Monthly Archives: February 2023

Be There! But Don’t Pet the Fluffy Cows!

by in Grand Teton National Park, Shooting in the snow, Wildlife photography and tagged , | 10 Comments

Ever since I was a little boy, Bison have been one of my favorite animals. When I was a little boy, the City of Cheyenne had a few Bison in pens in Lions Park, on the north side of town. In the summer months, we’d make lunch and head to the Park to have lunch with Dad. We’d frequently go by the Bison pens and marvel at their beauty. Eventually, the Bison went away, along with the Deer and Elk that the City had in adjacent pens. The Terry Ranch, south of Cheyenne on I-25, rebranded itself as the Terry Bison Ranch and we were able to see lots of Bison on our trips to and from Colorado. The Terry Bison Ranch also operated a restaurant with Bison on the menu. When we visited Mom and Dad, we stopped by for a delicious Bison Burger. After I got serious about photography, I’d stop by the Terry Bison Ranch for pictures.

Another favorite venue is the Bear River State Park in Evanston WY. I always stop there on my way home, say howdy to the Bison, and visit with the Park staff. It’s a great rest stop!

When my lovely bride and I visited Yellowstone National Park four years ago (has it been four years already?), we encountered Bison up close in the Hayden and Lamar Valleys. Taking pictures of Bison is challenging. Their bodies are dark, so the tendency is to overexpose to bring out detail. In bright light (like the middle of the day), that’s a deadly combination. Sometimes the magic works and sometimes it doesn’t. On that trip, the magic was mostly ‘doesn’t.’

Our recent trip to Wyoming, however, was a different story! We saw Bison on the North Fork of the Shoshone River, the road between Cody WY and the east entrance to Yellowstone, near Meeteetse WY, and along the road in Grand Teton National Park. The skies were frequently overcast, diffusing the light, so I was able to make some great Bison images on this trip. I hope you like them!

North Fork Road (along the Shoshone River between Cody WY and Yellowstone National Park):

Snow was present but so was the sagebrush, making photos a little easier.
Don’t worry, I really wasn’t this close to this one. I love my zoom lenses!
Watching the magnificent animal glide through the sagebrush was a wonderful experience.

West of Meeteetse WY:

This group was grazing the hillside. The light was great, but they were very far away.

Grand Teton National Park:

Fast forward to the Tetons Workshop. We encountered this herd along the road near the Triangle X Ranch, our base of operations. They became our subject a couple of times. The sky was overcast, diffusing the light which really helped. Sadly, the overcast obscured the Tetons causing us to look for alternative subjects.
The famous snow face shot! In deep snow, Bison find food by pushing their massive heads into the snow until they reach the grass below! Photographers must be sharp, because they only ‘come up for air’ for a couple breaths before they plunge back in. We waited for one Bison to raise his head for more than 15 minutes. My arms were tired from holding the camera up in anticipation. Again, I wasn’t close – love my zoom lenses!
One of my favorite Bison shots, and one of the few I made in portrait mode (meaning taller than wider – landscape mode is wider than tall). This beautiful Bison started walking towards our photo line, but didn’t get close enough to get worried!
This Bison stood still for some time. Obviously not hungry, it didn’t go digging for food. It’s only movement was to look at the photo line before turning its head to give us a nice full profile.
I changed my position a couple times to try to avoid the brush from obscuring the Bison. That’s the difference between this one and the previous shot. And of course, the head is turned.

Bison are magnificent animals! In the right light, they photograph very well. Or, if one is a good photographer, one can account for the light better! Regardless, the most important thing to remember is ‘Don’t Pet the Fluffy Cows!’

Enjoy – PHOTOROGR

Putting a Bow on the 2022-2023 Eagle Season!

by in Raptors, Wild Birds, Wildlife photography and tagged , , | 8 Comments

All good things must come to an end – and it’s time to ‘put a bow,’ signaling the end of the 2022-2023 Eagle season – for me, at least. Since we returned from our trip, we’ve seen many Eagles in the Carson Valley but lately there have been few the last week or so. The nearby area outside the Valley has had no Eagles in the last few weeks so, for me, Eagle Season is over. It’s okay, with the weather warming up a bit we have lots of other projects around to occupy my time. And I’m still processing image files from the trip.

2022 was my best Eagle year ever! While I’ve taken some great pictures in past years, I got more great Eagle shots in 2022 than any time before. As you saw in one of my ‘Be There’ posts, my Eagle year continued while I was in Wyoming. Here’s a couple more Carson Valley area shots from 2022.

On my final run around the Valley and nearby areas, I hadn’t been having any luck finding subjects to photograph. As I was turning around to head for home, this beautiful creature flew up (from the direction I had come) and landed in this snow covered tree as if to say ‘…well, you ignored me before so here I am now – take my picture!’
I love it when I’m ready when the fun starts. He lifted off while I was shooting portraits.

