When wildlife photographer Jeff Wirth set up a trail camera by a fallen log in southwestern Washington state, he was hoping to catch a decent pic or two of wildlife that’s difficult to photograph in person.
In this case, he’d been out exploring the wetland when he spotted bobcat droppings that indicated the log would be a good place for a camera trap.
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He left a DSLR camera rigged to snap photos and returned each week to swap in a fresh battery and memory card.
Naturally, when visiting the camera, Wirth would sneak a peak at what was on the memory card before popping it out to take home.
Which is how he found himself laughing out loud in the middle of the forest during one visit to the camera.
Instead of a bobcat or squirrel, Wirth was greeted by a series of photos featuring an orange-vested man who was really getting into posing for the camera.
Stolen trail cams are probably a common occurrence, so it was also nice to see that his rig wasn’t messed with.
“Thankful to this unknown man for striking a pose and for not messing with my camera set up after he stumbled upon it,” Wirth said in his tweet sharing the hilarious photo.
Of course, Twitter loved it and even took to Photoshop to create an incredible ’90s kid throwback.
And since the internet is an amazing place, the tweet going viral allowed it to reach the “log man” himself, Ben Sizemore.
Turns out, he was doing management of invasive species in the forest when he came across the camera trap and decided to have a laugh.
The viral post also provided a surprisingly large number of people demanding a print of the photo.
So that’s exactly what Wirth and Sizemore decided to give them, with a 5×7 print combining the two photos, which can be purchased through Wirth’s website. The first 200 orders will even be signed by the model himself.
As for why he’d strike a pose, it sounds like Sizemore does it regularly: “I’m surprised none of my other pics have gotten shared yet, I feel like I’ve posed for so many over the years they have to be out there.”
h/t: My Modern Met
