26 Sep 14. This series of mailings from Yellowstone is a first for me in several different ways. First off I have no real idea of how they look as they are being created from a laptop with which I have zero experience instead of my main graphics box at home. Working off such a small and uncalibrated screen leaves me feeling a bit uneasy. Second, I'm sending from a program, Gmail, with which I have little exposure and whose interface I don't like. Finally, I'm working off a shared network that seems to be working for me but not for Jan. As such, we had a dedicated line installed today that now works for Jan but not for me, so I've reloaded the old network that is NOT supposed to be working any longer for us but seems to be working O.K. at the moment. So I have no idea if you will even get these mailings. That confession on the record, the close up for today is of the remains of a dead tree resting in a very acidic environment such as is commonly found in the park amongst the geyser basin areas. Dead trees such as this one are a common sight and I've seen few individuals take photos of them, but I find them rather intriguing. This particular one had some interesting light falling on it that caught my eye and that of the camera as well. What also gets my attention is the grasses that grow alongside as well as in the water. While I have no explanation for how this can occur, I can and do enjoy seeing such things and recording them for posterity. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f /10.
Returning from a morning walk Sunday a.m. we bumped into a neighbor who lives kitty-corner from us in the condo. After talking with her for a while werealized that she is a semi-pro photographer from CA who plans on building a home here as soon as they can sell their abode near Victorville. Later in the day after an afternoon shoot with the neighbor above us I paid her a visit and got to see some of her work; she is a serious photographer. We chatted some and discovered that we had a major thing in common, our spouses do not share our delight in going out and shooting as we do. So we decided that we should team up whenever possible and go out shooting together. A real "find" for me!! Saturday morning early a week ago I went out with just Maggie and we went for a short ride of about 8 miles max along Highway 287 which is the last leg of the drive before turning right and heading into West Yellowstone. There were a couple areas of color we had observed Thursday evening on our arrival I wanted to try and capture. As I was preparing to take my initial shots I got interrupted by a very friendly mule who came trotting over as soon as she saw me, sticking her neck over the fence demanding that I pay her attention by giving her head and neck a thorough scratching. It was fun but Maggie didn't exactly appreciate my giving the mule attention she thought was hers. After a bit I was allowed to disengage and continue with my shooting. This shot is one of several of my newly found acquaintance; in the background out of focus is what I wanted to capture and eventually did. The intended photo will follow later in the week. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; ISO 200; 1/400 sec @ f / 8.
30 Sep 14. Heading out Sunday a week ago we were traveling along Hwy-191 taking in the beautiful willows and other shrubs lining the rivers and streams moving from location to location along the roadway with me constantly stopping to shoot yet another section of either the Gallatin River or Grayling Creek which feeds into it. At one of the stops I noticed three fisherman working a small area and walked over to shoot them hoping they might have on a fish. At the same time they were attempting to relocate due to the arrival of a group of unwelcome visitors. It seems that a group of five river otters had a different idea as to whom the fish in those waters belonged! This sighting was a first for us and it was a delightful as it was short. I took several frames of the five frolicking in the water but as I've never done this type of photography prior, they weren't as pristine as I would have liked, but still good enough to share.The problem was that I neglected to pan sufficiently for the combined movement of both the otters and the current sweeping them down stream. Even so I think you will get a chuckle when you see them looking at you. Nikon D300s; 18 - 200; Aperture Priority; ISO 200; 1/320 sec @ f / 8.
