A Photo for the Day

Spectacular fields of Mules Ear, and Bush Lupine being enjoyed by clients and the horse during one of my backroad photography tours in the Uinta Mountains. The wildflowers are in full bloom right now making for many great photography opportunities.

If you plan to visit Park City, Utah or the surrounding area we offer 1/2 day excursion with or without photography lessons along the backroads in both the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains. These tours are held during our very colorful fall as well as in the winter.  More information may be found at this link. Please call or email us with any questions or to book a date!

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Anyone that has joined me on one of my photography tours, especially in Yellowstone National Park knows about my interest in photographing dead trees. There are several select trees within the Park that I’ve captured year after year in many different lighting and weather situations. Around the geyser basins it’s common to find trees that have been choked off from a fresh water source.

This image was shot along the boardwalk in the Midway Geyser Basin late in the afternoon using a Nikon D850, Nikkor 24-70mm, f/11, 1/200 sec., ISO 64, EV -1.33

More details thanks to the National Park Service…

“Much of the soil within the Yellowstone Caldera is the product of hardened lava flows from the region’s volcanic past and is unsuitable for many types of trees.

The central part of the park is characterized by miles upon miles of lodgepole pine, a tree which thrives in the slightly acidic soil of the caldera. The roots of lodgepole pine extend sideways rather than deep into the ground—an advantage in the caldera where the topsoil is very thin and contains few nutrients.

Dead lodgepole pines near some hydrothermal areas look as if they are wearing white anklet socks, at one time called “bobby socks.” The dead trees soak up the mineral-laden water. When the water evaporates, the minerals are left behind, turning the lower portion of the trees white.”

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The year of the coyote, or so it seemed during the past 2 months of photographing in Yellowstone National Park. During this winters Yellowstone photography tours there were plenty of other wildlife photo opportunities but it was a bit different in the numbers of animals we saw. Down from previous years. What was abundant were the coyotes.

Always plenty of bison around but even they were in different locations. In the Hayden Valley where typically we’d see primarily the big bulls we encountered many more cows with the year old calves. The bulls are more suited to the harsh winds and deeper snow find in this part of Yellowstone.

The elk we saw and photographed were up in the Mammoth Hot Spring area so it took a little itinerary adjustment to make sure we had that photo opportunity. That’s one of the great things about the tours I put together with just two clients at a time is that our schedule is completely flexible depending on where wildlife has been spotted and weather conditions.

I’ll be heading back to the Park in spring to hopefully photograph bears as they come out of hibernation as well as the baby critters as they begin to explore. I do have my 2020 Winter in Yellowstone tours posted now so hope you’ll join me!

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Carrying on from the previous post which showcased wildlife here is a collection of winter landscapes of Yellowstone from the 2018 photography tours. I spent approximately six weeks in the Park this season revisiting many of the same locations but usually under different weather and lighting conditions. Occasionally a bison, coyote or some other critter would be seen in some cases just the partially hidden tracks covered over by the wind swept snow.

I hope you enjoy this series of photos. Dates have been set for the 2019 season and two of the tours are already filled. Let me know if you have any questions.

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The 2018 Winter in Yellowstone photo tours have just wrapped and it was a wonderful season with many wildlife photography opportunities. I held 6 tours in all which afforded me the chance to experience the Park and the changes over a two month period. It’s always interesting to see how one year you may see many fox, bobcats, elk, etc. and the next year none to be seen. While we didn’t see the bobcats this year there were several opportunities to photograph wolves, primarily the very large Wapiti Lake Pack.

Along with the wolves everyone had a chance to see and photograph one of my favorite canines in the Park the coyote, including the “fishing coyote” along the Madison River. This unusual behavior has recently been witnessed in Yellowstone and the BBC had a film crew there trying to capture footage of the activity. I love the light hitting the coyote in the lead photograph as it stayed perfectly still for at least 15 minutes just soaking up the last rays of sunlight for the day.

It started out being a rather mild winter and by the end of the second January tour I was concerned about how much snow we’d have late in February for my last two excursions. The snow cycle seemed to have been flipped this year as the snow piled up, and is probably still doing so at the rate it was coming down. The temperatures never got down to what is more typical and I think the coldest morning was a -15. 

This page shows only a small selection of photos I managed to capture with more to come as I have the chance to do more editing. Moya, my much neglected pup, is demanding I make up for all the time away so it may be a while. Priorities! If you’re interested in joining one of these semi-private tours for 2019 more information may be found at this link.

