The Tetons are teasing me (again)

Another grey day in the Tetons. Story of my sad and pathetic life. Above are 3 photographs, reading top to bottom: Sunrise Wednesday, Sunset Tuesday, Sunrise (or lack thereof) Thursday. With the exception of the top photo, the Tetons have been teasing me and are now telling me it's time to leave.

When we rolled in on Tuesday afternoon the cloud deck was very promising. Scattered but thick clouds with a break on the western horizon that would allow the sun to reflect off the underside of the clouds and color up the Tetons. But just before sunset the cloulds just magically disapated. They just went away! There was some nice late light on Tiwinot but mostly it was a fizzle.

Sunrise Wednesday was really nice but not spectacular. Again, some clouds adding atmosphere to the shot and a break at the horizon that would allow the clouds to color up but alas, just before the sun came up some clouds must have formed at the horizon. I got some awesome light on the peaks as you can see but the clouds never did display any color. On a scale of 1-10 I'd rate this one an 8. Some more colorful clouds and less wind to spoil the reflections would have made it a 10.

Finally, this morning. I planned to be at the barn on Mormon Row when the sun came up at 5:45 and knew it was a 30 minute drive to get there. When I rolled over and looked at the clock it was 4:59 and I knew I was going to have to hurry to get on location. It was overcast when I got outside but there were some breaks near the horizon (are we seeing a theme here?) and I thought it might be one of those magic times when everything gets some blazing color. Blazing down the highway, hoping not to T-bone an elk or moose or bison, I came to the realization that I wasn't going to make it to Mormon Row so I quickly pulled into Schwabacher's Landing. Put the camera together, get the gradient neutral density filter holder mounted on the lens, and hike the 2o0 or so yards to the beaver pond hoping the color on the eastern horizon would spread to the rest of the sky now that I'm in place. Sadly, another fizzle. The sun just barely kissed the top of Tiwinot for about 15 seconds before the clouds on the horizon closed in and everything went grey.

So today is the day Heather and I have to head home and the Tetons are making sure I don't forget that. But before leaving, I was standing by the beaver pond at Schwabacher's grousing with a couple of other shooters about the lack of light when 2 things hit me:

1. Nobody likes a whiner. So what if the sunrise was a drag...there are so many other things to see and do here that any day is a glorious day. Remember: Your worst day on vacation is better than your best day at work.

2. These mountains are so freakin spectacular to look at, any day you're here seeing them is a great day. Besides, leaving on a grey day means I have to come back. Next time I'll plan the trip a bit differently. More time in the Tetons and less time in Yellowstone. Maybe that way I can trick the weather and it will be nice while I'm here.

Things that make a Photographer go "Hmmmm...."

Musings on the last night in the Tetons. After 4 days in Yellowstone and 2 days here Heather and I are headed home tomorrow. It's been a grand journey and very thought provoking in many ways. Here are a few:

Camel Flash (Camoflouge)

I've seen lots of serious photographers in Yellowstone decked out in full camo gear from head to toe. Even their lenses have camo wrappings. Now I fully understand the importance of blending in when you're photographing creatures that aren't habituated to man. I've even been known to wrap myself in a camo poncho with only my lens poking out on a few occasions. But here's the deal. What is the purpose of being fully camo equipped in Yellowstone? I guess they figure if a bear or bison decides to charge the 100 or so tourists standing shoulder to shoulder photographing said creature, the camo will hide you and you won't be the one the critter stomps or chews. Hmmmmmm

Equipment Envy (It's all about size)

I fancy myself a professionial photographer. At the very least I'm a recovering professional photographer. And when I hit the field with my 100-400 zoom I usually feel pretty secure in my equipment. But all this week I've felt puny...under gunned...insignificant. When I haul out the 100-400 and I have the smallest lens there it's a sad deal. In Yellowstone, more often than not I found myself surrounded by "photographers" who have more wrapped up in their rigs than I paid for my car. Top of the line Nikon or Canon body with full blown motor drive, 500mm or 600mm lens, big-ass Gitzo tripod with a very expensive gimbal head, motor drives, etc. Where do these guys get their cash to buy this stuff. What do they do with the images? Are they all pros or just wannabes? Hmmmmmmm

Are you sure that's a wolf?

