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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.

My time in Yellowstone has wound down to one last day of shooting and we made the most of it beginning with a big bull bison who came within portrait range…

We worked the bison for a bit and then moved on to find the bachelor herd of bull elk sitting amongst the trees. Making note of their location we headed to Gardiner to see if the bighorn sheep or pronghorn were around. We did find a nice herd of pronghorn that we worked for awhile. There was a small herd of deer nearby and it was interesting how the pronghorn watched us but, seemed really nervous of the deer. At one point when the deer rose from their resting place, the pronghorn all bounded away only to return as the deer moved off. This group of males made a great image as they all turned to look at the deer in unison…

After three weeks in the park, I am ready to go home and yet, I feel the pull of Yellowstone deep in my heart telling me to stay, there are many more wonderful experiences ahead. I leave with my hard drives overflowing with amazing images, my heart filled with wonderful experiences and new friends who have enjoyed the adventure over the last three weeks. Thanks to everyone who shared the experience that is Yellowstone in winter. You all brought bucket loads of enthusiasm to the adventure. It’s your excitement that makes sharing Yellowstone such fun! And, I have to give a big thank you to Arden & Erica of Yellowstone Expeditions for going beyond the call of duty with long hours, crazy logisitcal planning and undying enthusiasm for all they did to make this the best winter adventure in Yellowstone ever!!!

I have alot of catching up to do when I get home but, in the back of my mind I am already planning my next return to Yellowstone. Stay tuned…

Images captured with Nikon D3S, AF-S 600mm VR, TC-17E on Lexar Digital Media

Today was a transition day from Old Faithful to Mammoth with many stops along the way. Our stop at Grand Prismatic was a productive one with the steam at a minimum, the wind blowing what steam there was away and great colors in the pools. Looking for new and interesting images of the edges of the pools. I stopped along the way to photograph Excelsior Geyser…

The snow and weather conditions were ideal for a quick trip down the Firehole River to photograph the falls. I like the overcast as it makes the light nice and soft on the falls and the monochromatic scene lends itself nicely to B&W. NIK Silver Effex Pro does a great job of converting images to B&W…

Of course, those that know me, know I have a hard time passing up an opportunity to blur the water and Firehole falls lends itself to this effect. Moving in tight, I included some rocks to give an element of sharpness and an anchor for the water to flow around…

It seems that we have had more opportunities to photograph coyotes these last three weeks than I have ever had in Yellowstone. This coyote was right off the road and paid little attention to us other than to look up at us every now and then. While he didn’t catch anything while we were watching, he looks very healthy and his coat was gorgeous. I love the high key look of the white snow and overcast light. A simple black point/white point to remove the slight color cast in Capture NX2 and the image was finished.

Images captured with Nikon D3X, AF-S 70-200mm VR II, D3S, AF-S 600mm, TC-17E II (coyote) on Lexar Digital Media.

With warm temps and sunshine I wondered what would await us at West Thumb. Most cold winter mornings the steam is thick and if you are lucky, the sun begins to burn through while the steam swirls around the thermals revealing the trees and pools one moment and hiding them the next. The key is to fire the shutter at just the right moment to capture the mood of the moment. Not so this morning as we rounded the bend and saw clear skies and very little steam near West Thumb. This actually worked in our favor as a couple of the guys were hoping to have the opportunity to photograph the colorful pools and conditions were just right for that…blue skies to bring out the color of the pools and very little wind to blow the steam into our lenses. Seismograph Pool was spectacular surrounded by snow covered trees and a veiw deep into the depths…

Continuing around the boardwalk we came to Yellowstone Lake and with clear skies we could see all the way across to the Absarokas in the distance. I chose to put Fishing Cone in the foreground to break up the vast expanse of snow covered ice emphasizing the visual depth that I wanted to show…

Not wanting to hurry to fast and miss any great shots, I was also anxious to get to Black Pool and see if I could find a different composition than that of the previous visit. I used a polarizer to reduce the reflection on the water enhancing the view into the depths of the pool including some of the crusty edge to anchor the foreground. A simple color cast removal in Capture NX2 and a little tonal contrast from NIK and the image is as shot…

After a picnic lunch on the road towards Cody, we headed back to Hayden Valley to see what animals might be stirring. We found wolf & coyote tracks but, they did not look real fresh and bison were off in the distance. It was pretty quiet in the valley so we headed to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. With the warm temps of the last week alot of the ice surrounding the falls had broken off but the ice that remained had a really cool texture and greenish cast to it…

Tired and content with another successful day of exploring the wonders of Yellowstone we, headed back to Old Faithful. Somewhere south of Norris, Arden pulled over and had me drive the snowcoach the rest of the way in (I am an official winter guide for Yellowstone Expeditions so, it was all legal). The guys decided that the adventure in “Excell”ent Adventures came when we encountered a snowcoach coming from the other direction down the middle of the road at high speed in a narrow canyon. Quick reflexes kept us out of his path…and out of the river!

Images captured with Nikon D3X, AF 16mm Fisheye, AF-S 24-70mm, AF-S 70-200mm with TC-17E II on Lexar Digital Mdia