Yellowstone June 27th

PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

I made a quick day trip over the Beartooth Pass into Yellowstone to spend the day attempting to photograph the Trout Lake Otters; but they were a but. I did however have some luck with Mountain Goats on the pass.

Enjoy

Sage Grouse Lek, April 21st

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I left Billings at 3:35 am so that I could get out to the lek and get set up before the birds arrived.

This particular lek has upwards of 60 displaying males at a time. The morning of the 21st was beautiful; but because of my blind position I was only able to count 39 displaying males; but I could hear more.

A long lens, ground blind, and lots of patience is required to make a go at photographing grouse leks.

I'll keep making more trips this spring, so look for more photos to come soon.

Check out the photos and play the videos too (audio and all).

Sage Grouse Lek, April 14th

PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

I left Billings at 4am so that I could get out to the lek and get set up before the birds arrived at the lek.

This particular lek has upwards of 60 displaying males at a time. On the morning of the 14th the wind was very strong so there were less birds than usual and my count was only 47 displaying males.

A long lens, ground blind, and lots of patience is required to make a go at photographing grouse leks.

I'll make more trips this spring, so look for more photos to come soon.

Beaver Lodges in Billings

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I have spent quite a few nights this month wading in Beaver ponds to photograph Beavers at sunset.

I have seen Beavers each night; but only one night actually provided good light.

I also shot a brief video as the distracting branches made for poor photographs, while the video was nice.

I hope you enjoy.

Catching up on Editing Local Shoots

A FEW TRIP GALLERIES ONLINE NOW

I got a bit behind on my editing of local trips, so this weekend I forced myself to sit down and get through four or five new trips of photos. Take a look around to see what there has been to photograph around the Billings area over the past month or so.

I'll try not to get this far behind again; but lord only knows.

Riverfront Park, Nov. 15th
Two Moon Park, Nov. 14th
Rim Country, Nov. 13th
Two Moon Park, Nov. 9th
Rim Country, Nov. 8th
Billings Area, Sept. 26th

Enjoy

Billings Area, September 9th

PHOTOS ONLINE

09-09-09
Just out for a short test of the minty 500/4.0L IS.
Spot on it appears.

There were some kids playing down by the river, who seemed to be keeping both the Osprey a bit nervous; but the one pass that I got provided a decent chance to play with the 500 and check its AF tracking with the 50D.

Enjoy
Now I am off to the Tetons... I think :)

Billings Area, July 30th

PHOTOS ONLINE

Another morning trip north of Billings to the Molt area.

To be truthful I only went out to try to shoot Common Nighthawks; but due to the cold (37 degree) temps the bugs were not out, and neither were they.

So I kept driving and did my usual route when the sun rose.

Enjoy

Yellowstone, August 1st - 2nd

PHOTOS ONLINE

The flowers are still going strong, thinner this year than last.
The bears are into summer patterns.
The Elk and Mule Deer are getting nice racks and are still easy to find in their bachelor groups.

The short two day trip was a nice break from Billings. I wanted to give the flowers one last try; but because they were a bit thin I did not shoot flowers as a primary subject, however they make a great addition to photographing other animals. Oh well... next year

I had a 50D break on top of the Beartooth Pass. Under a year and the lens mount quit locking down. Back to Canon tomorrow and it should be back up and running soon enough to get another trip or two before the 60D comes. That is why I always bring a trusty 20D along when I head out shooting. I wish I had just brought one of my other 40/50D's

There was a bachelor group of about a dozen Mule Deer bucks three of them were quite nice all hanging out in the Elk creek area.

Everything else seemed fairly on par to last year.

I can not wait for fall to come.


As for the Cougar, it was shot in the northern part of the park between Mammoth and Tower. I saw it while driving, stopped in a pullout as quickly as possible, and snapped a few photographs before it disappeared into the trees. I was so glad that I had the the 5DII with 300/2.8L IS + 1.4TC II ready to go at ISO800 and set to f/4.0 the shutter speed was only 1/125th. The entire thing happened in a matter of seconds. I will say that those who do not drive with a camera handy will miss their chance at those brief glimpses of rare YNP specials.

