In the Wild

For a woman accustomed to walking around all day, every day, Jennifer Cox has discovered an unexpected joy in just sitting, crouching, even lying down in complete stillness. For 25 years, Cox walked the city, including 17 years in the Palisades delivering mail’Until one day a year ago, she just decided to quit the post office to take up her growing passion for photography. ‘I thought I was going to be a pet photographer,’ says Cox, who at first thought her feline companions would make satisfying subjects. But then after she quit the postal service and purchased a half-lease on a horse and rode every day in Topanga, she decided to focus on horses. ‘But it wasn’t doing it for me,’ she recalls. It was Cox’s ‘Ranger Rick Magazine’ that fired her up. The children’s publication of the National Wildlife Federation is filled with irresistible photos of wildlife and their habitats. ‘I thought ‘This is it!’ Now I can’t imagine doing anything else. This is the most fun thing in the world.’ This ‘most fun thing’ finds Cox photographing the animals that live and thrive in the local canyons of the Palisades, particularly Rustic and Temescal. She found her first subjects farther afield than her home on Sunset, at Will Rogers State Historic Park. ‘I’ve spent many hours behind the stables in the pasture area that looks like wonderful meadow,’ she says. For two years, she has been observing the mule deer, learning who’s who and following their cycle of life. Although she has only seen one buck’with a full rack’she recognizes the does throughout the seasons, through their color changes and their fawning season. ‘The first time I saw a group of deer, I did everything you’re not supposed to do. I followed them and talked to them.’ After a few months, Cox swears that one, she now calls Honey, seemed to be saying to her ‘You talk so much.’ She adds that, amazingly, Honey has allowed her to touch her forehead twice. The does grew quite accustomed to her and have established an odd bond with her. ‘It seems like they’re actually cooperating with me’ she says. Cox, who has lived in the Palisades since 1995, (her son is a police officer in San Francisco) has chronicled not only the mammals, but also the region’s rodents, reptiles, insects and birds. Even though she uses a telephoto lens, she nevertheless achieves intimate close-up shots that attest to the special relationship she has with the animals. She first met Hamish, an eastern fox squirrel, in her own backyard. After a courtship period, ‘Hammy’ became quite bold and now scratches on her door. ‘He prefers that I hand him a nut,’ Cox says. ‘He is so gentle that he takes his little hand and leans on me while I give him two walnut halves.’ In the spring, Cox entered the 2004 National Wildlife photo contest and while she did not win, she made it past the first round, ‘a considerable achievement,’ said the magazine’s editors. Thousands of photographs are entered, many of which are eliminated in the first round of judging. ‘One or more of your photos showed many winning qualities and made it through to the final round of judging before being eliminated,’ the judges said. ‘We hope that you will continue photographing the outdoors and we look forward to receiving your entry next year.’ Cox has no intention of stopping what it has taken so many years to finally let herself enjoy, full time. She is now exploring the effects she gets from using 600 speed black and white film. She has also expanded her love of wildlife, most recently noticing, as if for the first time, the dolphins cruising down the coast. ‘I kept waiting for them to jump, but they just circled and primped almost as if they knew they were the dignified animals that they are.’