to my left, but way too far away for a decent photo. However, the ram didn't stay there and came running down the rocks, crossed the creek and the road in front of me and started trotting along the road ahead of me. I cautiously followed. As we came around a bend in the road it opened into a larger, more open canyon and there on the hillsides were three more large rams. The first ram joined them and the four proceeded to kick, head-butt and give each other the stink-eye, but never did any full out head-butt battles. Since there were no ewes present there was no one to show off to so this was just a prelude to bigger things to come.
I was enthralled and took dozens of photos of their interactions. Then, as if on cue, all four walked to the edge of the rocks and lined up side by side looking in my direction. They stayed there for several minutes occasionally pushing and shoving each other while I continued to click away. Eventually, one by one, they made their way further up into the canyon and disappeared into the rocks above me. What a blessing!! They gave me perfect poses and all I had to do was modify the background to show them off.
Band of Brothers is a painting that has special meaning to me. It reminds me of the hours I spent watching these magnificent creatures and the unique opportunity I had to study them in close proximity and in their natural habitat. Though they were roughly 200 yards away they were completely comfortable with my presence and I kept a respectable distance and did nothing to disturb them.
In November of 2024 I drove up into a canyon area near my home hoping to see some of the bighorn that live there. It was the beginning of the rut and I had hoped to photograph some of the battles that these rams have. As I drove along I spotted a ram high on a rocky outcropping to my left, but way too far away for a decent photo. However, the ram didn't stay there and came running down the rocks, crossed the creek and the road in front of me and started trotting along the road ahead of me. I cautiously followed. As we came around a bend in the road it opened into a larger, more open canyon and there on the hillsides were three more large rams. The first ram joined them and the four proceeded to kick, head-butt and give each other the stink-eye, but never did any full out head-butt battles. Since there were no ewes present there was no one to show off to so this was just a prelude to bigger things to come.
I was enthralled and took dozens of photos of their interactions. Then, as if on cue, all four walked to the edge of the rocks and lined up side by side looking in my direction. They stayed there for several minutes occasionally pushing and shoving each other while I continued to click away. Eventually, one by one, they made their way further up into the canyon and disappeared into the rocks above me. What a blessing!! They gave me perfect poses and all I had to do was modify the background to show them off.