May 18, 2022 | B&W Photography, Landscape Photography
Electric Peak Yellowstone captured by Z 9 / Z24-120f4
Landscape photography is so much easier when you beat the sun up and outlast it when it sets. At those moments, you can cherry pick the light like on this morning in Yellowstone’s high country. The first light of the day strikes the high peaks with the valley floor below still in shadow. This is very dramatic light and then you add in the effect of the clouds, well it’s like shooting fish in a barrel photography. Setting the Z 9 to Monochrome (B&W) it was just that simple to make the photo. Then the power of white grabs your eye, takes you to the top of Electric Peak and then around and back to it. The only hardship this morning, doing all of this with no coffee yet. The photograph left me a warm glow though so I made it until I had a cup. The power of white!
May 12, 2022 | Wildlife Photography
American Black Bear captured by Z 9 / 800f5.6AFS
Yellowstone has a very well-earned reputation for bears, Grizzly, and American Black. Back in the 40s, large garbage dumps in the park attracted hundreds of Black Bears. Bleachers were built at the dumps for folks to sit and watch the bears feed on the garbage. Cars would park along the road and hand-feed the black bears in those days, it was a total mess for the black bears. Fast forward the clock to last week. Someone thought that they too should try to feed, hand feed a bear that the Techs have come to call Phantom Lake Bear. It was explained to her that feeding bears is not only illegal, is very dangerous (she was reaching out of her car to feed the bear) but really bad for the bear on so many levels. This story was being told to me by a Tech as he explained the bear had a bad limp because it had been hit by a car! He is a gorgeous bear, should heal but bad habits have been started.
May 10, 2022 | Landscape Photography
Lower Yellowstone Falls captured by Z 9 / Z70-200f2.8
While Yellowstone is gorgeous frozen in a blanket of white, there are some locations you can’t get to in winter. This is because the Park Service wisely keeps areas closed to protect people from themselves (though I’m I firm believer in Darwin). One of the spots kept closed is the upper observation platform at Artist Point. We arrived this week just after it got reopened and the view is as spectacular as always. Though only twenty feet further to the north than you stand during that winter, those extra twenty feet bring the river into clear view giving the canyon more drama. And now, the frozen cone is gone so you see the entire fire. It’s just gorgeous, I spend hours there just watching. What a wonder!
May 7, 2022 | Wildlife Photography
Yellowstone Grizzly Bear captured by Z 9 / 800f5.6 AFS
That’s why they have that distinctive hump, to answer the question, “What’s under here?” That huge muscle is the perfect digging machine! Out of its den for only a short while, this 400lbs Griz is in a meadow in Yellowstone looking for quick, easy fat to put on after a long winter’s sleep. Last night, it was finding its meal under Bison Biscuits. Under that moist fertilizer were two prizes, grubs, and tubers. He had a good old time digging under nearly every single biscuit in the clearing, at times digging kinda deep and others, laying down on the rich find directly under the flipped biscuit and lapping it up.
You might be wondering about the look of this Griz. This is a classic looking North American Griz as Lewis & Clark encountered. Still, in its thick, rich winter coat, you can see the “silvertip” or “grizzled” guard hairs for which it received its common name. It was a killer evening watching one of my favorite parts of our treasured wild heritage!
May 6, 2022 | Wildlife Photography
American Black Bear captured by Z 9 / 800f5.6 AFS
First morning of our annual Yellowstone Spring trip and had numerous Griz & Black Bears, Pronghong, Snowshoe Hares, Sandhill Cranes, Bald Eagles, Gray Wolves and so much more! Though there is snow on the ground, spring has sprung and I can bearly contain my joy!
May 5, 2022 | Wildlife Photography
White-tailed Deer, doe & fawn captured by D6 / 180-400VR
It’s that time of year when the next generation is greeting the world for the first time. Birds and mammals young are incredibly vulnerable in their first hours. Predators know this and this time of year, are on the lookout for them. Actually, they are on the scent for them. Our footsteps, the path we make if we aren’t careful can lead a predator right to our subject. So, be careful, watch your step!