A few times this week we dropped by the Slough Creek trailhead where there was usually a ton of people with spotting scopes and stuff. When asked what they're looking at they would grudgingly point across the valley about 3/4 of a mile to an area where one of the wolf packs has their den. With my spotting scope cranked all the way to 60X I could see some small moving dots. "Are you sure those are wolves?" "Of course, I said so didn't I?" Seems to me if you're too far away to tell what the heck something is at 60X magnification, you didn't see no wolves. Hmmmmmm

Badgers? We don't need no stinkin badgers...

One of the ways to spot wildlife in Yellowstone is to drive around looking for a bunch of folks with big lenses (there goes the lens envy thing again) standing by the side of the road, stop and ask what they see. One such group replied "we're waiting for a badger to come out of the brush." A badger....really? Here you are in the home of 2 of the predators at the very top of the food chain and you're waiting in the rain for a badger? I just don't get that one. Hmmmmmm

Information please....

In past years and trips to Yellowstone and Grand Teton the Park Service staff has been really helpful with information on where to most consistently see wildlife. Keep in mind, wolves and bears are where you find them. To a certain degree they are creatures of habit but as someone once said, "...the only thing predictable about a grizzly is that it's unpredictable." This year, though, none of the government employees would commit to anything. The standard answer was "I haven't really heard anything specific..." Rubbish. They have radios and hear about every bear jam and every wolf jam and every whatever jam. But this year, none of them are sharing. Must be some kind of directive from the Democratic administration. Hmmmmmm

Wolf Watchers are friendly people. (If they know you)

There's a chat board I monitor from time to time detailing the movement of wolves and bears in Yellowstone. The folks there seem pretty friendly though occasionally they'll go off on some newbie that asks what they perceive to be a silly question. This year, though, on more than one occasion I stopped at a group of spotting scopes and asked what they were looking at. Most of the time someone would say "wolves" before going back to a conversation with their pals. More than once I had to be a persistant ass to get them to tell me more than that. Once I even had to ask 4 times for landmarks so I could try and spot the critter. They probably thought I was rude. I KNOW they were rude. Hmmmmmmm

And on that note I'm headed back to the cabin to get ready to leave in the morning. Bye for now Wyoming. I'll be back. And next time I'll have a bigger lens and a buncha camel flash clothing. That makes me a pro, right?

I was NOT lost....I was exploring!

When it comes to directional orientation there are two kinds of people: Folks that are pretty aware and folks who need Garmins. You know which one you are. If you're aware you may not always know exactly where you are but you have a pretty good idea of how to get where you want to go. If you're the other group, when someone tries to give you directions using North, South, East, or West (Take Colorado north to Colfax and turn east..) your eyes glaze over like a cop at a donut shop. You much prefer left, right, and descriptions of landmarks. And that's okay.

Personally, I'm in the first group. I can't explain exactly how or why I got this attribute but I'm almost always aware of where I am and how to get where I'm going. Maybe I got it from my Dad. When I was young and trying to learn my way around, and even later when I was older, Dad took great joy in never going the same way to a place twice. And if you were in a car following him you bloody well better know how to get where you're going cause at some point he was going to blaze through a yellow light and lose you.

Maybe it was from Boy Scouts. We went on a lot of campouts during the summers and did some orienteering with maps and compasses. My third year at summer camp I had to "carry my rock." We had to find a rock that weighed at least 16 pounds, carve our initials in it, and deliver it to the main office of the camp on Thursday night. Friday morning we were given a map to the location of our rock which was 5 miles from camp. You had to find your rock and carry it back to camp then carry it around with you all day and at the Friday night campfire, the last one before going home on Saturday, you got to put your rock in a big pile of rocks from years of 3rd year campers and got your "Indian" name. Me being me, I looked at the map and decided to take a shortcut that would cut at least 2 miles off the distance. Took off cross country and came out on the road about 100 yards from my rock. Probably pure dumb luck but I'll take it.

Then there was the surveying class I took when I was studying Forestry in college. I had to lay out a grid on a plot of land, take appropriate measurements, and create a topographic map of my plot.

Whatever the case, I'm not directionally challenged in the least. When my wife asks if we should take her car somewhere "because it has GPS" I laugh hysterically and ask if she remembers who she is talking to. But that's only background, not the point.

