Copyright 2010

It was frigidly cold and early one January morning in Northwestern Ontario when my friend Gerry and I came upon him. We had driven all night to visit our friend Joe Kreis, the caretaker of the canoeing camp we had worked at the previous two summers. Joe and his wife had invited us to cross country ski into the remote camp, which was closed down for the winter, and try our hand at ice fishing while we stayed at his cabin. We had sadly hit and killed a deer in the middle of the night, traveling across northern Minnesota, and we had just remarked that thank God it wasn’t a moose! Traveling down Highway 11 at 90 Kilometers per hour we came into a curve then slammed on the brakes. Before us was the biggest Bull Moose either of us had ever seen, crossing the roadway just feet in front of us. He stopped, turned and looked at us for a moment and moved on. He was beautiful, majestic, in charge and fantastic.

From my earliest memories the moose, for whatever reason, has always been my favorite animal. I have encountered bulls, cows, and calves many times in the wild. Once quickly hiding behind a tree to avoid a cow and her calf thundering down behind me while backpacking alone in Wyoming. Perhaps we have an affinity for each other, because we sure seem to bump into each other a lot. I can never explain it, it just is. I love, and will always love, moose.

When I decided to do a portrait of a moose, I was determined to not do the typical serene scene of a moose grazing in the landscape, but the real deal - a near lifesize portrait that makes you feel like he is here, outside the window looking in. That big Bull on Highway 11 was my inspiration. Unfortunately here in Missouri, I lack for willing moose models to pose for me, but I found a local advertising firm called “Moosylvania” who had an excellent mounted moose they were willing to let me photograph. Upon hearing of the project, the firm’s photographer graciously took over the photography duties and sent me a disk of reference photos to work from.

The intent was to recreate that surreal encounter, but this time off the highway and deep in his habitat - as a chance face to face meeting while walking through the woods before daybreak. I placed him grazing in a misty marsh before dawn, focusing on the beautiful and intricate hues of the brown and beige veining of his antlers. Beautiful, majestic, in charge and fantastic.

Rob Dreyer