First Place - Creston Shields

Title: Bull Elk Bugling

Location: west of Boulder, Colorado, USA

Date taken: September 2004

Equipment used: Monopod, no filters, and a zoom lens, roughly 140mm (body info not provided)

Comments: This image was made with a two second shutter speed, using a monopod. The fact that the Bull left his mouth open and remained still while bugling is amazing! The slow shutter speed also captured the hue of sunrise. It is perhaps my favorite photo of all time in more than 20-years of photography.

I am a professional in the business world, and have been a photographer for 20+ years. While I enjoy just about any type of photography, I am very fond of the rare image like this one. It took 4 hours of waiting through the night with the herd and about 100 frames to get this image. I spend about 40 to 60 hours a week on photography in spite of a full-time career. Yes, I sleep about 4 hours a night! Enjoy the photo.