Enjoy

Billings Area, July 26th

PHOTOS ONLINE

This morning seemed like a great morning to head out north of Billings and see what I could find to photograph. The lunar and solar phases were decent this AM so I figured that I would be able to get lucky. I think I did. In a few hours I was able to produce 90+ images to put online.

Take a look. I hope you enjoy.

Yellowstone, July 18th - 19th

PHOTOS & VIDEO ONLINE

This was another trip that I made because I was in the area for work. Rocky Mountain College sent me out to Virginia City again to shoot some theatre, those images can be found here.

The Yellowstone leg of the trip ended up with very few images captured. I did have a great two days with a friend of mine. Teaching photography in a great environment gave me a much needed chance to simply relax in Yellowstone. The conversations were well worth all of the miles driven.

I did not even snap one photograph of a mammal. I did see a Grizzly Bear and many Black Bears, Mule Deer, Elk, Bison, Antelope, and much more I just did not take out my camera. Very hot weather and blue sky days (except for the Sunday showers) left the wildlife activity boring and in poor light at best. I think this was also the first trip of the year where I did not see a Wolf, I did not go to areas to see them however.

I have two videos online. I would show it as one; but even after cutting it from 1080P to 720P the files were far larger than SmugMug allows (600MB max or 15 minutes). Simple footage of an Osprey spending time with its chicks. The audio was removed due to the excessive road noise. I was also forced to leave the image stabilization on because I was perched on the edge of the road. The IS makes the footage wonder a bit; but it did kill out the bad vibrations that came in as each car drove by.

Enjoy and I'll try to have more for you to look at next trip. :)

Yellowstone, June 27th - 28th

PHOTOS ONLINE

So I simply had to make a quick trip down to the park for the Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarki) spawning. And was hoping for a few Otters too.

I was quite happy with how day one went and almost went home after day one; but I am so glad that I stuck it out and shot a second day, as it became an even better day.

The two day list is:
American Dipper
American Kestrel
Badger
Bison
Brewers Blackbird
Brown Headed Cowbird
Cliff Swallow
Common Merganser
Coyote
Cutthroat Trout
Elk
European Starling
Grey Jay
Horned Lark
Magpie
Mallard
Marmot
Mule Deer
Osprey
Otter
Pika
Pronghorn
Raven
Red tailed hawk
Red Winged Blackbird
Robbin
Sandhill crane
Steller's Jay
Tree swallow
Uinta Ground Squirrel
Western Square-dotted Blue Butterfly
Wild turkey
Wolf (dot's)
Yellow-rumped Warbler
(Sorry for spelling errors, this list is kept on my iPod Touch)

Now if normally you don't head over to my full gallery, this is one trip that you will not want to pass by. There are some 400+ images that made the grade from this trip. Take the time to look, even if you just play it as a slideshow.

I met some great folks from all over the US, like I do most every trip, and actually did not mind the sun and warm weather (though clouds would of been nice for the Otters).

The 5DII worked great in YNP and I have some video that I will try to edit over the next few weeks and get online from this trip.

As always, thanks for looking at my photos. Please visit my recent trips gallery to see all of the photos from this trip, while you are there give a thumbs up to your favorites and feel free to leave comments there too, with 5 stars. I ask this not to have folks boost my ego, simply to help my images get more play on SmugMug. And so you can enjoy more images of YNP... Thanks.

Total trip was 429.5 miles and my Outback averaged 27.3 mpg.

Yellowstone, June 20th - 22nd

PHOTOS NOW ONLINE

The main round of photos are now online, there will be a few more landscapes to come later (HDRM possibly.)

