Jake Peterson’s Blog

For days now i have been watching the clouds or lack there of. We have been walking around in the gleaming light of blue sky for the last couple days and it has been rather nice, but it got me thinking. Yea i know the sirens are going off, my friends here already hit me with that one. If the weather has been so nice, that means there has been no clouds to watch, none to study or observe, and therefore none for me to hone my skills on. It may seem trivial but aren’t they the middle ground between the light and the subject, the area that determines how rich the subject will glow on the ground? They themselves are the subject at times just the multitude of shapes and designs, they are there in one second and gone in the next. Even the light itself paints over the wisps to form shapes and in those seconds the clouds move, new shapes are formed and the old ones gone.

Cigar puffs, chimney stakes, smoke plumes, or flying elephants, is that how we see and describe these flying objects that make up the world above us. I am not the only one who longs for the leisure days of laying under a tree looking up at the clouds making shapes out of them? Are clouds merely tools that we use to judge when the best days are to go out shooting, or are they more than that? Do they represent the tasks at hand of new challenges that most be met and conquered for the next day to continue? I’m not sure, i wonder if a simple conversion to b&w in the real world would change the task as dramatically as it would in a photograph.

Images captured with D3, 70-300 AF-S VR, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

If you’re wondering in my blog absence if i found something inspirational to say you might be in for a disappointment. Then again writing posts at 2am tends to make for rather uninspiring conversation starters as this post is going up that early. I was thinking about the sheep lately since i have been reluctant to get myself to get out shooting for a multitude of reasons and thought to share an image. With a project coming up I’m hoping that will change. We shall see.

Image captured with D3, 600f4, TC-14e, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

This guy really is just too big for his post, but then Golden Eagles are just giant raptors. Like most raptors, they are very good at finding road kill, like deer that have been hit by cars. Well I’ll bet you can guess where i found this guy. Yep, in the worst place possible, where else. It was a deer carcass by a windy road, in the middle of a canyon, that was a 50 zone, what better place could you ask for to find a Golden Eagle. You’re probably wondering why i even bothered. Well after all the eagles i have seen and tried to photograph in Yellowstone on Elk carcass’s, having one that was six feet away with no one around and a turn out sounded like fun. Plus, i was out to shoot that day, why not. He didn’t stick on the carcass long before hoping onto this post, which was better for me, because it gave a much better background. Yea i know it’s an ugly brown grass background but that’s kinda where they spend half their time foraging so it’s part of their biology. I only got a couple dozen clicks before the inevitable car came from behind but it was fun while it lasted. I thought it best to continue on down the road and leave him to his afternoon meal.

Images captured with D3, 600f4, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

I was somewhat turned in two when i went to the ghost town this time. I thought that i would make a gallery about it afterward but something grabbed hold of me and i couldn’t the other day i just didn’t want to. Not sure why, considering the images were all there, maybe just second guessing myself again. Not sure even what to say here in this post. The back of this one train car always grabbed my attention with the wavy design in the wheel handle and then the faded wood of the back door. Here are some images of the history of the west. Maybe they’ll grab your attention as they have mine.

Images captured with D3, 24-70 AF-S, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

Well hopefully for someone somewhere the wheels are a turning, for it’s back to a another familiar place to try and find new images that i haven’t already taken a dozen times in the past. It seems to be a recurring theme of mine lately, doesn’t it. Good news though, the fresh snow added some interesting elements to play with in one of my favorite ghost towns, Nevada City of course and that let new images arise that i never would have noticed otherwise. Of course all the rabbit tracks had my attention but they weren’t as cooperative. Wagon wheels are a lot of fun to play with because they can break up any linear element with that great curve and the light going through the spokes makes just amazing shadows.

Now the hard part i found was capturing that romance and nostalga feel to the pre-tire era which was was the wagon wheel. Getting the right angle with the right background to capture that fleeting moment of where the wheel has been and where it still wants to go is very important. I love working with these kind of wheels, i can never find enough of them. There truly are just so many ways to go about shooting them that it’s hard to talk about just these two.

Images captured with D3, 24-70 AF-S, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

It’s funny half of what makes the image look good has to do with the sky and yet seemingly always the sky in the park is gray. I get so used to it that i don’t really bother working with landscapes too much in the area just critters. I was thinking about that as i was driving through the park that day. Why is it when we go to old haunts that we only photograph the same things as we have in the past? Is it because it’s familiar and we know it works? The images are there from the last shoot so therefore the images can obviously be obtained the next time we go, right. The rut of breaking free into unexplored territory can be so hard sometimes but isn’t that how we grow and discover new techniques?

