The image has gone big on Reddit
Being in the right place at the right time is an art few of us can truly boast, but one amateur wildlife photographer managed to pull off a hilarious image of a fallow buck as it's about to sneeze.
Out and about in Leicestershire's Bradgate Park, Oban van Schie spotted the white buck and pulled out his camera for a sublime snapshot.
"I wandered around the park for near an hour in the scorching heat embracing the magnificent view until I finally spotted a herd of fallow," Oban, originally from New York, told JOE.co.uk.
"I took out my camera and began photographing the herd and in particular a bold and majestic buck that had strayed from the herd. It was only as I moved closer that I discovered the elusive white deer. The sneezing photo was taken by chance."
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoM12yDB5QE/?taken-by=oban_van_schie
Originally, Oban posted the image to Reddit's Mildly Interesting and Photoshop Battles sections, where it promptly went viral with an upvote tally surpassing 90,000.
"I posted the photo in the evening before going to bed, not really expecting it to take off until I woke up the next morning with my phone exploding with notifications about the post," the university student added.
"I was overwhelmed with the popularity and attention received by the post. The vast majority of the comments were positive but with that amount of attention, you are bound to also receive negative comments, but it doesn’t have to be a big deal, just take on board the constructive criticism and ignore the rest.
"I do wish I had watermarked the photo but it's not a big deal anymore given the attention it has now received in the news. I have also been informed by the park that the deer are fallow bucks, just for the sake of being accurate as I’m sure it will also bring Bradgate Park some attention!"
The photo was taken with a Canon EOS 750D with an old 75-300mm lens, showing that anyone with a bit of nous doesn't need to spend thousands of pounds to capture such unique moments.
Exactly how the buck feels about it, however, remains to be seen. Because, let's face it, few of us would be flattered by a picture of us as unleashing our snot on the world.
