North American Whitetail Cover!
June 15th, 2010
The July, 2010 North American Whitetail cover. On newsstands NOW!
It was back in early November of 2009 that for me, at least, the groundwork for this project began to form. It was about that time that my friend, Garret Armstrong, of Elite Archery, shared with me pictures that he had just taken in the field of Chris Kiernan’s 2009 Illinois archery buck. I’m pretty certain that my jaw dropped, and I laughed out loud in amazement when I first saw how truly incredible this deer was! Back in November, though, I had no idea that I would have the opportunity to photograph the mounted buck for the July 2010 “kickoff” issue of North American Whitetail Magazine!
Chris Kiernan, of Illinois, is a member of the Elite Archery Pro Staff, and has several big whitetail bucks to his credit. On November 1, 2009, he killed what was to become the pending Illinois State Record for a non-typical whitetail taken with bow and arrow. I was able to meet Chris at the ATA show in Columbus, Ohio in mid-January, and it was at this point that we started to discuss the possibility of doing some studio photography to accompany the field images that Garret had done in November. Chris was in the early stages of writing his article, exclusively for North American Whitetail. It was also at this time that I was able to meet and have a conversation with Gordon Whittington, Editor in Chief of the magazine, and begin to understand what types of images they would need for the upcoming article.
The Kiernan Buck as photographed on April 4, 2010.
It wouldn’t actually be until early April, though, that Chris and his lovely wife, Maria, would drive the mounted trophy from Illinois to our studios at Myers Creative Imaging in Rochester, NY. We had made arrangements a couple of weeks prior to the shoot, and I had previously done some lighting tests with one of Garret Armstrong’s bigger whitetail mounts. When the Kiernan buck arrived that Saturday morning, we were all set to go. Once we had the mount arranged on a solid post in the studio, I spent some time with Chris and Garret just looking at the deer. The antler structure and mass were just incredible. There were so many details in the antlers that required close examination! Lots of “Ooooh’s,” “Wow’s,” and “Holy cow’s!” as I recall. I was blown away seeing the deer up close like this.
With Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts cups in hand, we spent time walking around the mount, looking at it from different perspectives, trying to decide which camera position would ultimately tell the best story of this buck. The perspective we kept coming back to is the one you see in the image used on the cover. After shooting some more refined tests, and working on the lighting until we were happy, we proceeded to make the cover photo, and then turned the pedestal at different increments to capture the buck from all angles. The shape of the buck’s antlers change dramatically when viewed from the sides! One of the side views we photographed, shown below, accompanies the article in its opening spread.
A stunning view of the whitetail buck's left side.
Several hours after the buck came through the front doors of the studio, he was gently packed back up in the truck, and before the Kiernan’s headed back to Illinois, we headed over to Dinosaur Barbecue for a little celebratory lunch of pulled pork, brisket, and loads of other good stuff! The Spring day was warm enough that we could sit outdoors at the Dinosaur and overlook the mighty Genesee River as it rushed North to Lake Ontario. It was a very satisfying way to end a really great day.
The story of Chris and his buck is one of a lifelong passion for deer hunting, of strategy, restraint, persistence, and success. It’s a really nice read! I would encourage you to hit up your local newsstand for a copy of North American Whitetail to check it out!
Camera: Hasselblad H2 with Leaf Aptus 65S Digital back.
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