Last weekend I was visiting my daughter in Arizona and spent 2 mornings creating images in the Superstition Mountains north of Apache Junction. The first morning I parked the car on the shoulder of Highway 88 and walked about 100 yards into the desert to get a shot with no power lines. No problem, just walk back to the highway and I'm good. Easy. Next morning, though, was a llittle different story. I pulled into the parking area of the Bulldog Canyon Offroad Area about 30 minutes before sunrise, shouldered my backpack and tripod, and headed down a 4 wheel drive road. There were some pretty prominent landmarks and I was on a road so I didn't worry about getting lost. Heck, I could just backtrack on the road and find my way out no problem. After hiking about 3/4 of a mile from the car I found a good shooting location a couple minutes before the sun started to light up the landscape and spent about 15 minutes shooting the sunrise. The light was getting flat pretty quickly so I decided to head downhill from the road to a wash I'd crossed earlier that was running a trickle of water to see if I could locate some shaded pools to shoot reflections and that's where I went wrong.

After a while of shooting in the wash I started following a pair of Cardinals that were flitting from tree to tree, trying to get a decent shot of a real Arizona Cardinal. After about 30 minutes of trying to get a good shot I gave up and headed back to the car. I thought.....

I knew the road had crossed this wash but I wasn't sure exactly where so I figured I could head uphill a little ways and hit the road then hike back out so uphill I went. About 5 minutes of climbing and I was getting a bit winded and thinking "I should probably have hit the road by now...and that rock formation looks sort of like the one I was photographing this morning but wasn't it waaaaaaaaay up the hill from the road?"

So here's the situation: I'm away from my vehicle in unfamiliar territory. I had clearly gotten disoriented a bit when I was chasing the birds. Looking around I could see nothing but cacti, rocks, and hills. No sign of a road or a highway or the parking area where my car was. What to do? If I were in group 2 I would immediately panic and probably wander off in the wrong direction eventually becoming one of the many people that have gone into the Superstitions never to be seen again. But I'm NOT in that group. So I found a smooth rock to sit on and started thinking. Eventually a logical plan was formulated in my mind. I knew I could head straight downhill and find the wash. If I headed back the way I'd come while following the birds I would probably come across where the road crossed the wash. If not, I could keep going until the rock formations on top of the hill matched the angle I'd photographed them from then head uphill and find the road.

In this case I got to the wash and about 100 yards later I found the road and made my way back to the car. I wouldn't say I was lucky because I was able to avoid panic and use logic to find my way back but it could easily have been a difficult situation because I was a little bit stupid. I went into an unfamiliar area without a map and compass which is something I NEVER do...well, almost never. I had only a small bottle of water, hardly enough to last a day if I was truly lost. I was alone and nobody knew where I was other than "up by Apache Junction." That's not a recipe for disaster, it's a whole flippin cookbook.

So what's the moral of this story? Just this: DON'T BE STUPID! And follow a few simple rules.

1. Be Prepared! The Boy Scout Motto. Dont hike in the Desert without enough water and try to have a map of the area and either a compass or a handheld GPS. It's easy to get disoriented when everything looks alike.

2. If you're going somewhere alone make sure that someone knows at least the general area where you'll be and a rough time frame for your return. And if that changes, let someone know.

3. Before setting off on a hike take a moment to look around you for landmarks. See where the sun is in relation to where you are so you can logically figure out where the car is.

4. Finally, think your cell phone will save you? Wrong answer. Through this whole ordeal I had exactly zero cell service. In fact, I didn't have any reception until I got about 5 miles down the highway towards Apache Junction.

Most of all, be smart. Think about what you're doing. And above all, don't panic. If you got there you can get back but only if you can stay cool and think logically.

Random Musings while waiting to leave Phoenix

Okay, no more whining from me about not having any good images from the area around Phoenix. I found a treasure trove on the Apache Trail past Lost Dutchman State Park on highway 88. Got some nice stuff but there's probably 100 more locations I want to shoot. As if I needed a reason to come back. I think I may have found a hiking buddy and budding photographer in Granddaughter Kate. Time will tell.

But here are some random thoughts and musings:

1. If you buy a snow-kone at Surprise Stadium be prepared to have lips and tongue the same color as the flavor you chose.

2. If you're in Queen Creek and have to choose between a game in Tucson or Surprise (a Phoenix suburb) choose Tucson: it's closer.