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WINTER CAMERA EQUIPMENT

As winter shooting is upon us I thought I’d make this post public as a guide to equipment I suggest for some of my different photo tours and lessons. Here is a brief list of winter camera gear and clothing suggestions and other items you should consider bringing on any of the colder climate tours or workshops.

PLEASE keep in mind that this is a generic gear list which pertains to a few different photography tours including Yellowstone and Iceland. Not all equipment on the list might be necessary or helpful for all tours.

Must Have…should have

• DSLR or Mirrorless camera (1 back-up body is highly recommended)
• Minimum 2 spare batteries and wall charger. (TIP) Mirrorless cameras chew up batteries more quickly in cold especially.
• Your essential 1st lens: Zoom lens, for example wide angle 16-35 mm. On aurora workshops I suggest a fast prime wide angle lenses, such as 24mm f2.8
• 2nd lens for example zoom lens 24-70mm.
• My favorite non-prime for Yellowstone tours is the Nikkor 80-400mm.
• Additional lens, especially for trips with wildlife. A telephoto with at least a 400mm range. For the Yellowstone tour a 400, 600 or even 800mm will be great. Make sure your tripod will support the weight.
• (TIP) If you are going to rent a long lens and it has a foot on it to mount to your tripod be sure you have a mounting plate for it as well to be able to attach it to your ballhead.
• Shutter release cable (or remote). If purchasing a remote get one that uses radio waves to trigger.
• Sturdy tripod and ballhead. Really Right Stuff makes great gear. Consider the BH40 or BH55 ballheads. I know it’s extra weight to pack but don’t skimp when purchasing a good tripod and ball head.
• Polarizing filter
• Microfiber lens cloth. I actually cut up small pieces of old cotton flannel shirts to clean my lens of water drops or fog.
• Mininum of three 32 GB of memory cards or larger. More if you are not going to downloaded the images each night.
• Medium/large size camera bag which holds all your camera gear during the tour. It helps to have one large bag for all your gear and a smaller one which might hold a camera with longer telephoto lens and a wide angle lens.

Nice to have:

• Laptop to download images for review and/or processing during down time
• 1 external hard-drive, I carry 2
• USB flash drive (Thumb drive) Nice to have if you want to quickly share photos with someone else in the tour.
• External back-up power source for phone.
• Back up camera body
• Filter holder with adapter rings which fits your lens (82mm and 77mm very common)
• Hoodman Loupe (Primarily for winter tours and or night photography)
• Blower bulb to clear snow of camera and or lens. A small paint brush is great too for clearing snow off.
• Quick-dry towel like those used for backpacking.
• Rain cover for camera & lens. Keep it simple and grab a heavy weight trash bag.
• User manual for your camera. Download a .pdf of it and put it on your laptop/tablet/phone.
• Lens hoods in case it is snowing to help keep the snow off your glass.

GENERAL TRIP GEAR 

Think layers! and avoid cotton.

• Wool base layer, top and bottom (merino wool does not smell unlike synthetic fibers after several days’ use).
• Polar fleece jacket
• Wear bright colors if you want to show up better in photos taken of you. :-)
• Heavy down coat depending on the tour and how quickly you get cold.
• Water-resistant shell jacket/parka…with a hood is best
• Waterproof shell pants, like gore-tex
• Waterproof trail shoes or hiking shoes. Taller snow boots for sure on Yellowstone tour.
• Headlight or flashlight. A headlamp with an optional red light is recommended to help with nighttime vision. Make SURE they are easy to operate with gloves on!
• Winter boots
• Hiking boots
• Wool socks & reg socks
• Warm pair of gloves or mittens
• Yaktrax for your boots for extra grip while walking around the geyser basins.
• Thin, tight weave, glove liners. I try to purchase most outer clothing that is made with wind resistant materials. There are nice possibilities in biking gear. This link may work to give you ideas.
• Warm hat, wind and water resistant perhaps with ear flaps (Dog optional) 
• Sunglasses, Sunscreen, lip balm (Chapstick, etc.)
• Water bottle. It is very dry in Yellowstone and the high altitude makes having plenty of fluids important.
• Hand and toe warmers.
• !!!Trip insurance!!!

Must Have

Your happy mood and passion for photography!

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6 Tips: A photography tour, lesson or workshop

Springtime has arrived and the wildflowers are starting to appear in the local Wasatch Mountains near Park City Utah where I conduct my private photography tours. It is certainly my busiest time of year and so I thought it might be helpful to post what I feel are important things to consider when you are deciding  between a photography tour, private photo lesson or a workshop.

