Celebrating New Life

No, this isn't a post about a new baby (at least not a human one)......but it is about life in the world around us.

I was photographing in a cemetery near my home about a week ago. Over the last six months or so I have gone there to take pictures many times.  It is a beautiful and peaceful location. One of the places that I enjoy photographing in the cemetery is a pond that is surrounded by high reeds.  The pond, at this time of year, is filled with lotus flowers and various birds that live among the reeds and trees.

On this particular day I went down to the pond with plans to photograph the lotus flowers.  Here is a quick cell phone shot that I took as I walked down to the pond.

I started taking photos of some of the flowers at the edge of the pond and then started to wonder if there were any interesting angles or compositions from around the other side, so I walked on the grass around the pond to get a different angle.  I couldn't see around the bend because of the tall reeds that were growing. As I rounded the corner I was totally surprised to see:

 

The Fawn At Dawn    © Howard Grill

 

This fawn must have just recently been born, as it could barely even stand. I used my 100-400mm telephoto lens to keep some distance between us and didn't stay too long in order not to stress it. My understanding is that the mother leaves the fawn for several hours at a time in order to forage for food and that it is actually safer for the young this way in terms of predators. Based on what I have read (some interesting information here and here), the fact that it could hardly stand and seemed able to only walk a few steps puts it at less than three weeks old.

It really was a privilege to be there and see this brand new life that had entered the world! 

Cemetery, Nature ImagesHoward Gwildlife4 Comments