Award-winning Hungarian photographer Milan Radisics observing the life of Roxy the fox from the past 8 months and captured never-seen-before behavior. Milan is a National Geographic contributor with 12 published stories in national editions of the magazine. His stories also appeared in BBC Wildlife Magazine,Terra Mater and Maptia, to name a few.
The story of Roxy:
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.
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.
Half of the pictures were taken by a radio-released remote trigger, and half by a camera trap. This series won first prize at Sony World Photography Awards and first place in the Hungarian PressPhoto contest and thanks to this, Roxy became the world’s most-known vixen.
Fine art prints are available not just for fox freaks!
You can find more info about Milan Radisics:
#1 Roxy In The Heavy Snowstorm
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.
#2 Little Sausage
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.
#3 Roxy Drinking Water From The Small Plunge Pool
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.
#4 Peekaboo
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.
#5 Revelation
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.
#6 Man And The Nature
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.
#7 Through The Hole
The fox enters my yard through the hole in the fence in the backyard.
#8 The Epilated Fox
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.
#9 Roxy With An Egg
Roxy comes out of the barn with an egg in her mouth. She takes the eggs to the cubs.
#10 Roxy Searching For Snacks
Roxy is scrabbling inside a rotting trunk. The camera was triggered by a motion sensor.
The curiosity of the scene is that Roxy refused to get into the trunk while I watched her from the window. She just walked around and smelled it. She wanted to keep an eye on me all the time because if she didn’t see me for a moment, her instincts whispered she might be in danger. So all that was left was to use the motion sensor and at night, when I slept, the planned image was completed with undisturbed, natural behavior.
#11 Roxy Watches The Mouse
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.
#12 Roxy And The Bird Feeder
Roxy watches the inside of the bird feeder to collect the tallow scattered there.
#13 Observation Point
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.
#14 Photographer Watching Subject
Roxy’s cub The Little Sausage, explores the yard.
#15 Observing Fox
Roxy hid behind the pine trees, watching the window and trying to decide if it was safe or not.
#16 Breath In The Harsh Winter
She circled in the village for an hour and a half, then appeared in my yard several times during the night regardless of the weather. That’s why I captured her in all the extreme weather conditions.
#17 Puppy In Garden
Little Sausage, Roxy’s second-generation puppy, appears in a garden.
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.
#18 Mustaches
Roxy came soaking wet with mice in her mouth to show what she had hunted, just like cats do.
In the meantime, she hopes that she will get something to eat, and see if she can stuff it in her mouth.
#19 Jump
Roxy jumping from the trunk in the yard of a cottage house in the middle of the forest.
She always arrived in the yard from different spots. When she came over the wall, she jumped easily over the 120-centimeter obstacle. Upon leaving, she leaped elegantly from the 170-centimeter wall.
#20 On The Way To Hedonism
Roxy living in the neighborhood raided a terrace on a house near the forest to collect the leftovers. Taken automatically by motion sensor trigger.
#21 Roxy Posing In The Barn
Roxy watches the flash while posing on the log in the abandoned barn.
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.
#22 Roxy Is Approaching
Roxy arrives at the yard in front of the traditional, 180 years old cottage house in Hungary. She usually came from 3 directions and always alternated between them.
#23 Roxy In Garden
Roxy walking through the garden observing what’s new in the house.
#24 Roxy On A Fallen Trunk
In one of the village’s courtyards, a rotten tree trunk fell during the night and fell into pieces.
The next day, Roxy examined the new shape and picked out the insects.
#25 Sneaking Fox
Roxy sneaks in front of the traditional house in countryside of Hungary.
#26 Wild Instincts
Roxy seizes the dead pheasant. I set the camera and motion sensor next to a dead pheasant in the meadow near my backyard. The camera sensor recorded interesting scenes of the lovable Roxy when her wild instincts took over.