With so many options these days when it comes to photography instructions selecting what’s right for you can be as overwhelming as opening up the 500 page User Manual for that new camera you want to learn how to operate…correctly. Doing a little research, offline, will help you in your online endeavors and help to reduce the search results a bit. What follows are a few things you might want to ask yourself first before typing “Photo Workshops” into the browser search window. This may be slanted towards someone just starting out but still hopefully offers options to keep in mind for all.

1) What are your current abilities?
Be honest with yourself when assessing your skills and check to see what level the workshop or tour is geared towards. Not everyone is going to be looking for the same level of instructions or will be at the same point in the learning curve so think about where you’re at currently, as well as what you hope to learn.

2) Tour, workshop or private lesson?
Tour= usually less instructions but with someone that knows where to go and when.
Workshop= several participants with instructions being a big “focus”.
Private Lesson/Tour= It’s all about you, your skill level and what you wish to accomplish.
OK, I did leave out a more formal option such as a college course but I think that’s a different ball game. Personally I offer all three options with the ability to customize any of my scheduled group tours into a private session.
I think workshops are great if you don’t necessarily feel the need for extensive personal attention from your instructor. People learn differently and with a workshop a question someone else raises may be the one you never considered.
If you decide a group workshop fits your needs keep the number of participants in mind and be certain of how many instructors will be on hand to help with your questions. If there’ll be more than one instructor will each be helping with all aspects of photography or will one be the “in the field” expert while the other is your “post processing” guru?

3) Do you work well with others?
This is something to consider when deciding between a group lesson/tour as opposed to the private option. Sometimes the private lesson is better if you’re just starting out, when you require more direct hands-on help just setting up your new camera. Even as an instructor it can be frustrating with all of the different models and features available on today’s digital cameras. So when teaching to 6-8 students all with different gear much more time is spent searching menus to find the same function on each model which in turn is time that is taken away from you as an individual.

4) Location, location, location…or not.
Let’s face it. A trip to an exceptional location such as Antarctica, taking a safari to Africa, or photographing ice-caves in Iceland may be on your “bucket list” but it may not be the best option when just starting out. I’m not saying it shouldn’t be considered by any means but sometimes having such dramatic scenery or demanding conditions might not make for the best learning environment when you’re still trying to gain knowledge on the basic camera settings. Obviously if you’re interested in learning a specific aspect of photography such as how to photograph stampeding horses you’re going to have to go where the horses are but hopefully by that time you know the difference between shutter speed and an aperture.
I personally think that if your interest is in nature photography being out in the field on location is a far better learning environment than sitting at the computer or a classroom. Check out opportunities close to home first if there are quality instructors nearby with a body of work you admire.

5) Time and budget.
Again, start close to home until you have a good handle on your camera’s basic features. This way you’ll get more for your money when you take a multi-day tour.
I happen to live in an area of the world where many people from around the world come to vacation anyway so I do get many clients that are just looking for a day out during a family trip or to take a break from skiing. That might be worth checking out next time you’re planning that family getaway. Find a local expert for instructions or perhaps just as a guide. TripAdvisor can be a good resource and along with listing different options you can read reviews from others.
Be sure to understand exactly what you’ll receive for your $’s! What’s included and what is not. Factor in those additional costs. This should include your travel time both getting to the location of the workshop but also how much time will be spent getting from one shooting location to the next. Most of my trips are based on a central shooting location so as to reduce time checking into and out of lodging or commuting.
Of course time also refers to when you have the time, and how much time will you have. If you’re beyond the real basics of photography and are considering a photo tour or workshop having a good idea of when you can actually get away will help narrow down that search.

6) Review their work…and their reviews.
Seems obvious but don’t just look at the cost or location but also and for me the first thing I would do is look at the instructors portfolio. Make sure you’re looking at THE instructors images not a collection of images pulled together by some of the larger workshop organizers that may have a number of photographers leading courses.
There’s nothing at all wrong with the larger operations with a number of instructors, in fact it can be a good thing, but make sure you know who you’ll be working with and assess their skills. If you’re going to be with a larger group and more than one instructor will be helping you out review his/her work as well. Search the different photo sharing and social media sites as well as this might give you some insight into the guide’s personality. Being a great photographer doesn’t always equate to being a great instructor.

So, tell me what do you, or did you, look for when considering options to help improve your photography skills?

