Mar 19, 2020 | Wildlife Photography
Rocky Mtn Bighorn
captured by Z6 / Z24-70f2.8
Bighorn Sheep are much more comfortable when we are below them so their escape route UP a slope is not cut off. This very basic piece of their biology, once you use it you can get incredibly close to sheep. These Rocky Mtn Bighorn are no different. This basic knowledge not only gets you close physically but in the frame, gives sheep a prominence. It’s a win-win for wildlife photographers. But like everything in photography, you can take this knowledge one step further.
Rocky Mtn Bighorn
captured by Z6 / Z24-70f2.8
My primary rig is the D5 / 180-400VR which works great for big game. This group of ewes though didn’t wanna stay off in the distance, they came right down to us which sheep do. I didn’t want to shoot down on them though, not a pleasing angle. So I flipped out the monitor the Z6 / Z24-70f2.8 and slowly, ever so slowly, bent over and shot. You can see the difference between the two photos. Next time then when you’re working with bighorn, remember getting low makes them no only comfortable, but the better photograph!
Mar 10, 2020 | Wildlife Photography
Barred Owl
captured by D5 / 180-400VR
Filling the frame with our critter subjects, it’s a quest for most wildlife photographers. We buy long glass, we go on long trips, we spend long periods of time in the field, all with the quest of filling the frame with eyeballs. But critters actually have gone to great pain to blend into their world, to not be seen. It’s the mystery that in large part grabs our imagination and starts our quest to photograph them in the first place. But once you have that close up photo, do you ever take a step back and take in the critter, and its world? If you have not, it’s disappearing!
Barred Owl
captured by D5 / 180-400VR
The Barred Owl is a big bird, bigger than a football. And like most of its feathered friends, it can completely disappear into its world. Both photos were taken with the spectacular Nikkor 180-400VR of the same individual, the top one was at 180mm fifty feet away and the bottom photo, 400mm at twenty feet away. While the bottom photo would get you the likes on IG, the top one tells the story of the Barred Owl and the world it depends on for survival. If we don’t take the time to share both, we will slowly lose our feathered friends and that thrill of spending time with them in the field. The one thing none of us want to have to ask for real is, where’s Waldo?
Mar 5, 2020 | B&W Photography, Landscape Photography
Wind River, WY
captured by Z7 / 180-400VR
I’m up in WY working with Rocky Mtn Bighorn Sheep, so why am I posting snow clouds? There are 1200 heads of sheep in these hills but with the tremendous winds that have been blowing for the past week, most are hunkered down and we’ve only had a band of thirty to work with (which has been great!). With their routine of coming down and going back up during the morning hours and the light on the slope, the late afternoon we tend to turn our lenses to the landscape. It’s gorgeous so the challange is not the landscape photograph, but which landscape to focus in on. There are a ton of options. This afternoon, we decided to point our lenses towards the floatin snow … them clouds that were racing by.
Wind River, WY
captured by Z7 / Z24-70f2.8
The clouds would go by at great speed and as they floated by, they were simple, gorgeous puffies. As they came up to the mountain tops, they pilled up and that’s when they began to release their snow. To take in the landscape and speak of that snow load floating by, I went wide at 24mm. To share the release of snow, I went in tight at 400mm. Bringing out the drama in the clouds and the landscape, B&W for me was the obvious choice. And if there was a wind option on the web so as you read this you could feel that fierce wind, I’d have that turned on. Hopefully, it’s coming through the photographs!
Mar 3, 2020 | B&W Photography, Landscape Photography
Thor’s Well
captured by D750 / 18-35AFS
Like most shooters, I have locales across the globe I’d like to shoot at someday. One of those is Thor’s Well. Totally on a fluke, I found myself there one evening when Sharon & I were traveling with dear friends. Serious photography was not even on our minds, there was zero planning involved when we found ourselves at Thor’s Well. We didn’t even know it was in the neighborhood. It just so happened our timing was good for the tides and the sky were OK. And while we had a great time, great time, the photo is at most just a quick click of all that fun. But when it comes to the photographic moment, I missed it. This photo is just OK, it could have been so much better and does that knowledge bother me? Na, because it was not a photographic journey, it was a happy moment. And that’s OK! What this photo does do is not only remind me of that evening but put a fire in me to get back and do the photo right. Next time you don’t come home with “the” click, remind yourself that is was only a missed moment.