With an incredible finish to 2022, I was excited to return home and get out to see what 2023 would bring. Sadly, my lovely bride and I both got a crud on the way home, so we stayed very close to home for a couple weeks after our return. When we were able to get out, we found lots of subjects. Most, however, were fairly far away – even for my Canon RF 800 f/11 lens. An 800 mm focal length really brings those far away subjects up close. When combined with the 45 MP sensor on my Canon EOS R5 camera body, I have lots of data to work with when editing images. My greatest challenge is getting good focus on far away subjects. That’s not the fault of the equipment, rather, it’s the limitations of the photographer’s skills. We all have our limitations. Thankfully, I found the Topaz Denoise and Sharpen software, which can rescue some of my poorly shot image files.

Here’s the stuff from 2023! All in the Carson Valley.

There were two hot zones for Eagles in 2023. This is a fence line west of SR 88 between Mottsville Lane and Centerville Lane. When I saw pictures from one of my friends in this area, my ‘crud-addled’ brain couldn’t identify the fence. Of course, I wasn’t remembering that long focal lengths will cause the depth of field to compress, giving what we see every day a different look as a picture. One cannot forget the physics of capturing light!
It doesn’t get any better than this – well, maybe if they were a little closer! This tree at the west end of Cornforth Lane was a popular place to find Eagles.
Same fence, different angle! There were so many Eagles that they almost needed air traffic controllers!

A second hot zone was on Old Foothill Road, just south of the state line.

The only Eagle I was able to get up close in the Valley this year. I don’t stop for Raptors on utility poles very often, but I couldn’t pass this one by. I was kneeling in the snow, getting as low as I could, to keep the wire from obscuring that beautiful face.
For some reason, this tree was a popular stop for the Eagles this year. I made this image in a snow storm. When I stopped and got out of the car, a third Eagle flew off. Wouldn’t this picture have been really great with another Eagle?
Same tree as above, but on this day we had the best light we’d seen at this location. (Except for the snowy day, most of the images here were so backlit that the Eagles are shadows). I was excited to get some detail and color for a change.
Although I focus (pun intended) on Eagles from November to February every winter, the Raptor migration includes Hawks. I’m very selective about my Hawk images. No utility poles! I like my Hawks on a fence post at eye level. This Red Tail was on a utility wire and I felt something, so I started shooting. A few frames in he lifted off and hit the snow – coming up with this apparently tasty morsel. This is one of the many image files I have of this meal time.

And that’s it for my 2022-2023 Eagle Season! I’ll still have my cameras out and about and may bump into something, but I won’t be actively looking for Eagles for the next 10 months or so. Stay tuned for the rest of the ‘Be There’ series because there’s lots more to come (Bison and Big Horns and Elk – oh my!)! Enjoy – PHOTOROGR

Be There – Part 3!

by in Shooting in the snow, Wildlife photography and tagged | Leave a comment

In part 3 of the ‘Be There’ series, I’m highlighting the beautiful Deer that my brother-in-law and I found in the Meeteetse WY area, near Upper Sunshine Reservoir. We found these lovely creatures on the road to the Reservoir, and they were very accommodating for our cameras. My brother-in-law had expressed interest in ‘upping his photography,’ so we loaned him my lovely bride’s camera. He didn’t do too bad!

Enjoy – PHOTOROGR

This herd was up hill from the road (obviously) and the rocks brought an interesting element to the composition.
One of my brother-in-law’s shots, this herd was making their way up this wash towards the road.
Breaking trail! This young buck was crossing above the wash. Thankfully for him, the snow wasn’t too deep in this area.
The herd moved right to left and were contemplating their options to jump the fence and cross the road. Animal behavior is interesting. Deer will jump fences. Pronghorn Antelope will dive under a fence. Bison will just walk through a barbed-wire fence!
Decision made – up…
…and over!
The obligatory wildlife portrait! A good looking specimen!

2023 Nevada Northern Railway Calendar

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The 2023 Nevada Northern Railway calendar is on the street! I encourage you to get yours as soon as possible to support the NNRY and, more importantly, I have two pictures in the calendar! Speed is critical because the first picture is February!

I took this picture at my very first Workshop! The sun gave great light and the water provided a bit of reflection! We were riding in the caboose. They dropped us off and we bush whacked to where we wanted to set up our cameras.
Also taken at my first Workshop, this image of Locomotive 40 at the Yard Limit Sign will display in August! The crews are very accommodating during the Workshops. When we stopped at this location for pictures, the crews ran Locomotive 40 on the tracks heading to the left. I asked them to switch to this track for a better background and they gladly obliged. This is one of the many reasons I return to Ely on a regular basis!

To order calendars or other NNRY gear or to become a member or make a donation, go to nnry.com or call 775.289.2085.

Enjoy – PHOTOROGR