Trout lily bloom

 

Time lapsing clouds in southern Minnesota can be a little dull and I'm turning my attention to time lapse of the environment. Last weekend was a perfect opportunity to try a short term environmental time lapse. The beauty of time lapse is you never know exactly what you will see.

Technical: GoPro Hero4, 10 second intervals, recorded until the battery was depleted.

Trying to get a little rest

This youngster was not letting mom get any rest between its running around and nursing. She looks exhausted.  Her energy needed later when a small herd of bison moved in and she made a hurried exit. Grizzly bears have a mortal fear of bison although calves are used for food in the spring.

Grizzly on the path

 I was surprised at the amount of grizzly traffic on this paved trail. The new grass makes this a prime area to explore when they first come out of hibernation. There were three fences and a boiling pool between us as we stood beside the car. Nevertheless, we backed to the other side of the car as it approached.

Technical: Filmed at about 600 mm focal length, cropped 10%

Mom, Let's Play!

This mother grizzly was resting peacefully on a nice warm rock until her youngster had different ideas. This year old cub has another year with mom before being sent out into the world alone.

Technical: Post production stabilization  applied, the 20 mph cross wind was too much for image stabilization system in the long lens.

Shake those cobwebs out!

Happy Easter!

Tired Out

I got back for Yellowstone yesterday and feel like this napping grizzly bear.  With the assignment of filming spring grizzly bears we (fellow volunteer Angela and I) had unlimited access to the Park interior. Despite that 5 bears were seen within a hundred yards of a single parking lot. More to follow.

Technical: shot with a SonyA7r2 and 600 mm lens with 1.4 teleconverter, cropped significantly

Looking for Bear

I will be in Yellowstone NP for most of the next two weeks looking for grizzly bears. I have to admit grizzlies scare me. Fortunately most encounters are near the road and the safety of the car. I'm also reminded that bad encounters occur in wooded areas when they are surprised at a meal or with cubs. While the fear is rational it might be overstated. Now I have to find the bear spray and make sure it has not expired.

 

Learning a new technique

I have had a time-lapse feature on my trail camera but never used it until now. There are still some technical issue with camera motion but I like the technique and will be working on it more. The concept of seasonal transition intrigues me and this might be a way to represent it in motion.