3. After you return your rental car in Phoenix be sure you're on the right bus for your terminal. It never fails: every time I've rented a car in Phoenix someone gets on the first shuttle to the terminals that's available no matter which terminal their plane is at. Then scream bloody murder when the bus flies past where they want to be. If you're too stupid to read the signs that are EVERYWHERE, shut up! I don't want to hear about it.

4. Unless you're one of those people that hasn't flown or watched the news for 10 years or more don't be surprised when TSA makes you toss your 12 oz bottle of sunscreen. And don't get all indignant about it. The rules of 3.4 ounces or less have been in place nearly 8 years people.

5. If you checked in late for your Southwest flight and have a boarding pass that reads B98 don't jump up and get in line when they start boarding the first class passengers. You have a while to wait. And I promise, the plane won't leave until the door is closed and it won't close until you're aboard.

6. If you are "that guy" (see #5) and you have a carry on big enough to stuff a body in don't be surprised if the overhead bins are all full and you have to check your bag. And don't act all indignant: Check in earlier!

7. If you roll up to the little counter at the airport where they have plug in's for your laptop and someone tells you the plugs are dead, don't make yourself look dumb by trying them. Nobody dislikes you enough to lie to you about the plugs. Well, at least not until you try the plugs thinking that person is being spiteful and doesn't want you to use the plug.

8. Finally, when you're going through security to get to the concourse, you see everyone around you taking off their belts and shoes and jackets...and there are (once again) signs everywhere stating "Remove shoes, belts, jewelry, jackets or sweaters, and other metals" don't think you're exempt. Trust me, you are NOT that special and rest assured, after the third time through the metal detector in front of me cause you forgot to take off your watch and your jacket and your belt, I WILL tell you what a moron you are.

Okay, enough ranting for now. I need to get a cold drink before my plane leaves and I think someone wants to try using the plug I'm sitting in front of. Peace, Out!

"Cochise don't come in peace...He comes painted on the arrow..."

Back in the late 70's when folksinging duets were popular there I was at a bar in Denver and heard this song. For some reason the lyric line stuck with me, maybe because I've always enjoyed studying 19th century Native American conflicts with the opressive US Government. This area of Arizona was homeland to the Apache and Cochise was the war chief for a while.

As I was driving northeast from Apache Junction I tried to visualize how the Apache made their way through these canyons. When I pulled off the road a couple of miles past Lost Dutchman State Park and hiked into the desert to get a view without powerlines in the way I could barely move through the landscape without getting punctured. If it wasn't the Cholla it was the Pencil Cactus. If it wasn't the Pencils it was the Prickly Pear. If it wasn't the Prickly Pear....well, you get the idea. Everything out here will either bite you, sting you, or stick you and more than once I had to find a rock to bump Cholla clumps the size of golf balls off my pants leg or my hiking boot. I was fortunate that none of them penetrated my skin. But I digress.....

Mostly I was thinking "how the heck did those people travel up these slopes in leather moccasins? How did they keep thorns out of their bodies?" Amazing...legend has it that an Apache youth could run all day with only a pebble in his mouth to make the saliva flow. I could barely walk at a slow pace without becoming a pin cushion.

I blogged a few months ago about my past inability to come away from here without any images that I liked. Well, today I got some stuff I'm pretty proud of. Maybe not world class but I like them. Definitely an improvement over what I've done in the past. I guess the key is to remember that the "magic hour" is barely 30 minutes here before the light gets harsh and ugly. In other climes good shooting light can run nearly an hour but not here. Now I know.

The Devil in the Details

I'm a research junkie. I freely admit it and understand it and sometimes even revel in it. I've been spending some time planning a few trips this spring and summer and it's occurred to me that I may be a bit OCD when it comes to planning. So I thought I might share some of the madness I go through when setting up a trip. In this case we'll take the Yellowstone trip in May. Heather has been asking me to take her to Yellowstone ever since she saw my photos from a trip there in May, 2007 and I've been getting the itch to go again so this is the year. Anyway, here's the procedure.

First, I have to go through the mental gymnastics of checking the schedule at work and comparing it to Heather's spring break schedule. In this case the stars aligned and I was able to get time off in May the week before Memorial Day. That's a great time to be in the park. Bison calves have dropped, elk are about to give birth, and moose are not far behind. And in the Lamar Valley in the northeast corner of the park that means 2 things: wolves and bears. Good thing since that's what Heather wants to see.

