Red Deer Rut
I had a brilliant few days photographing red deers in Richmond Park. October is a fantastic time to photograph red deer because it’s the deer rut at this time of year, which leads to some truly memorable photo opportunities. There’s the chance of stags locking antlers, battling it out for the pick of the females, images of roaring stags, stags and hinds interacting as well as lots of options to photograph younger deer not involve in this year’s rut.
The annual deer rut is something I look forward to every autumn. It’s also a time of atmospheric misty mornings, autumnal colours and great light.
Over my few days of photography I had a whole range of weather conditions from a misty morning, warm directional sunlight to softer overcast light.
There isn’t really a bad type of light for deer photography. Soft light brings out the detail of the deer’s fur, hard sunlight adds its own drama with light and shade adding impact and the images tend to look a bit sharper. You can’t of course beat a misty morning; it really does add atmosphere and drama.
I witnessed two red deer stags with horns locked, a couple of fallow deer rutting as well roaring deer and so many other examples of deer behaviour.
So all in all, a very enjoyable red deer rut to witness once again. I also run a number of deer workshops covering both the camera techniques and the artistic side of wildlife photography. If you would like to join me on a workshop next year please take a look in the wildlife photography courses page on this website.
