It is always a challenge to shoot directly into the sun. You never quite know what kind of sun flares will make their way into you photo or how much your subject will become a silhouette. Still I can’t help but attempt to capture a photo whenever the opportunity presents itself.
My gamble paid off last week when I captured this cool image of an American Bison (Bison bison) last week at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota. It was just after sunrise and the sun was still quite low on the horizon, creating a distorted, elongated shadow of the bison. You can see only a few details of this magnificent animal, but the shape of the profile of the bison makes it easy to identify the primary subject.
Luck plays often plays a significant role when it comes to wildlife photography, but I can’t help but think of the old adage, usually attributed to Wayne Gretzky, “You miss 100 % of the shots that you don’t take.” While I am not a fan of the “spray and pray” approach to photography, I do think it is worthwhile to take a shot whenever something catches your eye—sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised by the results.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Awesome!
Thanks, Rob.
In the era of digital photography there is no doubt to take photo or not. In the worst you hit [delete] key and stay mum. No costs, no shame.
That is pretty much my way of thinking. About the only time I refrain from taking a photo is when I know that a subject is so far away that it will be almost impossible to get a recognizable shot of it.