So, time and destinations are set. Now the search begins for lodging. I can't camp in the car with Heather along and even if she wasn't there it's still too cold at night up there. So I hit the web and search for lodging around Cooke City or Silvergate, Montana both of which are just outside Yellowstone and the towns closest to the Lamar Valley. Now comes decision time....opulent or basic? Motel room or cabin? Kitchenette or not? If there's a kitchen in the room we can cut some of our costs by not eating at restuarants. Great idea. That decision made, I can narrow the choices down and send inquiries to the choices about availability for our time frame. 2 of the 3 choices responded, 1 didn't so they're out. I weighed the advantages of the other two and made a decision. A quick phone call and the reservation was made. First chore done.

Now it's time to do the same for Grand Teton. Heather says she really wants to spend some time in the Tetons so we'll spend 3 nights in Cooke City before heading south for 2 nights in the Tetons. I have a favorite place to stay there: Signal Mountain Lodge. Pop into their website to refresh my memory about the rooms available then call and make a reservation. That does it, the sleeping arrangements are made for the trip.

On to the itinerary. What are we going to do while we're there? For the next 6 weeks I'll check some websites I know that detail what's going on with wildlife in the park. By the time we get there I'll have an idea where the wolves are hanging out and most likely where there are some fresh kills that bears are feeding on near the roads. That's where we'll be for sunrises and maybe for sunsets. During the rest of the day we'll see the sights of Yellowstone. 1 day we'll head south through the Hayden Valley to Yellowstone Lake with a stop at LeHardy Rapids to see if we can photograph some Harlequin Ducks. Another day we'll head west to Mammoth and maybe south to the Firehole river. The next day we'll have a look at Yellowstone Falls. On our travel day we'll make a stop at Old Faithful and see the geyser pop. Then on to the Tetons for more tourist stuff. Maybe even a day trip to Jackson, the ultimate tourist town.

Now my thoughts turn to the photographic process for the trip. Are there any "must get" shots that I don't already have? Do I have the right equipment? These and other things will be rolling through my mind. I'll be thinking of the last trip and how did my equipment perform. I'll check and clean lenses and cameras over and over again. By the time I unpack the cameras in Yellowstone they'll be cleaner than ever. I'll have to check the memory cards to make sure everything on them has been downloaded before formatting the cards and who knows? I will probably pick up another card or two. You can never have enough memory.

Then back to the web and a search for images of Yellowstone and the Tetons to see if there's anything out there I haven't seen and to look for inspiration. Have I overlooked any locations? I'll review my photos from the previous trips to see what I can do better. Would this shot look better at sunset than it did at sunrise? And along the way I'll try to think of something to sacrifice to the weather gods to get me some clouds for that sunset behind the Tetons. Clear blue skies are good for general sightseeing but they're a pox on the house of a nature photographer. This is when I'll start making a shot list and start haunting the photo bulletin boards for info on specific locations. Finished, right? Ha!

As the trip gets closer I'll start making mental lists of things. Should I take the camp stove and cooking gear? What food will we need to take? What about clothing? This is a volatile period in Yellowstone. Last time I was there in May the temps were in the upper 60's during the day and I got sunburned. At night it still gets down to the high 30's or low 40's usually and there's the occasional night when you have to scrape the windshield in the morning. In 2007 the day I left for home it snowed and I drove through snow all the way across Wyoming. Gotta be prepared for anything

The last few nights before we leave I'll be going over equipment to make sure everything is ready. Tightening screws on the tripod, charging batteries, formatting memory cards, packing everything. I'll be doing laundry and packing a suitcase. Checking hiking boots to see if I need new laces. And bear spray! Gotta have bear spray if we're going to be hiking at all. Fishing gear? Yellowstone doesn't usually open for fishing until Memorial Day but there's a stream behind the cabin we've rented in Cooke City. Will there be time for fishing? Did I remember to pack the maps and compass and what about the guidebooks?

Sometime during this hectic last week before I'll have to decide which route we're going to take. Through Casper to Cody or cross country and through Dubois? Should we leave Friday night and get a motel along the way or leave early Saturday and have one long day of driving?

