The shot of the two musk ox brothers was taken on November 29, 2017, during a freezing cold day with limited daylight for photography. The location was Hjerkinn, at Dovrefjell in Norway. We had spotted a group of musk oxen from a distance using binoculars. After trekking quite a distance on snowshoes, bundled in heavy clothing to stave off the cold, my local guide and I arrived at a mountaintop where we carefully approached these magnificent animals.
While musk oxen can be aggressive, such incidents are rare. Nevertheless, we maintained a safe distance, and I used a 600mm lens with a 1.4x teleconverter, giving me a focal length of 840mm, along with a monopod for stability.
The local authorities recommend maintaining a safety distance of 200 meters from the musk oxen, though I was likely a bit closer. When people ask, I always say I kept a “safe distance.” This was actually my first time photographing musk oxen, and since then, I’ve returned to this area many times—often alone. I now have thousands of musk ox photos stored on my hard drives.
The behavior captured in this image is typical when people approach musk ox bulls. It’s as if they’re saying, “See how tough we are—keep your distance.” They weren’t fighting; they were simply showing off and sizing each other up.