26 Photos Of Roxy The Fox, Whose Life I Observed For 8 Months

For 8 months, nearly every night I spent sitting at the window of my cottage house in the middle of the forest, and I observed the life of the foxes. One of them was braver. The vixen would appear after dusk, circle it for an hour and a half, and appear in the yard several times. I took the exposure remotely to capture interesting, covert, never-before-seen behavior. We built a distant, but subtle relationship, something hard to describe, and I named her Roxy. She always surprised me, showing new sides of her personality and quick adaptation to the changes. Adjusting to the presence of a wild animal, I learned plenty about foxes and also about myself and humans in general. Lots of things that will hopefully change people’s view that the fox is a pest.Fine art prints are available not just for fox freaks!More info:store.milan.hu|Instagram|FacebookThis post may includeaffiliate links.

Fine art prints are available not just for fox freaks!

More info:store.milan.hu|Instagram|Facebook

This post may includeaffiliate links.

Roxy walking on the trunk in a heavy snowstorm, backlit with flash.I watched the satellite images and waited for the snow and prayed for Roxy to arrive just in time. I was lucky when she was exactly at the planned location, I pressed the radio trigger to fly Roxy amongst the stars.

Roxy In The Heavy Snowstorm

In the evenings I set the lights in advance, like in a studio, and waited in the darkened room for my heroine to enter the scene. Working with such an appealing and unpredictable animal, I had to solve many technical, theoretical, and physical challenges, and it was a wonderful opportunity to develop skills and experiment with gadgets.Working exclusively at night allowed me to get creative with lighting. In some images, I used dramatic, studio-like lighting. In others, I balanced my flashes with ambient light. Working with such an appealing and unpredictable animal at night was both a great challenge and a wonderful opportunity to document the great story.

Working exclusively at night allowed me to get creative with lighting. In some images, I used dramatic, studio-like lighting. In others, I balanced my flashes with ambient light. Working with such an appealing and unpredictable animal at night was both a great challenge and a wonderful opportunity to document the great story.

Little Sausage, Roxy’s second-generation puppy, peeks through the window.He’s not yet 3 months old, but he’s already walking around on his own, getting to know the neighborhood, and exploring everything in the yard.

Little Sausage

Underwater capture of Roxy drinking water from the plunge pool.The vixen usually showed up four or five times a night, and I noticed that it would drink water on the third occasion. Presumably, Roxy had eaten enough from the neighborhood and got thirsty. I used a cable remote release and a constant light source. This picture was taken with an underwater camera.

Roxy Drinking Water From The Small Plunge Pool

I always wanted to photograph foxes, but I only saw them running across the meadow or on the side of the road at night. My country cottage is in the forest and one night I noticed a fox running under the window. Since then, I watched from the window and noticed that she regularly walks in the yard, since this is also her habitat.

Little Sausage, Roxy’s second-generation puppy, peeks through hole in trunk.He’s not yet 3 months old, but he’s already walking around on his own, getting to know the neighborhood, and exploring everything in the yard.

Peekaboo

The fox enters my yard through the hole in the fence in the backyard.

Through The Hole

I’m a photographer, so the next day I put out the cameras to see her reaction. She smelled it, but it didn’t bother her much. So from there, I started thinking about the scenes, and what should be photographed. Since I didn’t know how long she would last, I was in a hurry to capture as many scenes from her life as possible. This and the pursuit of perfection created an addiction that lasted for 8 months. I stopped when I felt that I had accomplished all my ideas and captured everything I saw from her life.

Roxy walks on the logs in very heavy fog. Volumetric light comes from the flash in the back.She circles in the village for an hour and a half then appears in my yard several times during the night regardless of the weather.That’s why I captured her in all the extreme weather conditions.

Revelation

Bottom view of a fox’s epilated belly five days after giving birth to cubs. At the same time, we can see the raised foot posture, typical of foxes.As I waited for Roxy at night, I read literature to learn about the life of foxes. Somewhere I read that at birth, a fox rips the hair out of its belly to line the nest and provide access during breastfeeding. I wanted to capture this in a picture, so I built a big glass table. The fox tried to get acquainted with the structure, so it jumped up 5 days after giving birth.

The Epilated Fox

When I went to sleep after midnight, I also switched the other one to a motion sensor. This is why I was so productive. I lit up the entire yard with floodlights to see where the maid appeared. Since it was winter, the cold quarter quickly drained the batteries, so I continuously charged up to 16 batteries at the same time.

Roxy poses in the limelight on the old seat on the porch of the traditional, 180-year-old cottage house, in Hungary.In the evenings, I would turn on the lights in my yard and wait for my photo model to walk onto the set. Working exclusively at night allowed me to get creative with lighting. In some images, I used dramatic, studio-like lighting. In others, I balanced my flashes with ambient light. Working with such an appealing and unpredictable animal at night was both a great challenge and a wonderful opportunity to develop skills.

Man And The Nature

Roxy watches the inside of the bird feeder to collect the tallow scattered there.

Roxy And The Bird Feeder

It was amazing to see how much she fought her own instincts. She would have come closer because she was curious about me, but instinct wouldn’t let her.The other observation was that she was a wonderful mother. She usually appeared in the yard in cycles of one and a half hours, but when the little ones were born, the cycle became three hours, which means that she spent an hour and a half nursing, and when she appeared in the yard, she was running around in a hurry. And when she started feeding the cubs, her frequency of appearance became 30 minutes, she kept bringing the food to the burrow.

It was amazing to see how much she fought her own instincts. She would have come closer because she was curious about me, but instinct wouldn’t let her.

The other observation was that she was a wonderful mother. She usually appeared in the yard in cycles of one and a half hours, but when the little ones were born, the cycle became three hours, which means that she spent an hour and a half nursing, and when she appeared in the yard, she was running around in a hurry. And when she started feeding the cubs, her frequency of appearance became 30 minutes, she kept bringing the food to the burrow.

Roxy observing the yard from the top of the old stone wall, and trying to decide if it was safe or not.This is one of the safest points for her because from there she also sees the street and the courtyard.

Observation Point

Roxy Searching For Snacks

The two things I could advise to other aspiring wildlife photographers are dedication and perseverance. Read a lot about the subject to get to know the details of his/her life, or about the phenomena. Look on the internet to see what has been done on the subject, if you are a beginner, copy it, and if you are advanced, try to make something better and different from what you have seen. And don’t be afraid to elaborate, be creative with the light and the composition. If you have all of these, you will be lucky.

Roxy comes out of the barn with an egg in her mouth. She takes the eggs to the cubs.

Roxy With An Egg

Roxy’s cub The Little Sausage, explores the yard.

Photographer Watching Subject

Roxy entered the barn and disturbed the mouse that was snacking on sunflowers.The abandoned barn, built in 1932, was full of mice, so I left the door open at night, and the foxes completely took over the room in three weeks.

Roxy Watches The Mouse