01/02/2026
Portfolio category winner - red deer by Andrius Kybartas.
This is the first successful shot of this type, which I managed to realize the next day from the moment when the day before, during a beautiful sunset, I noticed the possibility of this type of composition, but I could not achieve the desired result. That day I did not plan to take pictures, but after waking up quite early I noticed a red sky outside the window. I grabbed my camera and ran out to the park, after 15 minutes I was already there. Fortunately, in one of the fields I saw a group of deer and one young deer was in a perfect place. The sun had already come out from behind the clouds, I got as close as possible and the deer turned to me for a few seconds and that was enough to compose the composition and take a few shots. Then the deer slowly walked downhill.
It was a completely clear sky and a beautiful sunset. Before the golden hour, I scouted potential locations as always. I found deer only in the large field at the foot of the hill. Only when the sun was almost down did a group of deer move to the top of the hill. This gave me the opportunity to take advantage of the sunset. It was difficult to compose a nice composition because the deer were quite crowded in the herd and moved a lot. Later, one deer lagged behind the herd and I managed to compose a few good shots.
I had been visualizing this type of shot for a long time since I started hunting deer and sun compositions. It was a beautiful sunrise and the group of deer was in a good spot. But by the time I got into position and the sun came over the horizon, most of the deer had gone down the hill and I couldn't get the composition I wanted. But there were 2 more young deer to my right higher up on the hill. I slowly changed position so as not to scare the deer. I tried different compositions when unexpectedly the deer started sparring. Then I knew this was my moment that I had been waiting for. It was quite difficult to complete the composition due to a lot of movement but I am happy with the result but also a little sad that I couldn't use the opportunities 100 percent.
It was a beautiful sunset and I had the opportunity to spend it with my favourite deer. After scouting all the potential locations for sunset photography, I found 4 mature deer in only one of the fields. They lay in the shade of the trees for almost the entire golden light, so I couldn't take advantage of the light. Only when the sun was almost down did they get up and come out into a more open area. Since I had been quite close to them for a long time, they paid little attention to me, and I still had the opportunity to photograph them for about 15 minutes before the golden light disappeared.
One beautiful evening, towards the end of a photoshoot, a young deer became interested in me and came quite close to me and stared at me for a while. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I aimed for a good angle and placed the camera completely on the ground to compose this composition, since the sun was already very low. The position of the sun and the deer's pose helped create a unique composition.
