I’m back home for the Thanksgiving or what’s left of it. I unfortunately have to go back to college tomorrow to finish off the semester. Before i left home, Dad and me went out and shot the town. Partly cuz the town is decorated for Christmas and also because i had a project that i had to get some images for.
This is part of a Christmas display around a tree in a part of town called the village.
It’s all about the colors.
Its amazing how time changes so many things. Back when i took this image i didn’t have a blog, my Dad didn’t have a blog, heck he only had the D1 at the time, but we still had fun. This was taken in Canada right after the second DLWS with David Black as the guest shooter, and Wayne Lynch was the man we went out with after the event. This was a Northern Harrier nest with 3 sub adults that Wayne had found and so nicely took us too. I always liked this shot but never had a place to show it, until now. I have to thank Joe for blogging me and therefore pushing me to blog today, that napkin is hilarious.
Today was the end of DLWS Montana and what a marvelous time it was. Days and days of compiling images and meeting new people happened it what seemed like the blink of an eye, and with that blink it ended. The door closed on that chapter of events and is waiting to be opened again, not knowing what new treasures might be found or new experiences made on the way. It was an amazing time and I wanna thank everyone for including me in it, especially my parents who made it all happen.
The afternoon shoot on this second day was at Nevada City. A really cool place where there are tons of opportunities for anyone with an open mind. There is never enough time or light to be spent at this gold mine of images.
One of the coolest parts of this ghost town is the ability to take a shot of almost anything and be able to make it into a black & white. There always seems to be one more around the corner.
This morning was amazing. The skies lite up like they were on fire. From left to right nothing but beauty could be seen. Truly a great sunrise not often seen. After this amazing show from the heavens, we were incredibly fortunate to get to shoot an actual cowboy and cowgirl. Kevin was nice enough to get us onto his families ranch where we photographed Lyle his cousin and his wife Mert. It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately none of my shots i was thrilled about.
The first day of DLWS is over however unfortunate it was to miss the morning shoot, the evening shoot turned out to make up for that loss. We went to an stockyard in the older part of Bozeman. Old buildings filled the area.
The bricks just seemed to stick out more for me more than anything else.
We spent another day in the park working on the video. Of course I say we and I mean Jason was shooting, Dad was being shot, Mom was shooting the interaction between the two and I was around for the ride pointing at rocks hoping they were wolves, especially after yesterday. It was fun watching two Bull Elks pushing around outside Mammoth Hot Springs. The little one was a heck of a whiner.We spent a good amount of time with them.
The day was concluded with this big Bull by the side of the road. With the 600′s out, Dad and me had some fun playing with him.
One of the most sought after creatures in Yellowstone is the Gray Wolf. Although growing in number they are hard to see and even harder to get close enough to photograph. Normally they can only be seen with binoculars or a scope. I got lucky today in the park when I was out helping my parents with another job; found a pack of five wolves all from different packs that left and joined to form this one. The alpha female is the white one in the middle with the colar, beside her are two black wolves and a grey one, the fifth wolf is up higher on the hill. This definetely isn’t the million dollar shot but it is a start at capturing these marvelous creatures.
Well I was at the beginning of Base Camp and I was there for the end. I wasn’t able to go throughout the week due to class’s but I was able to attend the last shoot on Friday. It was an amazing day and I can’t even imagine what the rest of the week was like. We began the day by driving up to Mammoth Hot Springs from the west entrance. This was the hot springs in the morning, surrounded by cow elk and even the infamous number six.
This is the infamous number six. He is a six pointer bull elk that tends to own the town at Mammoth. He is well known for destroying cars and injuring two people. A couple of years ago the park service cut off his antlers in a hope that he would leave; he didn’t. Instead of being driven off by some of the other bulls, he merely walked around a house until the bulls were gone and then went about owning the place. Despite his rather aggressive demeanor, he is a large bull and a big part of the breeding pool at the town.
After the excitement at Mammoth, we continued the drive down into the Lamar Valley. We met up with some of the wolf watchers that were watching a Grizzly Bear on carcass a mile or so out. They said it was a wolf kill that the bear took, which is quite common. We never saw any wolves that day nor did the bear ever get closer, but the scenery of the valley was magnificent. On the way back we went north of Mammoth towards Gardiner in hopes of seeing the Bighorn Sheep that normally can be seen in the fall on the cliffs that stretch along the road. We did in fact see them. Females and kids, no rams ever came down.
The whole day was a blast. It was nice to meet so many avid photographers enjoying the wonder that is Yellowstone. It seemed at the end that everyone had a wonderful time even though they never got that all so sought after wolf or Griz shot. It was also amazing to meet people that knew of my photography, and who wanted me to come back after only meeting that past Sunday. I can only thank them for visiting my sight and saying such nice things.