2005: Animal Portraits - Runner-up
Bence Máté (Hungary)
Fox washing
A greedy gulp or two, and the entire stick of salami had vanished. The fox hadn't made it through the desperate winter by being shy. Mountaineers staying in the shelter 1,600 metres (5,250 feet) up in Romania's Transylvanian mountains had kept the fox alive with titbits, and it had become half tame. Bence spent five long days in the freezing shelter, salami and camera at the ready. On the fourth day, the fox showed up. After wolfing down the salami, it revealed the genteel side of its nature: the way it licked its paws clean was positively dainty.
Canon EOS 1N RS with Nikon 300mm f2.8 lens, EOS-Nikon converter and Nikon TC-301 2x and TC-14B 1.4x teleconverters; 1/60 sec at f8; Fujichrome Velvia 50; Gitzo tripod, hide.
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