Bison Battle

My wife and I (actually more me) have been searching for bison during mating season for years but we always seem to miss it. Badlands National Park has a good sized herd that is accessible and the Park is without the mayhem of summer visitors like Yellowstone. I made some calls and got conflicting information but decided to head out there anyway for a few days. This battle was taken one morning and by late afternoon 500 bison had disappeared. Mating season may still be in progress but if it is taking place it's a secluded draw. I don't think I'll hike in to look for them.

Prairie Evening

I spent a couple hours on the prairie yesterday with some new found friends and left with a renewed enthusiasm for it. It was a perfect evening: hot, calm, sweet light, and no mosquitoes. Even the clouds cooperated as they developed at sunset.

Prairie Afternoon

I went out to the prairie for the first time in a couple weeks looking for insects to film.It was a good afternoon for dragonflies and butterflies. This short piece gives you an idea of what the afternoon looked and sounded like.

Technical: GoPro for time lapse, a variety of slow motion speeds to show the dragonfly in action. Natural sound taken from in camera microphone.

Fawn in the Fog

This is another clip from the summer camera trap. I hope to watch this fawn grow over the season and will share it as it becomes available. I am learning the value of placing two cameras at this site, the animals have a lot of potential paths they can take. This was completely missed by the other camera. Love the mood the fog produces.

Following Mom

I just checked the cards on my camera traps and found lots of activity, including the pesky ants that have taken up residence on one of them. Summer is a notoriously bad for trapping with the high weeds obscuring the animals. I found an intermittently wet pool that is free of weeds and set up a couple cameras a few weeks ago. Over the three weeks since I checked it there has been a nice variety of animals passing in front of the cameras.

Technical: The back lighting is from the second camera which is placed at a right angle to the other one.

Avalanche Trail

This is the most popular trail in the park and was even more popular with the road still closed to Logan Pass. We usually started early in the morning and avoided the long lines of hikers that developed later. Occasionally while stopping to rest I took a few shots. Technical: 1/2 second, tripod

Glacier has had record numbers of visitors this year making traditional park shots difficult to get. This is for those who would rather not see fellow visitors.

Bird Woman Falls Overlook

The crowds at Glacier were impossible to overlook so I started photographing them in the scene. This unhappy Arizonian was traveling alone while on his way to the next pullout while the couple were in the moment enjoying themselves. Maybe there is a message there.

Trail of Cedars Cathedral

This upturned tree at a boardwalk bench caught my attention and as I was following the broken roots up an idea struck me.  The roots and branches mimic each other to a certain extent. It is also humbling to be at the bottom of such tall trees.

Summer Travel

When you're retired it is hard to say you went on a vacation. We traveled to Glacier National Park last week and did some hiking. We were forced to stay on the west side of the Park since the road over Logan Pass was still closed. We put this disappointment to good use and explored all the trails around Lake McDonald. Avalanche Lake is a high use destination but worth the crowds and a relatively easy hike. This hike seemed much easier the second time. . . wonder why? 

Technical: This was my first hard use of the Sony for landscapes. Its dynamic range makes shooting most HDR sequences unnecessary. The data in dark areas gets pulled out beautifully in Lightroom.