I looked back through some of my images and realized that i had very few images in winter of the North Entrance with blue sky in sunset. Maybe it’s because there just haven’t been that many great sunsets in the countless trips I’ve been down there or maybe it’s the change in times i don’t know; i mean it has been in the twenties this past week and it’s February, so hey who knows, but something just felt good about this one. Maybe that’s just the power of these old haunts at work as they change, seeing your own discoveries unfold before you.

Images captured with D3, 24-70 AF-S, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

I know it’s kinda of an odd tittle but i was thinking about Dad’s blog when i was photographing these 3 bull elk youngsters and i just couldn’t stop myself. I thought some explanation was in order. Over the years of driving through the park I’ve gotten pretty good about knowing when to be where at what time. Sure the chance of running into the unforeseen wolf or bobcat “could” happen but that’s always the gamble. There was 2 hours of light left, and the skies above the north entrance cliffs were looking great. I was having not so great luck in the rest of the park so i headed down towards the sheep in search of them yet again. Much to my surprise they weren’t there. They must just be all shot out for a while. Then pops out this guy by the road. Just a young Bull Elk munching on some grasses. He has nice light on him but in a not so great spot. Well there is a big parking lot 30 feet away so i figured okay lets have some fun.

I get out the equipment, setup the big guy, 600f4 on the tripod. I was looking at him,the background and the light on him, and was thinking cool this is starting look like a good elk and landscape shot. Well he just looks at me and looks over at the gully behind him, when two more youngsters pop out. Even better, more kids to play with! An hour of light and three subjects. Well wouldn’t you know they all decide to walk straight towards me, and I’m watching and backing up with the tripod cursing under my breath as they got within a couple feet of me. Here comes three Bull Elk right at me, Ranger drives by me from behind, and I’m just thinking huh i guess they didn’t read the blog  about approaching wildlife. Lol, I found this somewhat amusing but knowing simple biology, like their ears being forward, i knew they were happy and didn’t care about me. Big difference of course between approaching wildlife like he talked about and having them approach me but still the timing made me chuckle. I didn’t get any shots other than portrait shots but it was fun nonetheless.

Images captured by D3, 600f4, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

What a surprise, Sunday rolled around and i went back into the park. Well Saturday was just so much fun that i thought another day was just what i needed. Besides i didn’t get the shot i was looking for of the sheep so i thought i would try again. O i thought i would get it too. I got there and the light was just perfect, here u can see it bouncing off the r0cks just beautifully, hitting little spots lighting them up so that they glow. Like the face of the one sheep or the butt of the other. Unfortunately for me the sheep were moving up the ridge and not sticking at the bottom of it so i didn’t to play with the kids for very long.

That didn’t stop them though. They climbed that ridge and peered over looking right down at me. I must have been interesting because the one in front kept cocking his head at me, maybe it was the sound of the D3 shutter. Now normally i wouldn’t blog shots like these because you wouldn’t be able to see the detail in the sheep but i thought it was interesting finding these four kids, no rams or ewes, just the four kids walking up the slope. Now i keep saying kids but in reality they are actually just young ewes. With the seemingly scarcity of sheep all of a sudden, I’m starting to wonder what is changed on the slope to change there habits. Weather or predators? Cause something seems to have changed there timing a bit more. Hmmm something to ponder and watch.

Images captured with D3, 600f4, Tc-14e, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film

It always amazes me that i have the brain power to continue this blog considering the fact that i normally write them late at night when I’m really not at all awake and should not be at the computer at all. But hey it gets down. I was out and about this past weekend like i normally am and it was kinda an odd one. The park had an odd quiet to it. Which for me i liked. I personally don’t prefer the busy bustle that happens far to often, makes it harder to shoot and it makes it harder too just stop and enjoy the beauty. Saturday was a rather beautiful day with blue skies and warm weather, and i think I’m not the only ones that noticed because the critters just were not around to par take in the enjoyment. I mean when it’s 40 degree’s out in February it’s too hot.

If it were not for these Pronghorn i probably would not have shot much that day. I couldn’t even find the sheep that day except for one very nice elder Ram with some long curls but in a very bad position to be photographed. He had to just be watched and moved on. Sheep of course have a low tolerance to heat and actually prefer the colder temperatures of the upper cliffs. These Pronghorn were right at the entrance to the park and although i was looking for the sheep to put with the blue sky and beautiful light for the ridge shots, the Pronghorn seemed to suffice just fine. Now this particular male looked right at me, looked at the patch of sun behind him and walked away from it just to spit me but hey that’s an ungulate for ya.

Images captured with D3, 600f4, Tc-14e, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film