Hello, everyone!

I'd like to introduce myself as a new member of the forum. I'm Dick Vance and I live in Sevierville, TN, at the foot of the Smoky Mountains. Strictly an amateur, but I really enjoy the outdoors and photographing wildlife, scenics, and nature. I am humbled by some of the outstanding photographers here but hope to learn from you.

Earlier in the Summer, My buddy and I came across this newborn fawn at Cades Cove in the Smokies. His momma left when she saw us and this little fellow came wobbling toward us, bleating! Must've thought we were deer as he was obviously freshly born and still wet from where momma had been licking him down. We backed away and left so as not to disturb him further. It was a grand experience!



Some more images of him here: http://www.pbase.com/richardr/newborn_fawn

I sincerely appreciate James letting me know about this forum.

Best regards,

Dick:)

Excellent work, very nice to meet you. There's already a great bunch of folks here, welcome aboard.

John

http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/gallery.asp?memberID=100286

Excellent work Dick.....reminds me of a fawn we found that couldnt climb the steep bank of a river when I was young. We took it home, Gave it a little TLC and called the local ranger to come pick it up. It was getting pretty exausted, and would have drowned if we had not come along.

Thanks for the post....and the memories.

Roman

Thank you, John, good to meet you too!

I took a look at your galleries and those are superb images. You do fine work!

Best regards,

Dick:)

Thank you, Roman! Yes, it's a very nice atmosphere here.

This is the second time I've come across a newborn fawn and each time they were making the little bleating noise. I suppose Mama teaches them rather quickly to keep their mouths shut around strangers as I've never heard that at any other time!

That's a wonderful story about the fawn you rescued!

Best regards,

Dick:)

Welcome aboard, Dick!

I am glad to have you hear and am happy that you guys find the experience to be nice. I sometimes feel a bit lonely, and am happy to have a few more people to play with.

"His momma left when she saw us and this little fellow came wobbling toward us, bleating! Must've thought we were deer as he was obviously freshly born and still wet from where momma had been licking him down. We backed away and left so as not to disturb him further. It was a grand experience!"

First, what an awesome experience. You are really lucky. I had the opportunity several years ago to have arrived just shortly after a baby buffalo was birthed (I am trying to see if I can find it...it is in my 2000 collection of images with my old Oly C2500). It may not have been technologically the most advanced thing (certainly by today's standards), but I still think of all the wonderful memories that it has helped capture.

Your picture of the fawn is quite good. Curiously, were you using flash? The light looks pretty close to perfect and I see flecks of light in the fawn's eyes. Was momma far away?

Thanks!
James

Thank you so much for the welcome, James. It was your post of Misha's article that led me here.

No flash on the fawn shot but the light was good for his twinkling eyes. I used my D70 with Nikon 80-200 f2.8 at f4; 1/320th sec. on a monopod. Mama had run off into nearby woods, trying to lead us away, but I'm sure she was keeping her eyes on things.

The other fresh newborn I encountered was right beside my home at the edge of bushes in a vacant lot. My daughter and I had just pulled into the drive when we saw the mama standing there. She didn't move and then, we saw the tiny ears sticking up. We walked a little closer and saw the fawn struggle to stand, bleating just like the one above. What a treat but no camera!

Another one from last year was a couple of weeks old and I almost stepped on him!! He didn't move; mama had trained him well! (used flash for this one in the forest)



Your bison birth had to be a thrill! Hope you can find the photos. The old Oly 2500 isn't too shabby as a digicam. I still get a lot of use out of my C-2100UZ.

Thanks again for the warm welcome.

Best regards,

Dick:)

"Your bison birth had to be a thrill! Hope you can find the photos. The old Oly 2500 isn't too shabby as a digicam. I still get a lot of use out of my C-2100UZ."

Hey Rich,

I am glad that we are developing a small core group of folks here. I am hopeful that others will add on. We still have some room for a few more. Even though I am not a Nikon owner, I post a lot in the Nikon forums. A lot of the people who come and read the site are Nikon owners. I generally don't care what tool people use. I am more concerned about how to make a tool work for me (or you).

Anyway, you are right. The C2500 was a competent camera for a prosumer model. I look back at it and wish that I had kept the .jpg and .tiff files that had come out of it without touching them at all. I find that some of the biggest errors I had were my own. Specifically, the greens got too pumped up. I have gotten so much better at processing. I really would like to go back do re-process some of the original files.

Thanks for sharing!
James