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Black Wolf in Yellowstone

One of my goals after seeing a black wolf in 2018 was to get a better shot showing their yellow eyes.  Mission accomplished from my recent Yellowstone trip.

After he came out of the woods with his mate, he stopped and looked in my direction. Great pose for a full frame uncropped photo.

1/1000 sec @ F7.1, ISO 400, manual mode, 700mm, handheld while sitting in a snowbank

He walked to our left and then made his way closer. In this photo, he had just turned his body slightly towards us and looked at me again with his right leg in motion for just the photo op that I was hoping for. He only looked at me for 2 seconds but was able to get a few shots off. The eyes have it!

Posted by  |  January 26, 2022 | Categories: wolves | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Yellowstone Wolves

It’s always a thrill to see a wolf in Yellowstone.  Got lucky on 2 of my 4 trips to see them up close.

We saw a male black wolf and a female walking down the road on one of our trips in the snow coach.  They left the road and went into the woods.  We drove past the crowd of people trying to see them and stopped at a field next to the woods.  They came out of the woods and walked parallel to the road at a distance and then came closer.  Looked like they were going to give us a show by mating, but it didn’t happen.

1/1000 sec @ F7.1, ISO 400, manual mode, 700mm, handheld

Here is the beautiful female.

Posted by  |  January 21, 2022 | Categories: Animals | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Frosty Bison

Got home yesterday from a trip to Yellowstone with 7 days of shooting in the park.  Spend 3 days in a snow coach from West Yellowstone and 4 days driving on the northern range from Gardiner.  It’s always a great time to be in Yellowstone in the winter.  The animal activity was slower than normal this year likely due to the lower snow pack in the park but still had some great photo ops with wolves, moose, bison, coyotes, bald eagles and a large herd of big horned sheep. 

Used manual mode while shooting in the snow. Only used my tripod once since it is much easier to use a Black Rapid strap for my 500mm lens when bailing out of the vehicle for some fast-moving action shots.

Found this frosty bison close to the road as he was using his head to push away the snow to get to the grass in -16 deg F temperatures.  Was hoping for colder weather for more frost.

1/640 sec @ F7.1, ISO 2500, manual mode, 700mm, handheld

Posted by  |  January 19, 2022 | Categories: Animals | Tags: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Avocet Gliding

American avocet gliding along after sunrise on Texas gulf coast this morning. Sunrise was amazing with the cloud formations and red light. The sun eventually popped out of the clouds providing some good light. Ended up leaving when the sun went behind the clouds as I’m not a fan of flat light.

1/2000 sec @ F9, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, -2/3 exposure compensation, 700mm from Skimmer ground pod, minor cropping

Taken with Canon 1DX III, Canon 500mm F4 IS II with 1.4X III teleconverter mounted on Skimmer ground pod with Wimberley II gimbal head

Posted by  |  December 22, 2021 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Water Explosion Frozen in Time

Reddish egret diving for fish in a tidal pond at Bolivar Flats Audubon Shorebird Sanctuary.  While heading back to my car after a successful early morning taking shorebird photos, found this reddish egret that was catching some small fish in a separate small tidal pool.  Got some very cool splash shots but didn’t like the background so converted this one to B&W and cropped in on the splash.

1/1250 @ F10, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +2/3 exposure compensation, 700mm from ground pod

Posted by  |  December 6, 2021 | Categories: Birds | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Ninja Cub

Coastal brown bear cub about to go full ninja on his mom at Lake Clark Alaska.  Mom was doing her best to keep him calm.  It was a blast to watch these two play.

1/800 @ F11, ISO 3200, evaluative metering, +1 2/3 exposure compensation, 500mm from Skimmer ground pod, uncropped

Posted by  |  August 28, 2021 | Categories: Bears | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Published Again in PetaPixel.com

PetaPixel.com published my airshow photo along with my words about why I liked this photo. It’s toward the end of this article. Thanks again PetaPixel!

https://petapixel.com/2021/08/22/great-reads-in-photography-august-22-2021/

Posted by  |  August 22, 2021 | Categories: Airshow | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Clam Tasting Close-up

Here is a very close-up shot of an adult female coastal brown bear (grizzly) eating a clam at Lake Clark Alaska. The bears make their way out to the mudflats at low tide when they smell the clams. The tides are intense as they rise/fall 17 ft so when it starts coming in you had better get to higher ground.

1/800 sec @ F11, ISO 1600, evaluative metering, +1 exposure compensation, uncropped @ 500mm from Skimmer ground pod.

Posted by  |  August 21, 2021 | Categories: Bears | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Published in PetaPixel.com

Got published yesterday on the photography & camera news website PetaPixel after my ground pod photo was published in Audubon. Was contacted by one of their columnists recently requesting usage of my photo and looking for one of me in action with my ground pod.

He then contacted me later about using another one of my photos including some writing from me on why I like that photo. Stay tuned for that in Sept.

Thanks again Phil for the opportunity.

https://petapixel.com/2021/08/15/great-reads-in-photography-august-15-2021/

Posted by  |  August 16, 2021 | Categories: Equipment | Tags: , , | 6 Comments

Bear Rug

Coastal brown bear take a break and rests on mom

Lake Clark Alaska

1/2500 sec @ F13, ISO 2500, evaluative metering, +1 1/3 exposure compensation, 500,, handheld, full frame with pano crop

Posted by  |  August 13, 2021 | Categories: Bears | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment