All photos © Grayson Schaffer.

“There’s a gang of guys from Alaska that get together each fall at the same hunting camp in North Dakota. Most of them have dogs from the same kennel—Wildrose—in Oxford, Mississippi,” says photographer Grayson Schaffer, a senior editor at Outside magazine. With more than a dozen dogs in the field, they’ve got to be well trained, otherwise you’ll end up with a scrum fighting over each pheasant that goes down. Ideally, when a pheasant flushes, a dog should sit and wait for the handler to send him out for the retrieve. That way you’ve only got one or two dogs searching for each bird. For everyone in camp, hunting is more about watching the dogs work than it is about shooting birds—though that’s definitely part of it. According to the North Dakota tourism department, more than 900,000 wild pheasants are taken each year in the state.

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© Nick Brandt. Courtesy Hasted Kraeutler.

“What I am interested in is showing the animals simply in the state of being. In the state of being before they are ‘no longer are.’ Before, in the wild at least, they cease to exist. This world is under terrible threat, all of it caused by us. To me, every creature, human or nonhuman, has an equal right to live, and this feeling, this belief that every animal and I are equal, affects me every time I frame an animal in my camera. The photos are my elegy to these beautiful creatures, to this wrenchingly beautiful world that is steadily, tragically, vanishing before our eyes.” – Nick Brandt

Brandt does not use telephoto lenses because he believes that being close to the animals makes a huge difference in his ability to reveal their personality. He writes: “You wouldn’t take a portrait of a human being from a hundred feet away and expect to capture their spirit; you’d move in close.” After this photograph was taken in 2007, this elephant was murdered by poachers. Nick Brandt began the Big Life Foundation in 2010 to better equip rangers who enforce anti-poaching laws in Amboseli National Park. Nick Brandt is represented by Hasted Kraeutler gallery in New York City.

© Lyndon Johnson

“I found this wonderful jumping spider in the brush looking at me as if he wanted to have a conversation.” Lyndon Johnson’s arachnid portrait was included as part of The Great Outdoors 2011 online gallery.

© Gregg Bleakney

How did the monkey cross the road? By performing a high voltage wire routine. Gregg Bleakney caught the primate’s act while in Bundi, India. This image is included in the World in Focus 2011 online gallery. The 2012 Contest is currently open for entries until September 8, but enter today to avoid late fees. A People’s Choice winner will also be selected.

© Carli Davidson

A portrait of Mane, a Dogue de Bordeaux. The disproportionately large head of this breed makes it an ideal candidate for Carli Davidson’s series “Shake,” an exploration of the unique shapes and textures created when dogs shake their heads. More images from Davidson’s series can be seen in the PDN Faces 2011 online gallery.