Inspired by Others: R. Eric Knight

When John Knight sent me a number of shots two weeks ago of his son Eric's adventures in wildlife photography in Prince Albert National Park in northern Saskatchewan this winter, I was thrilled to see a series of fantastic river otter images as good as anything I've seen come out of Canadian waters with wild otters.

I immediately asked John if Eric would mind if I posted a few on this blog and voila, here are my two favourites from Eric's day out in the field.

A river otter peers up at wildlife photographer Eric Knight (c) R. Eric Knight

I asked Eric how he managed to get so close to the otters with his 100-400mm lens, as river otters are notoriously tough to photograph, except for in a few locations like Yellowstone.  Apparently, he wore full winter camouflage and "plopped down in the middle of a snow drift" on the shores of Waskesiu Lake near an opening in the ice.  He said that by the end of the shoot, the otters had gotten used to his presence and that he was "pleasantly faced with trying to decide between five different furry subjects, all struggling to impress [him] with fish pulled from the depths of [the lake]."

An otter pokes up through the slush for a look (c) R. Eric Knight

If you're interested in seeing more of Eric's work, you can view a gallery of it on his father's photography website.

Happy shooting!

John