FAWN

During our time camping on Assateague Island in Maryland, this little fawn wandered into our campsite.  It was clear that he (or she, not sure) was fairly used to people, and ate scraps of food in the campground.  But this was definitely still a skiddish wild animal.  It was amazing how close it came to us, inspecting everything... but easily spooked.  The experience brought up an interesting dilema for me... the animal was clearly not domesticated, or meant to be domesticated for that matter, but it was hard to refrain from intentionally feeding it because it was so cute.  My instinct was to help... But usually wildlife officials tell you NOT to feed wild animals.  I still consider this to be a photograph of a wild animal, but the image raises a lot of questions for me about what is "authentic", or to what extent do you interfere as a photographer in the situation you are photographing?  These photographs will be reminders for me of these issues, but regardless, they might be some of my favorite images from this entire year.

ASSATEAGUE ISLAND

After only a week back in Michigan, I headed to the east coast for my cousin Pete's wedding.  After the wedding, my family went camping on Assateague Island in Maryland.  Although I think the images look peaceful and calm, they don't do justice to the ridiculous heat we dealt with during our time there!  The heat was so intense and overpowering.  My toenail polish actually began to melt.  I LOVE camping, but even I was getting a little exhausted by our shade-less site.  To distract us from the heat, and because my dad and Uncle Ron need to go fishing everywhere we go, we also learned how to fish for blue crabs using chicken necks.  It ended up being a highlight of the trip, we had a blast.  Thankfully we are all looking back on everything with laughter now... and I am happy that I came away from the experience with pictures I am truly happy with.