Brian Clopp (he/him)
Age: 44
Residence: Splits time between Blaine and Utah
Lived here for: One year
Originally from: New Jersey
Notable: Professional photographer and filmmaker, owner of wildlife photo tour business Winning Shots, grand prize winner in The Wilderness Society's 2026 Photo Contest.
Tell me about your winning photo entitled 'Who are you wearing?'
I was looking for wild horses [in Utah], and I ended up seeing these kit foxes, and I’d never seen them before. I researched them and found out how incredibly rare they were, so I canceled my flights and I ended up staying with them for three days.
They’re nocturnal. They come out of their dens for only about one to two weeks a year in the daylight, when the pups are young and getting curious and starting to search around their surroundings. There’s a very narrow window of when you can see them, and it could be anywhere from mid-May to mid-July. They also move dens every couple of days.
I noticed when I first drove up in the car, they were actually very curious. They ran up and started chewing on the tires out of curiosity, and then they would just play.
One morning, I was napping and I could hear these people talking and I ...