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Antarctic Whale Tails/Tales

 OK, I’ll admit it. Spending time on the water in a Zodiac watching for and hopefully photographing whales in Antarctica has never been at the top of my list of photo experiences…until this last photo tour.  Well, actually it probably is not near the top of the “photo experiences” list but as an experience on its own…WOW!!! After several days along the Antarctic Peninsula on a Marine Mammals Tour, along with a few researchers that were on-board, we had the most incredible whale encounter one could ever wish for. 

We set off in our Zodiacs from our ship, the Akademik Ioffe, for what was suppose to be about a two hour cruise near one of the nearby islands located in Cierva Cove looking out for a colony of Chinstrap penguins. We did manage to spot and photograph a group for a while as they jumped, or attempted to jump, out of the surf onto the rocky shore. A leopard seal popped up out of the water several times waiting for a meal. No such luck, this time.

Not far off we spotted a few breaching humpback whales so we decided to take a closer look. Little did we know that the whales had the same idea only their idea of a “closer look” was a bit different from ours! We stopped a safe distance away so as not to disturb them and just watched as the logged, tail and fin slapped and occasionally spy-hooped to take a look at us looking at them. It didn’t take long at all for one very curious whale to come towards us eventually swimming under and alongside our “tiny” little Zodiac.

That encounter would have been wonderful enough but as it turned out it was just the beginning of about a two hour show! Who knew getting sprayed many times with whale snot could be so much fun, for us and seemingly for the whales?! The size of these magnificent creatures is incredible but even more so was how gentle they appeared. At any moment a lift of a tail or head could have sent us all into the icy water but fortunately that was not to be. In the end we had around six whales that came over to us which made it difficult to decide where to look and where to point the camera. I shot very little in the way of still images but did mange to capture a good amount of video, as well as a few face fulls of whale blow! Here’s a short clip.

This was a ten day tour, the last voyage for this Antarctic season. I was actually hoping for more stormy conditions as the winter weather blows in but that was not the case. Here are a few other images I captured during this trip. I do not have any tours to Antarctica scheduled for the 2017-2018  season but if you have an interest or any questions regarding travel to this spectacular location let me know!                                         

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It has been a very successful and fun season for my Yellowstone winter photography tours that I’ve held so far this year. I thought I’d take a moment to share a few of the images captured along the way including the shot above of the river otters.

As many times as I’ve toured through Yellowstone National Park I’ve never had the opportunity to photograph river otters. Here in this shot they were keeping a close eye on us as they played around on the mostly frozen over Yellowstone River. The otters had several holes they would pop out of which were mostly hidden from our point of view. I counted at least 4 but I have a feeling there were a few more around.

They certainly seemed to have an excellent source of food as each time we spotted them at least one had a fish in its mouth. A relative of the weasel, the river otter has thick fur that protects it against Yellowstone’s icy winters. They can stay submerged for 2-3 minutes. Oh yeah…they are also adorable to watch and photograph! Two days earlier we spotted nine wolves in a pack but they were a little too far away to photograph.

Another interesting moment we had the opportunity to spend time watching and photographing was a little disagreement between a few coyotes in Yellowstone captured during my last photo tour. We watched 4 coyotes, one was up in the trees, all getting along at first then things turned a bit ugly.

Two ganged up on one as seen here. They tried to force the one off the river bank and into the water. Lots of posturing and snarling but in the end no real damage done, except perhaps to an ego!

During the commotion one of the coyotes on the bank turned around and kicked a bunch of snow into the others face. Rather funny moment bringing back the idea of the bully kicking sand in someones face.

As we made our way through the Fountain Paint Pots area of Yellowstone we came upon this scene. We watched a single young bison that appeared to be pretty stuck in this deep snow.

Apparently it had tried to take a short cut across this meadow to get to the rest of the herd. It was interesting to watch the rest of the group come to its rescue. This image shows the last one heading in the direction of the youngster that was stuck. All ended well.

For me no trip to Yellowstone, especially in the winter, would be complete without spending some time photographing a few of my favorite trees, especially the dead ones! In this shot I loved the trees being back-lit. They appear to be reaching up to the sun which was being partially obscured by fog and steam from the nearby geysers. Because of the very monotone look of this photograph I processed it as a black and white shot.

Of course there is always the Winter in Yellowstone signature shot we all seem to want to capture, that of a bison coated in frost. As it was -24f during a few of the mornings when we started out this was a fairly common scene, best shot with a long telephoto lens as these guys can cover a lot of ground in no time!

If you’re interested in joining me on one of these semi-private tours, perhaps 2018 please check-out this link for more details. Each Winter in Yellowstone Photography Tour is limited to 2 guest so book early.

To read what others have to say about this and other photography adventures I offer please have a look at my TripAdvisor Page.

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