When it heard me approaching, this White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) moved into the field of dried vegetation. It had only gone a short distance when it stopped and turned to look back at me. Our eyes met and we shared a moment together. Had curiosity overcome any fear that the deer might have been feeling? I felt a real sense of gentleness and peace during our little encounter.
All of the sudden, the deer decided that it was time to leave and trotted off toward the tree line. I was quite ready for the action to resume and was zoomed in a bit too much, so that parts of the deer are cut off in the second and third images. Still, I really like the way that I was able to capture the movement of the deer and especially of its white tail.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
That first photo does make me think its a gentle soul.
Thanks, Dan. “Gentle” was the word that came to mind first–deer almost always seem to have a kind of soft and gentle aura about them.
We don’t see them very often around here.
I meant to finish that thought when I touched the ‘send’ button – So, I appreciate your photos.
Wow. What a fab shot. Thanks for sharing, Mike.
I enjoy your action images, Mike. Such great detail. Lovely work. Thank you!
Thanks, Suzette. It’s challenging to get shots when a subject starts moving–I have to try to control my emotions as I track the subject in my viewfinder and attempt to stay focused on keeping everything steady so the shots are not blurry.
Great captures!
I enlarged the face to full screen and marveled at that sweet expression. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Nice photos, Mike. We have beautiful bucks around our place.
Blue Rock Horses Frederick County, Virginia bluerockhorses.com
This white-tailed deer series was magnificent, Mike. I clicked on each photo. I love the first one for your moment of eye-to-eye contact, it is soulful. And I liked the other two action photos demonstrating the deer’s grace and beauty, also nice to see the cloven hooves. How wonderful this encounter must’ve been, thanks for sharing it with us.
Thanks, Jet, for your kind words. The first shot is definitely my favorite–I feel like I was able to capture well a real sense of the moment and of the deer’s personality. There is not a lot of time to react when a subject starts moving, so I never know what I will get or how successful I will be in freezing the actions. I think that the action shots show that an image does not have to be technically perfect to convey a feeling or, as was the case here, a sense of the deer’s movement.
That is amazing. Love the shots of the white tail!
Sometimes you have to react fast…. and you did 🙂 Nice shots.
The first pic is so cute and it’s amazing to see from your next photos what a big fluffy tail they have! As it scampers away it looks somewhat like a giant hare 🙂
A giant hare? I like that mental image, Liz. Here in the US there is the legend of a mythical animal called a jackalope that is supposed to be a jackrabbit with giant horns like those of an antelope.
Cool! The jackalope sounds fascinating!
What a gentle face in the first photo. There is a calmness about it. Love the fluffy white tail too!
Thanks, Chris. I spend so much of my time during the winter photographing birds that it was really nice to have a chance to photograph a mammal, especially such a gentle one like this deer.
Wave that flag! 🙂