Feb 27, 2020 | Wildlife Photography
Boreal Owl
captured by D5 / 180-400VR / TC-14eIII
It was on our last morning at Zax-sim Bog, it was the ninth time in a week we had checked the Admiral Feeders looking for it, not finding it the first eight attempts. The ninth time, literally driving to the airport, we stopped one last time and we finally saw the magical Boreal Owl. The feeders are literally on the side of the road, behind them is the boreal forest of Minnesota. In theory, you literally wouldn’t have to get out of your car to see or photograph the Owl, if he’s there. We drove down the road to see a group they’re doing exactly as we desired, taking in the Boreal Owl. And that was the greatest gift the Boreal Owl gave us, time!
Boreal Owl
captured by D5 / 180-400VR / TC-14eIII
I stood there hand-holding the D5 / 180-400VR (with its 1.4x engaged) and TC-14eIII attached at this little gem in the viewfinder looking at the boreal forest thinking, “How am I going to smack you, the viewer right between the eyes with this little guy AND speak of its world?” See all the textures in the owl’s world, they are very intriguing and visually eye-catching. The Owl is meant to blend into this world. Luckily, the light pattern was slightly to the side which makes all those textures come to life. With the luxury of time the Owl gave us (we stood there in the cold for a few hours), I could decide what was going to make the best light for the story?
Boreal Owl
captured by D5 / 180-400VR / TC-14eIII
I’ve posted just three of the varying light patterns to give you an idea of how time changed the story. I know which I like, which tells the story I want to tell the best, what would you pick? One light, the trees are more in the shadows. In another light, you have more visual depth in the photo and the other, it’s a little flatter. So my whole point is when you have the time to spend with a critter after you have a couple of clicks, don’t say, “I’ve got that photo and move on” but rather say, “With time, how will the light improve my storytelling?”
Feb 11, 2020 | Landscape Photography
Old Faithful
captured by Z7 / Z24-70f2.8
When you conjure up winter, white is predominant the color that flashes to mind. It takes only a short microsecond traveling through Yellowstone in winter to come to know that white has a run for its money when it comes to color. The one color you see a lot of is gray, as in, gray skies. That color too might make you think that there isn’t much color in Yellowstone in winter. Traveling about even under gray skies you find colors of nearly every shade around every corner of Yellowstone. Heck, its name tells you that even its rocks have color, yellow! When Old Faithful erupts into those gray skies, even the steam stands out from that gray. The colors can be that subtle yet powerful visually.
Mudpot Basin
captured by Z7 / Z24-70f2.8
Going from the size and grandeur of Old Faithful to the edge of a small pool in the Mudpots, the colors are unearthly. The yellow of the algae (or is that yellow stone?) against that amazing blue of the hot, deep pool, who comes up with this stuff?
Mudpots
captured by Z7 / Z24-70f2.8
They thought Bridger was making things up when he talked about mud bubbling like boiling water. He didn’t mention the red hues outlined in white with the pockets of turquoise blue. Then you have this layer of steam wisping around hiding parts and sharing others. And with the crisp air of winter, all very much alive changing every second.
Midway Basin geyser
captured by Z7 / Z24-70f2.8
Then there is that yellow stone … again …
Grand Prismatic Spring
captured by Z7 / Z14-30
The algae mat that lives Grand Prismatic Spring does just that, lives and thrives! In water temps that would cook an egg in less than a minute, the algae bloom constantly changing the colors of the springs. The smallest kiss of light brings out an assortment of colors that change as your turn about. When the wind is calm and the temps are cold, steam creates a backdrop taking your imagination back to a primeval time.
Lower Yellowstone Falls
captured by D5 / 180-400VR
With winter white comes winter cold, so cold the might of lower Yellowstone Falls freezes in part. The freshwater turns a shade of blue that gives you shivers looking at it, not having to even know the air temp to feel cold.
Porcelain Basin
captured by Z7 / Z14-30
And amongst the hot pools at Norris Geyser Basin is Porcelain where the earth really cooks! The white soil and lining of the pools make the blue minerals dissolved in the steamy waters display their spectacular colors. As the steam dances about in the breeze, the landscape constantly changes so fast even the camera’s motordrive can’t keep pace.
Porcelain Basin
captured by Z7 / Z24-70f2.8
Next time you think about the color of winter, especially in Yellowstone, white might now be on the bottom of the list. That’s because there is a lot more to Yellowstone’s winter color.
