New Gallery - Fall in Yosemite

Finally getting round to putting up a new gallery, this time from a photo shoot done in Yosemite National Park in mid-October 2011.  The new gallery will actually go up in a few days, early Feb. 2012.  For now, here is an image to get your attention.  This late day shot is of Half-Dome from Olmsted Point on the Tioga Pass Road and shows some of the fabulous colors of late light in the high Sierras.  As is my practice, I'll be taking down one of the currect galleries, this time the one from Yosemite in the spring.  Come back in a few days; there are some really nice images.

 THE GALLERY IS NOW UP - Last entry under the Galleries tab!!!

Yosemite - Postponed

As this entry is written, I was to have been flying back from a spring photo shoot in Yosemite National Park.  That trip had to be postponed when the reality of regular family life intervened.  Fortunately, United Airlines let me reschedule it back to October without paying any additional fees.  So, I will be able to see Yosemite in the fall for my first time with, hopefully, lots of nice color.  It should be great for another reason, I will get back to the high country part of Yosemite that I love and that is still closed this season because of the enormous amount of snow this past winter, I think I read 180% of normal.

So, thinking of what I might have seen on this spring trip, I decided to put up a gallery of shots taken the last time there, spring of 2008.  Hopefully, that gallery will go up in the next week or so at which time the gallery of panoramic shots will come down.  I do like to shoot pano's so it is reasonable to assume that a new pano gallery will go up again sometime in the future.  In the interim, here is a shot that is both a preview of Yosemite and a

panorama shot from the famous overlook at Tunnel View.  You are looking down over Yosemite Valley and, although not visible in this shot, the Merced River.  Bridalveil Falls is on the right side. 

The Yosemite Gallery is now up, the last entry on the Galleries page. !!

Eagles Everywhere

It has been consistently cold here in the midwest during the month of January, cold enough to cause lots of frozen rivers and lakes although we haven't had very much snow lately.  In January, one of the well known local places to see eagles is at Lock and Dam 14 on the Mississippi River just south of I 80 on highway 67 in Iowa.  Last Saturday, I went there with members of the Mayslake Camera Club for some shooting.  Took my Sigma 500 on the Nikon D300 body.  By one count, there were 50 to 60 eagles perched in trees near the dam.  The weather was overcast, solid gray clouds; not great light but at least bright enough for in-flight shooting.  I managed to get one very nice sequence of an eagle successfully fishing.  This shot is just before the end of a small fish.  I would have posted the one he caught but it doesn't make a very good fish story, too small.  Still, those eyes and talons extended, the end is near.  Talk about focusing on your objective. 

Great place for winter shooting; I hope to go back yet this winter on a sunny day.

New Gallery Is Up - Late Fall in Yellowstone

Early to mid October in the high altitude of Yellowstone should yield some late fall/early winter photography.  Although I was hoping for some early snow on the mountains, the actuality of it was more like late summer with lots of sunshine and temps in the 60's.  While the resultant photos were not what I had hoped for, that doesn't mean the conditions were poor.  To the contrary, I came back with some great shots, primarily of the parks animals and waterfalls.  The new gallery will go up in the next few days at which time the last Yellowstone gallery from early summer a year ago will come down.  So, if you're reading this, take a last look at that one.  UPDATE -- The gallery is now up.   Click on the first entry under the 'Galleries' tab.

The 2 bison in this shot are probably young ones, practicing their head-butting skills for the next bison rut, late summer.  This pushing and shoving didn't last long; too bad still photos don't have a soundtrack, that part was fascinating.

Beetles All Around

About a week ago, I returned from a photo shoot to Yellowstone N. P.  As always, it was great to be there although I had hoped for some early season snow.  Not a sure thing  by mid-October but certainly possible.  Instead, the weather was nearly summery with everything very dry and temps in the 60's and  70's.  I was able to get to every part of the park, at least briefly.  The image that accompanies this post was taken near Sylvan Pass, a high elevation location near the east entrance.  It shows the devestation that has occurred over much of the mountain west over the past few years, a mature lodgepole pine forest stripped of all life by the Pine Bark Beetle.  Although the beetle is native to the west, it has exploded in numbers because of global warming; specifically the absence of very cold winter temps that normally kill off most of an infestation.  Over the past five years, literally millions of acres of pine forests have been destroyed increasing the threat of large wildfires and causing food shortages for the grizzly population.   It was pretty discouraging to look out over vast expanses of gray in what should have been vibrant green.

There was one related curiosity, however.  The day after I was at Sylvan Pass, I drove to the Northeast Entrance near Cooke City, a similar elevation and similar lodgepole pine forest.  There was very little evidence of beetles in that part of the park.  None of the park employees I talked with about the disparity had an answer as to why.  Sure hope that the next time I go back, the beetles will not have found the northeast section of the park.