You’ve probably stumbled upon a picturesque image of a wolf howling in the wild at some point in your life. Many of us, as I was, would be surprised to find out that those pictures are not actually taken in the wild – they usually are taken at wolf preserves.
This fall, a group of Blair Academy students and faculty took a trip to visit the Lakota Wolf Preserve in Columbia, NJ, the largest preserve in the Northeast United States. Being surrounded by such vast nature, we were fortunate enough to see this sight, and of course, I couldn’t miss out on it; it has always been one of the top items on my photography bucket list to shoot pictures of wolves – they’re so photogenic!
The preserve is run by a couple who raised and care for all the animals, which meant that they are very careful about visitors. Still, the wolves, living in such a stress-free environment, were calm about visitors, and even approached us, making it very easy to take photos. Taking photos only proved difficult because of the fencing secured around their living area – for not only the visitors’ safety but also the wolves’. Personally, I found that taking photos was not a big challenge for me, because I was able to zoom in and blur out the foreground quite a lot with my 75-300mm lens.
However, sometimes I managed to use the fence to my advantage: To make the photo more dramatic or to create shadows.
For professional photographers who are interested, however, the Lakota Wolf Preserve also offers special photography sessions where they open up the fences and a guide will work with the animals to get the best photographs possible. We did not get to do this because it would cost more, but even from outside the fencing, the photographs turned out great.
Overall, it was an amazing experience. I would definitely visit again (perhaps during the winter, where the snow will enhance the photographs of the wolves) and I would highly recommend visiting this place.