I sat in the woods with a camera for hours and didn’t photograph a thing – only to photograph this in my own backyard

Wildlife photography often feels like a grown-up nature scavenger hunt – or a real-life Pokémon Go, if you prefer. But the downside is that sometimes, I walk away from a wildlife photography attempt empty-handed.

A few weeks ago, I spent a few hours in the woods hoping to catch a glimpse of something to photograph. The only wildlife I spotted was a whitetail deer at dusk – both too far away and too dark to photograph. I came away from that attempt empty-handed.

But then a few days later, I spent just a few minutes and captured a photograph of two deer in the snow…from my backyard. Wildlife photography is funny that way in that sometimes, you can spend hours and walk away empty-handed, and other times an opportunity presents itself when you least expect it.

I managed to get this photo by spending just a few moments shooting out the window of my home office. I didn’t even open the window, as the deer were already cautiously looking at my house, and the temperatures that day were frigid even by Michigan standards. There’s a bit of softness in part from that window, but I’m only a hobbyist at wildlife photography, and I like the shot regardless.

I happened to have the Sony A7 V with the FE 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS as a short-term rental, so that’s what I used to take the shot. The Sony A7 V’s animal eye detection worked quite well on the deer, adding to my experience trying the camera out at bird photography.

Sometimes, wildlife photography means coming away empty-handed, only to have a moment present itself when you least expect it. As the saying goes, luck favors the prepared – though perhaps in this case it wasn’t luck but smashing leftover pumpkins for the wildlife to eat.

I rarely ever regret spending time outside – and even days when I walk away without photographs, I still come back inside with a renewed sense of calm and creativity.

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