I felt a little nostalgia as I pulled away from Mammoth Hot Springs this morning. I have spent the last three weeks in Yellowstone National Park and no two days were remotely the same. We ran the gamut of subjects from bison, to pronghorn, bighorn, wolves, coyotes, river otters and elk. We had snow days and sunshine days that dawned cold and clear. Subjects were abundant each day we simply had to seek them out. Being in the right place at the right time played a big part; so did perseverence. We departed early each day and put our time in the field. We worked our subjects to find the best angle, lens, exposure and composition that would share our experiences with you. Our hard drives are filled with incredible images of our adventure…documentation of our life experiences…triggers to memories of days past some time in the future.

Our bags are packed for the last time as we depart for Bozeman and our respective homes. We are reflective, sharing experiences from the week, each bringing up a moment that came clearly to mind at a mere mention. We head on down the road only to find a herd of elk two hundred strong. They turned to look at us as we reach for our cameras (second nature by now) and once again put our camera to our eye and do what we as photographers do…capture moments in time as they unfold before our lenses…

There were so many elk spread across the valley one frame would not capture them all. In fact a five frame pano still only included about 70% of the herd. I could not do the moment justice but, I do have images for my files that will trigger memories of the moment.

The airport was a bustle with people arriving, new adventures awaiting them and others, like us, departing. I worked for a couple of hours the buzz of passersby in my ears. When I looked up, everyone was gone. The terminal eerily empty, save for one lone traveler at the other end of the small terminal…

I moved to my gate to find a stunning view of fresh snow and a breaking storm out the window…

An orange plow worked at removing the freshly fallen snow. It was a great contrast with the bluish mountains in the distance…

The call came to board the lane to catch our flights and we were airborne shortly. As the sun broke through the clouds bathing the freshly dusted farms below I brought my camera to my eye for one last click. Next stop…home, sweet home!

Images captured with Nikon D3X, AF-S 70-200mm VR II, AF-S 24-70mm On Lexar Digital Media.