Yellowstone 2019
Grazing Below the Mountains
I know this was taken north of West Yellowstone and I think it was near Hebgen Lake. These are not wild horses but they added a nice foreground to the fall foliage and snow-covered grounds. I had climbed up a hill nest to the road to shoot this image. It was bitter cold and I couldn't get the horses to stop eating long enough to pose for me.
Madison River #2
I think this was taken at a pull-off next to the Madison River. However, the Madison River also connects with the Firehole River. I am always attracted to landscapes with snow, clouds, rivers, and mountains and this image incorporated all of these options. I am a sucker for blue skies blanketed with white clouds.
Madison River #4
More winter landscapes. This was a pull off and as can be seen others got here before me. I thought about cloning out the tracks, but these could have been made by wildlife or others who beat me to this spot. For me, they served as leading lines to take the viewer into the scene. Not everything is perfect in nature and sometimes you just need to log what you saw.
Madison River #5
This is an oxbow that caught my attention. My intention was to frame up this shot and incorporate the bison in the background. In Yellowstone, you definitely have to share the roads with these large impressive residents.
Coyote #3
This an the next two images were taken in the same location. We came across a pair that were parrellel to the road. At one point they crossed the road.
Coyote #4
This Coyote is in its winter coat but appears to be pretty healthy. Although it was close to me it was scoping out its forward path. It could have also been checking on its mate. I really liked the contrast in this image but I am always excited to capture any and all wildlife.
Gibbons Falls
Gibbon Falls is a waterfall on the Gibbon River in northwestern Yellowstone National Park about midway between Norris Geyser Basin and Madison Junction and has a drop of approximately 84 feet. The falls are located roadside, upstream from the confluence of the Gibbon and Firehole Rivers at Madison Junction on the Grand Loop Road.
This image was taken around 3:45 PM. The sun was to the left of me putting the west side canyon walls in the shade and the east sidewalls in the sun. It was a bright day and at this time the light can be somewhat harsher than early morning or late evening light. These opportunities always make for a challenge to get the right exposure. My camera was set to matrix metering or averaging. It will attempt to measure the light and arrive at the best exposure. By shooting in a RAW format I was able to recover a lot of the shadows. The best way to capture a scene like this is to bracket your shot for the lights and then the shadows and then blend them together in post-processing. It is my experience that the human eye has a huge dynamic range of light but the camera does not always capture what the eye sees. But today cameras are amazing at capturing high dynamic range.
Teton Horses
There is a large pasture outside Jackson hole with the Tetons in the background. Both locals and business pasture horses in this field. The herd can be rather large at times. Earlier we passed this location and it was full of horses but we did not stop and so I did not get the shot. We went back on another day and the herd was thinned out. This completes another year in Yellowstone. You can see prior years in this gallery. It you made it this far I want to thank you for taking this trip with me.
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