‘I was so fortunate,’ photographer Jamie Ruggles said after waiting years for the rare opportunity to capture this image
An editor from National Geographic once advised Jamie Ruggles to “just spend the time in the field” to find success as a wildlife photographer.
The Thunder Bay man has learned the importance of patience after decades of pursuing photos of animals, including great shots of a family of coyotes living on the city’s waterfront.
He feels the image he captured Monday evening — showing a coyote in mid-air as it leaps across a patch of open water with the Sleeping Giant on the horizon— will turn out to be one of his all-time favourites.
“I’ve been envisioning this photo for some years now and was finally blessed to actually have the opportunity to trip the shutter on my camera for real instead of just in my own daydreaming mind,” Ruggles wrote in a social media post. “This photo was the result of what can happen when you are in the right place at the right time. I was so fortunate!”
Admirers are gushing over the photo, using words such as amazing, beautiful, awesome and stellar.
The image is so perfect, though, that Ruggles said a few people have suggested it was produced using A.I.
During an interview Wednesday, he brushed off the skepticism with a laugh.
“The more comments you get in social media, the more attention it gets and the more of that kind of stuff you see show up, right?”
Ruggles feels blessed to have had the chance to take the photograph.
“Whenever you can find an animal that will tolerate your presence or is not so scared that it’s like a bullet taking off, as a wildlife photographer you take full advantage of that,” he explained.
“You can drive around this community for days on end, and the only thing you can see of wildlife in a lot of cases is their behind disappearing in the bush.”