Cruisin Yellowstone ’11
01.01.2013 Pages are in the process of being updated. In the meantime you can watch our videos on our YouTube Channel as well as all Videos are available on iTunes as Podcasts!
The 2nd week of our Yellowstone Adventure, I had the GoPro attached to the hood of the van. I have quite a bit of footage, not gone through it all but I did grab some clips and put them together to give you a very slight feel of what Yellowstone is like in winter from the road. It’s amazing, beautiful and it’s your wild heritage. Enjoy!
The Come Down Blues
I’ve never talked with another photographer about this so I could be all on my own with this, but after a successful shoot, be it a day long or two weeks long like our Yellowstone Adventure, there is a big come down when I hit home. In the old days when we went back to our little condo, it was pretty severe. For a long time now we come back to paradise here in the Sierra but I still feel that let down. Have you ever felt that? Am I alone in this? Well, if you’ve not felt this you have no need to read further. If this feeling has hit you, you might just wanna keep on cruising down the page.
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Being conditioned to wake up early, once home my eyes fly open still on que even though no alarm sounds. I don’t fight it, I just get up and start to work and perhaps that were the letdown starts. Work just the day before meant being out shooting in the wilds of Yellowstone in this case and the next day it means being within four walls. I don’t do well inside four walls. There is no way around it and I’m incredibly fortunate to come back to work but even recognizing that, I hate paperwork, it’s just not my forte in life. So I aggressively blow past this stuff so I can get back to the creative stuff just as soon as I can. But the trick I found that gets me through this is to have the images I just took on a computer monitor that I can see.
This means that while in the field, I went through my workflow so I not only had material for clients and the blog, but for myself when I get back home as well. I select those images which I consider as favorites ready for viewing. What are favorites? Those are single clicks that sum up for me that moment in time, a memory that when I see the photo all that went into making that image comes rushing back and makes me smile. This is not the same as being the greatest photograph in an artistic sense but rather, simply bring a smile to the heart. And for the last couple of years, this has taken on a new twist.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp18041.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
Video is an amazing tool to get beyond The Come Down Blues. The past week in Yellowstone, I remembered to pull out the GoPro and attach it to the hood of the van. I have hours upon hours upon hours of video of our travels through the park. As you’ll see soon, some of it is pretty boring and some is just freakin cool! Having those segments playing as I work is huge fun and really takes me back down memory row. And that helps with the next task when back in the office, file management.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp29921.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
I came back this time to the dreadful task of having to migrate files on a 4TB NAS to a 8TB NAS. It’s been running for two days now and it’s not even half way done. The worst thing about this is, it’s my Location drive where I need to upload a majority of my Yellowstone images for safe keeping. So while that is taking place on one computer, I’m finishing all the images that are left and making needed submissions, prints, etc that keeps me reflecting back on two great weeks.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp28211.swf, 595, 484 [/swf]
And that really is the grounding that keeps it all working, the photographs. After going through this cycle for decades, I learned long ago that The Come Down Blues is simply not being able to actively explore the world with my camera and then capturing those moments I find. You can’t know the high of that discovery if you don’t experience the four wall yuck and if you don’t know the four wall yuck, you don’t push yourself to make the most of the time behind the camera. So what it all comes down to for us is it’s simply we’re very fortunate to be photographers. And that wipes out the blues and puts the smile right back on the face and in the heart!
Moose – Peachpit Webinar!
Yeap, I’m jumping on the webinar bandwagon and looking forward to it. On 8 March at 5PM PST, You have the opportunity to talk with me about wildlife photography, landscape photography, a little digital darkroom and just in general your questions. To keep the creative juices flowing, Photo Club members will receive an assignment at the end of the session. Once the assignment is completed, Photo Club members can upload their work to the Peachpit Photo Club Flickr Group where Moose and the Peachpit crew will help critique your work. And of course, there will be a chance for prizes! So click here and sign up, it’s free!
Dan Steinhardt’s Simple Celebration
There are those photographers who make clicks that simply make you smile when you see their explorations. I really envy these photographers who not only see our daily life, but have the talent to share it with us. Dan Steinhardt is just such a photographer and he has a new website I think you should check it out. The one thing you can learn from Dan is his marvelous use of color, it really is exceptional. He uses color to bring to life shape and form, emotion and design. It’s simply an amazing study in light and anytime you spend time looking at such images, you can’t be help improve your own photography. It’s well worth your exploration!
YA Wk1 D3-3
Then there are the Bison when it’s cold, they just look their best! This lone bull was right next to the road in the soft afternoon light plowing the snow looking for grasses below. The best part of the angle of the bank it was working, it was great for shooting right down and seeing right into the action. With all of that, we had to stop and work him for a while.
I think the biology of these massive creatures is amazing. This bull walked and walked and plowed and plowed for a good 20-30min before after all his work, he found some grass to eat. In winter, the survival game is all about calories in vs calories out. He spent a lot of time looking before finding that one patch of grass. But he is obviously healthy so whatever he is going is working for him. And with a face like that, it’s working for me too. Another 1800 image day, more to go through, and more to shoot tomorrow. I love the cold!
Photos captured by D3x, 600VR on Lexar UDMA digital film