Are you tired yet? Well, there's obviously something I've overlooked. Hopefully I'll remember what it is before we go roamin through Wyomin. If not, it can't be very important.

So that's a brief tour of what I go through planning a photo trip. Family trips are something else entirely but I don't want to get into that right now. Maybe next time. If you see or think of something I've left out, let me know. How do YOU plan for a trip?

I Just Can't Help Myself

My name is Bill and I'm addicted to buying photography equipment. Well, it's not quite that dramatic but you get the picture. As far as I know every serious photographer has this affliction. There's always 1 more lens, 1 more bag, 1 more gizmo and I know if I just had that 1 more dealio I could make better images. They say you can never be too rich or too thin and you can never have too much photo gear.

I'm not sure exactly when this started but I think it was during my first 2 or 3 weeks at the Fishback School of Photography back in the 70's. I thought I had some pretty good equipment to start the school. I was armed with a Mamiya Sekor 1000DTL body complete with a 50mm 1.8 "normal" lens, a Bushnell 28mm and a Tamron 80-200 zoom. A couple of weeks in I realized that my photographs were mostly fuzzygraphs. I worked with my technique but that didn't help. My friend and instructor, Kurt Fishback, broke the bad news to me: "Bill, I hate to be the one to tell you, but your lenses are crap." And so started my addiciton.

The fall from grace was quick and terrible starting with a move up to a medium format Mamiya C220. Eventually I replaced my 35mm equipment with Canon gear and started a seemingly never ending parade of lenses. Sigma 400 f5.6, Tokina 80-200 f2.8, Canon 35-105, Canon 100-300. There was no end in sight. And the accessories...Heaven help me!

Shoulder bags, backpacks, more backpacks. Larger bags, smaller bags. Tripods, big ones and little ones. Filters, both the screw in and Cokin P mount varieties. Warming filters, cooling filters, polarizing filters, neutral density filters, red filters, orange filters, yellow filters, and the ever present skylight filters. Thank goodness I never liked the effects obtained with warming or cooling polarizers or color intensifying filters. That would have only added to my woes. Oh, and by the way, every lens takes a different size filter so I had to have a complete set of filters in 3 different sizes.

Over the years I developed several stratagies for combating that dreaded question from my wife. When I wanted a new piece of gear she would ask "What will this do that your current equipment won't do?" I learned early on that "make me happy" was not the hoped for response but if I could justify my request I usually got my way. I guess she was and still is my enabler. But I learned to trick her. For example, when I spotted a nifty 4X5 field camera I wanted I did what any normal photography addict would do: I borrowed a 4X5 from work and photographed a landscape in Rocky Mountain National park on 4X5 and the same scene on 35mm transparancy film. When making my case for buying the camera she asked the question. I responded by putting the 35mm slide on the light table..nice, eh? Then I dropped the 4X5 next to it and she said "Oh....I see." Next day I was the proud owner of a Calumet 4X5 wooden field camera and the gear circus began all over again. More lenses, more filters, film holders, polaroid backs, focusing loupes, tape measure to calculate bellows factor, and of course a bigger backpack to carry it all. Oh yeah, a bigger tripod to hold it steady.

That was a long time ago though, and I think I'm finally under control. Well mostly. I don't really consider the deal when I decided to sell the 4X5 and go completely digital. And I haven't bought a new lens in nearly 2 years. Of course you might remind me of the switch to a smaller lighter tripod and smaller ballhead. Then the switch from aluminum to carbon fiber tripod and a newer fancier ballhead. Then the search for another smaller tripod to travel with but it was okay, I still had an extra head for the new tripod. And when I bought the daypack for my trip to Utah last year I had every intention of selling it when I got back, really I did.

But I think I've finally reached a place where I can be comfortable. I've got a nice DSLR and 3 excellent lenses. Not only that but I've converted to all slide in filters and 2 of my 3 lenses are the same filter size so I only need 2 adapter rings. But then, I sold my macro lens a while back and there's a wildflower season fast approaching. And the 100-400 is a great lens but not a fantastic lens...wonder if I could trade it for a nice 70-200 L lens. But then I'd have to find a long fast lens for wildlife. And when push comes to shove my DSLR is two generations removed from the newest model scheduled to be out soon. And memory cards...you can never have too many memory cards.

Honey....can I borrow the checkbook?