I figured why not spend the last day of spring and the first days of summer in YNP, with the time of year comes very long days so I had plenty of time to enjoy the park. The addition of clouds and rain kept the weather cool and the crowds down. For the first time in a long time I really did enjoy driving the park and looking not for things to photograph; but for great mental images to save. I told myself that this summer my trips would be focused on filling in holes in the images that I have captured in the park, and this trip was no exception.

I did enjoy the new iPhone 3.0 software on my iPod touch and kept a decent list of everything that I saw from leaving Billings to returning 3 days later.

Here is the trip list, with some bird species that I saw not listed (due to my poor ID skills):

American Robin
American White Pelican
Bald Eagle
Bighorn Sheep
Bison
Black Bear
Blue Grouse (Dusky)
Blue-winged Teal
Canada Goose
Chipmunck
Common Merganser
Coyote
Douglas squirrel
Elk
European starling
Grizzly Bear
Gulls (island full)
Horned lark
Lesser Scaup
Magpie
Mallard
Marmot
Moose
Mountain bluebird
Mourning dove
Mule deer
Osprey
Pheasant
Pika
Pronghorn Antelope
Raven
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird
Red-tailed hawk
Ruddy Duck
Sandhill Crane
Steller's Jay
Uenta ground squirrel
Western Grebe
Wilson's Snipe
Wolf

As always, thanks for looking at my photos. Please visit my recent trips gallery to see all of the photos from this trip, while you are there give a thumbs up to your favorites and feel free to leave comments there too, with 5 stars. I ask this not to have folks boost my ego, simply to help my images get more play on SmugMug. And so you can enjoy more images of YNP... Thanks.

Total trip was 917.2 miles and my Outback averaged 28.5 mpg (So much better than my Blazer ever did).

Nature Photography Day

PHOTOS ONLINE

NANPA challenges its members to participate in a Nature Photography Day Member Event.

"This annual event will challenge NANPA members to take a nature photograph on June 15 and upload it for publication in the July/August issue of Ripples, our bi-monthly newsletter. All photos will be published and there is no cost for submission. Photos for submission MUST be taken on June 15, 2009 within walking distance of wherever you are on that day."

With rain and a very full day of work I was only able to do some evening shooting of leaves; but I got out and did some backyard shooting.

Enjoy

Yellowstone, May 30th

PHOTOS ONLINE

Work sent me down to Virginia City to do some shooting. The time in the old town was fun and I was able to produce the images we needed (better than expected). They are online here.

The real joy of the trip for me however was that after a long night on the 29th, followed by a long drive, I got to spend the morning in Yellowstone before heading back to Billings for some prior engagements.

The 29th/30th ended with my head hitting the pillow at 1:30 am. The alarm went off at 4:30 am, time to get into the park. By 5:15 am I had spotted a lone grey Wolf at Blacktail Ponds, he was shortly joined by a collared black Wolf. The two of them proceeded to pull a young Bison out of the pond, I have no clue how long he had been dead for. I sat in my car shooting from a bean bag while they went to worked on breakfast. For the first 15 minuets not a single car stopped :) Then the crowds began to amass as the sun filled the valley. As a bus pulled in I pulled out. Heading to check on the regular Great Grey Owl, who had already given his morning show. Came across a few black Bears, one of which was in a somewhat photogenic scene. I fired off a few bursts and headed on to the top of Dunraven pass to look for the Dusky Blue Grouse. Found two, that after a very short battle became one. Enjoyed some shooting of the victor then it was time to move on toward the East entrance. I gave the Fox den a short wait while I took a much need nap, no luck. Then it was back to Billings via Cody.

I will not complain about the extra driving that accompanied my short day trip to YNP. I went 140 miles more than I would have just doing the drive for work, and I got some nice images as a reward, well worth it in my book.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the images.

Yellowstone, May 21st - 26th

PHOTOS ONLINE
The main round of photos are now online, there will be a few more landscapes to come later (HDRM possibly.)

With the long weekend, lengthened by my need to take some days off work before loosing vacation time, and the long late spring days I had plenty of time to enjoy the park. Unfortunately the sun and lack of clouds made this trip yet another trip about hiking rather than taking photographs; but I believe that I captured some keepers regardless.

I was also playing with a 400/2.8L IS so I had to put in some time simply testing/playing with the lens.

I took over 5k images so as you can image the play by play would fill a dozen post. Just know that I spent a large amount of time hiking, waiting for things to happen (badger den / fox den / coyote den), and shooting birds.

I am sorry for the delay on getting photos online. The day I got home from vacation work sent me down to Virginia City to shoot some theatre. The good news is that I was then allowed to make a morning swing through the park on Saturday (those photos to come soon).

As always, thanks for looking at my photos. Please visit my recent trips gallery to see all of the photos from this trip, while you are there give a thumbs up to your favorites and feel free to leave comment there too, with 5 stars.

Thanks and enjoy.

Yellowstone, April 18th - 19th

PHOTOS ONLINE

With opening weekend I had to make a run at the park.

I had an good start to the trip and then everything by comparison was a downhill slide.

Spring has fully sprung in YNP and with the 60 degree days they are predicting for this week I am sure that things will begin the greening process soon.

Due to life I was only able to make a quick two day trip. (left Billings at 3:30am Saturday and was home at 5:00pm on Sunday)

We all know how I dislike blue sky days, and we had a pair of them. I passed by many things that others would scold me for skipping, sorry. The shooting ended up feeling quite slow after how I started the first day. The warm beautiful spring days were nice to enjoy. And my new car handled great.

Osprey and Eagles are both on nests in some of the usual places.

Most places are loosing snow fast, others already lost it, and a few still have tons.

I still have some landscapes to edit and get online, I'll add them when I get some time.

Thanks for looking, visiting my site, giving your favorites a thumbs up, and leaving 5 star comments here and on my site.

Enjoy

Yellowstone, April 18th - 19th

A quick two day trip.

A very quick version of the two day list is:
Wolf
Fox
Coyote
Pronghorn Antelope
Elk
Mule Deer
Bison
Bighorn Sheep
Bald Eagle
Osprey
Red Tailed Hawk
Canadian Geese
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Common Merganser
Common Goldeneye
Trumpeter Swan
American White Pelican
American Robin
Mountain Bluebird
Sandhill Crane
Great Blue Heron
And many more bird species.

That is right it was a three dog weekend, well day, well actually handfull of hours.

We all know how I dislike blue sky days, and we had a pair of them. The shooting ended up a bit slow after the first few hours; but the warm beautiful spring days were nice. And my new car handled great.

More to come when I get through the photos. Trust me I'll have more to post.

A few more from YNP (Feb/March)

PHOTOS ONLINE

Well it has been a while; but I finally found the time to edit a few more landscapes and get them online. I hope you enjoy, the point of these were simply for me to play with tone mapping, detail enhancing, and general merges (for this spring). The landscapes are OK and the edit job is decent practice.

Enjoy

Rim Country, March 20th

PHOTOS ONLINE

I love having a place so near that I can go and be alone in the wild. Rim Country offers a great place to head out on an afternoon adventure. Now Rim Country is not teeming with wildlife to photograph and most of the better images are made with hard work plenty of time and lots of miles. The 20th was no exception, I spent half the day in search of signs to point to great shooting. A few natural springs off of the property, I have permission to be their too, are ideal for drawing the more allusive critters out when water is scarce. I was able to spot some sign in the snow and mud, that tells me I need to go back in the future. As far as images, I don't have much to show; but it was a great hike and could prove to be helpful in the future.

Enjoy

On the go posting...

Hey all

I am just trying out posting from my handheld.

I hope you have been over to www.Rocky.edu and checked out our Bears. They are now on to the Final Four (NAIA).