Jake Peterson’s Blog

For the last two years I have been using the 300 f4 AF-S, which is an amazing lens that i have thoroughly enjoyed. However,  the 300f4 has some limitations. The lens is bigger and a little heavy making it harder to hold steady for longer periods of time.  So for Christmas my parents were very nice and got me a Nikon 70-300 AF-S VR. This lens is great. The light weight design makes it so that it can be held steady for a longer time. The lens is also smaller taking up less bag space which means I can carry more tools when i go out shooting.  About a month ago when I was in Yellowstone photographing the sheep i would’ve killed for this lens. The VR would have helped with the slight breeze and the ability to zoom out would have given me a better shot when the rams were head butting.

My Dad found this Greater Road Runner when he, Jeff Cable and I were out shooting a couple days ago. Jeff and I slowly walked up to the road runner which was very cooperative and stood still on his post. The 70-300 was perfect for photograpphing this guy. By getting close physically i was able to capture a great close-up shot of him without disturbing him or having to put on a longer lens, which would have taken time away from photographing the road runner. If you want to see a video of how this was done you can go to my Dad’s blog. This is a great lens that i can’t wait to play with some more.

This morning we went out shooting with the Cable’s over at one of our favorite locations in the Sierra’s, Lee Vining Canyon. The focus today was the ice on the waterfall and the trees in the snow. The ice did not excite me that much but there was this really cool tree up on top of a snow covered hill.

It was a fun morning.

I know it has been a while since I lasted posted, and i do apologize for that but I don’t always find something I want to blog or the time to go out shooting. I’m back home for a couple weeks between semesters on my Christmas break right now. Today was actually the first day i went out shooting in a couple weeks. Dad, Jeff Cable, and I went out in search of some Bighorn Sheep. Never saw any but did find a lot of tracks in the snow and some beautiful scenery.

The morning ended on a high note when Dad found this great looking Greater Road Runner on a post sunbathing. We spent about 45 minutes with him, he was so cooperative. We were all happy to get a chance to photograph him, thanks Dad.

I haven’t had much time lately to go out shooting in Yellowstone what with the end of the semester and all. Yesterday I was able to go out for a few hours and have some fun. I went down to one of my favorite places, the North Entrance of the park, that’s where all the sheep are in the fall. Of course there was no snow so they were still there, much to my surprise. It was truly unbelievable what I saw. 13 rams, or at least that’s how many I counted, there could have been more unseen on the cliffs above, by the side of the road. This group above was on a shear vertical hill chasing around a couple of ewe’s and even a couple of youngsters. They were also headbutting on that face.

I couldn’t believe they could headbutt without falling down up there. But they were. There were nine on the cliff face on the side of the road past the river. The road goes through a canyon and on the road side not the river, 4 more rams came down and started munching on a little hill. It was perfecting timing cause the sky opened up enough to let in some beautiful light. I was out there with the six turning from one point to another, hill, cliff, hill, cliff. There were so many I couldn’t decide which to shoot.

Of the four rams that were on the hill two moved off and the other two started headbutting. They continued on for about 20 minutes then another ram came from below and joined in. Then another came from across the river and finally a fifth one came from up top above where this hill was. There were five rams ten feet from the road headbutting. I couldn’t believe it, I still can’t. Of course I had the six so I had to run back and get the 300 out and even that was too much.

But it turned out alright. A 200 would have been perfect but I made due with the 300. So I stayed there and watched as these big boys went at it for an hour. Along by my side was a number of other people including other shooters and even a videographer. It was so cool hearing that thump. It is unmistakably loud when you hear it. I tell ya photographing these rams as they thump into each other isn’t easy. Since I had no experience with it before, I think I did alright. Can’t wait to go back and try again. The angle of the hill to where the light was hitting was definitely not helpful. I had to keep moving and the land behind me was a drop off into the river. Sure was fun though.

In the end two of the rams went down the road, one went up to the cliffs above, and the other two just kinda stopped and took it a bit easier. The day ended with 10gigs of images and a lot of excitement.