I only photograph bison in the snow. It is their toughness that defines them and their thick coats seem to make so much more sense on a bitingly cold winter’s day. They are not the easiest of animals to film and every year in Yellowstone there is at least one incident of a bison charging a park visitor who has got too closeor has been in the wrong place at the
wrong time. This picture was taken in the plains of America, as opposed to somewhere heavily regulated like Yellowstone and the big bull moving speedily in my general direction offers a different and fresh perspective from my previous work with this beast of an animal.
These type of immersive, ground up photographs are only possible when working in collaboration with seasoned ranchers and we would not recommend this angle of view in most bison situations. They are unpredictable animals and when spooked, they can be deadly. I like to convey size and scale in all that I do. I always feel a need to communicate clearly whatever the subject and this approach is embedded in the creative processing.
This adult male bison weighs over 1000kgs - so about the same weight as 10 American footballers together. He is a monster of an animal and I think the second bison in the distance helps to give a sense of this.