Friendly P.E.I. foxes featured on National Geographic site

A New Brunswick photographer is making a name for herself with National Geographic thanks to some friendly foxes on P.E.I.

Brittany Crossman of Riverview has had her wildlife photographs featured five times on National Geographic's Daily Dozen, an online collection of 12 photos chosen daily from photographers all over the world.

On Dec. 30, her photo of a P.E.I. fox walking in the snow was featured alongside images from Sweden, Spain, Vietnam and the United States.

You kind of get to know them on a personal level. Some are more bold, some are more shy. I find they all have different personalities. Brittany Crossman

"I was totally overwhelmed and excited," she said. "It's great to be recognized by National Geographic. They're such a well-known name. It was just absolutely awesome."

Crossman, who studied photography at Mount Allison University, said she comes to the Island at least once a month to photograph the foxes.

"New Brunswick definitely has foxes as well but I find they are a lot more shy," she said. "So in P.E.I., it's a little bit easier to photograph them."

Crossman said like any subject, it's it's important to learn their behaviour and body language.

"If you're photographing a fox, for example, and it's starting to twitch its ears ands it's staring down at the ground, you can almost predict that within five or so seconds it's going to leap into the air and go down into the snow and try to get a rodent."

P.E.I. National Park is a prime location to photograph foxes, she said. Some she has photographed more than once.

"You kind of get to know them on a personal level," she said. "Like every fox is different. Some are more bold, some are more shy. I find they all have different personalities."

Crossman, who works as a supply teacher and receptionist, said she's happy with what she's doing right now, but has always dreamed of becoming a professional wildlife photographer.

"I've always been passionate about wildlife. Even when I was a little kid I used to have disposable cameras and I'd always be running around taking pictures of whatever critter I could find, but normally it was just frogs or my cat, but you gotta start somewhere, right?"