I stopped by the Virginia Tech Arboretum a couple of months ago and wandered around photographing to my heart’s content. Just as I was approaching a gorgeously oxidized tractor an employee on a golf cart drove up to me and advised me that I had walked past “ALL” of the posted signs indicating that I was in a restricted area. He seemed slightly irritated but was still nice about it as he indicated to where the signs were supposedly posted. I apologized profusely and explained that I hadn’t come from the direction of his gesture. He softened and said there was a sign in the direction I had come from as well. I shared with him the route I had taken and he realized that I hadn’t actually walked past any signs. Phew! I felt better that I hadn’t accidentally ignored any postings about where I was and was not allowed. I asked for clarification of the allowable areas and realized that the majority of my trek had been through restricted zones. Oops. The worst part was that I didn’t get any shots of the gorgeous buildings or the prematurely aging equipment and those are all in the restricted areas. The good part was that as I was being kindly escorted back to the allowable visitor’s area I spotted a gray fox. I pointed him out and my friendly new acquaintance, Adam (or was it Alan?) told me that the fox was a frequent sight on the property and they will venture as far as the road. I was excited at the prospect of seeing the animal again and figured I would definitely have to revisit.

My first time back I arrived less than an hour before sunset. I parked and then walked straight back towards the treeline. I immediately saw a fox. He was meandering through the glen of trees, apparently scavenging for some light morsels to nibble on. I slowly moved closer as I tried to get in sync with my equipment. I reached that threshold where he noticed I existed but I wasn’t too close for his comfort so I struggled to focus my lens properly on the gorgeous animal hoping to get a decent image before he decided it was time to retreat. I didn’t end up with any award worthy images, but I was satisfied with something decent enough for my first encounter.

The next time I returned When the fox heard a man walking with his German Short-Haired Pointer coming from around the bend of the path from within the woods however, he quickly retreated into the woods. The man asked in an Australian accent if I was searching for the fox to which I answered in the affirmative. He stated he hadn’t seen them yet that day but he often saw a pair of gray foxes. I thought I had seen a red fox as I didn’t realize that gray foxes were red and gray. The man and his well behaved dog, who reportedly wouldn’t chase the fox if he came upon them, headed off down the old abandoned railroad bed. I set off down the path into the woods from where they had come. We ended up running into one another again as they returned from their walk down the railway. The man told me he had spotted the pair of foxes down near the bamboo. I wasn’t familiar with the area but I enthusiastically thanked him and set off in hopes of finding my subject matter. I didn’t spot them at all.

I turned around and trekked back towards the road as the sun began to slip close to the horizon. As I was close to the end of the raised covered over railroad tracks I spotted not one but both of the foxes creeping across the clearing, beautifully back lit by the setting sun. My heart swelled inside my chest, I was mesmerized so much by how beautiful the scene was. I wished I could capture it at least well enough to share some of the feelings I had inside of me of wonder, amazement and joy surrounding the beauty of these two creatures in the natural setting at the most precious time of day. I knew I’d probably have to return and keep practicing my photography skills to be able to do the scene justice, but at least I’d be able to share something each time I did go by.

It was about a month before I returned again. This time I didn’t spot the fox in the same location and I almost missed him even though he was out in plain sight, right beside the fence between the buffer zone and the rest of the public gardens. I shot just a few images before the fox scampered off into the woods.

 After the fox disappeared I walked all over the parts of the property of the arboretum where visitors were allowed in search of the duo but wasn’t able to spot them. I headed towards the abandoned railroad tracks once more and was rewarded by the appearance of both of my little fox friends. First one appeared and crept out of the woods and stopped at the edge of the embankment which sloped up to the old tracks. He paused there and stood as though acting as a lookout. Then his mate pranced out and up to the top of the embankment crossing to the center. She saw me and sat down as if saying she was ready for her photo shoot as her handsome companion watched from the sidelines. It was incredibly windy and I wasn’t graced with the back light I had before, but there was still enough light in the sky during the golden hour prior to sunset so I was able to get a handful of images of the pretty pair. After I took a few images I would advance myself and camera a few steps closer and shoot again until either something else or my closeness signaled the foxes that it was time for them to move on and the female began to walk slowly down the railway bed towards the opposite end of the property. The male moved back into the woods and watched me from the edge of the forest as I continued to capture his beautiful bride on her journey. When she veered off back into the woods I then headed down the same path she had taken and I said hello to my fox pal as I passed him by from the opposite side of the ravine. I would have snapped some photos of him except that he was mostly obscured by branches and I would have had to reposition my tripod significantly. Unfortunately my tripod is not easy to adjust and reposition, I didn’t realize that whey I chose it; it isn’t the best for shooting wildlife. Oh well, I still LOVE it as it is 90 times better than my other one which couldn’t even support the weight of my camera, let alone my camera and my telephoto lens.

 I hoped to be able to capture another back lit image of the fox in front of the setting sun so I headed back down the old abandoned railway bed seeing if I could spot them again. I didn’t see them at all in my trek and the light was disappearing quickly. The sky glowed the most beautiful shades of amber, umber, scarlet, fuchsia, indigo and violet. I figured I should capture the sunset at least since it didn’t look like I would be able to see my fox friends again with enough light to make a good photograph. I also thought that they would probably appear again as soon as I changed camera lenses and that thought turned out to be accurate. As soon as I had my telephoto lens in one hand and my other hand had just twisted my landscape lens on my camera body I saw the male fox slip back into view in the clearing behind me right where I had wanted for him to appear. I smiled and quickly switched lenses as I dropped to my knee to attempt to capture the image I was hoping for on my camera. Despite my animal model obliging me and pausing briefly in just the right spot for the portrait shot I wanted, I didn’t get the images I was hoping for. They weren’t out of focus but they weren’t tack sharp and therefore I just consider them unusable. I watched as my new fox friend continued across the clearing and paused briefly at the fence before slipping underneath and then disappearing around the reservoir on the other side. I followed on foot but wasn’t able to spot him or his mate again. There was just enough light in the sky for me to take a couple of landscape shots with a tripod, but the sun had by then set and it was the beginning of the blue hour. I was thankful for all of the opportunities I had been presented with to take candid wildlife portraits of the gray fox. Perhaps next time I’ll be able to take some even better ones to share.