Snake River - Grand Tetons

Happy New Year

Just want to wish all of you a very happy new year. 2017 was a very eventful and dangerous year and, I fear, 2018 will be even worse. So many things are going wrong around the world and I don't see the political will to fix any of them. Just a lot of puffed up chests and flapping gums with very little comprehension as to the long-term bad effects of all this hot air and ego inflation. How little we learn from history. So this wish is very sincere ... please be safe and try to understand your neighbors and even your enemies. When you get an opportunity, reach out to those who are less fortunate than you and offer them a helping hand. It's called "Pay Forward" and it does work. And those of you who are truly fortunate this year, who have lots of money and power, please remember that your good fortune rests on the shoulders of those below you. Think of all the things you take for granted and how many of them depend on the labor of the working class and the poor. Think what life would be like if you suddenly lost all those things because they were gone. Remember the woman who runs the booth at the local self-serve gas station; the guy who repairs your car and replaces those worn tires; the people who clean the streets and make sure those things you ordered are safely delivered. Believe me, your charmed life would be a whole lot worse if all those people failed to do their part. We all need each other in so many ways.

Snake River - Grand Tetons

I was in Grand Teton NP for 8 days and took over 1000 pictures. There was so much to experience there and every day was an adventure. One day the rangers came through the campgrounds and told us to be very careful because a large grizzly and her cub were nearby and we should be very aware. I'm not usually worried about wild animals because they are, in general, more afraid of me than I am of them but one has to have a lot of respect for a bear and her cub. She is especially aggressive and can attack without warning. It's always the best to be very alert when hiking in the back country and give these creatures wide berth if at all possible. I've certainly been close to bears in the past ... a large female came running out of the trees not 50 yards from me on my last morning in Yellowstone ... and I have a great deal of respect. You should too.

I took this photo from one of the overlooks along the main road that runs north to south through the park. This is a major state highway and is open all year round. There's a secondary road that runs parallel to this road (to the west) but that's only open when there's good weather. That's the "park" road where the visitor's center is and where the campground is located. The tall mountain in the center is "Grand Teton", the park's namesake. It's a beautiful mountain, fairly young by geological standards. There are several glaciers on it's eastern face which are receding as the atmosphere warms. They may be gone soon.

This is a blend of 3 bracketed images. I used HDR this time but want to try doing a true blend to see if I get even more spectacular results. I then used Lightroom to finish off. I really love the colors. The sun is already down and illuminating the clouds from the bottom. What's nice about this area is the mountains create clouds almost every day so there's rarely a dull sunset. There are a lot fewer clouds in the morning so sunset is the best time to get spectacular images. Hope you enjoy.

Snake River, Grand Tetons - 35mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Midway Geyser Basin

Notes

I'm resolving to take far more notes from now on as I shoot my images. I find myself trying to remember where I shot an image and I often can't recall. This is especially true of locations which are not well known. Today's image falls into this category. I know it's taken from the Midway Geyser Basin in Yellowstone but I can't recall the specific feature being shown. I think it's the Grand Prismatic Spring but I can't be sure. I need to carry a notebook with me so I can jot down notes which will help me remember. It truly sucks growing old.

Tentative Plans

I'm starting to plan the next trip. I think I'll be leaving Crimea around mid-February and be staying in the states into the summer. Probably return in late June as I want to get to Montana, Idaho and Washington this time and that means I have to wait until the snow is gone or at least the roads are passable. That means June sometime. I'll spend the winter months in the south somewhere and then head north if I have the inclination and the energy.

I also hope to start shooting more people. I see interesting folks as I travel around and I want to start shooting them when possible. I really want to start highlighting people who are struggling and who are on the street. There are so many of them and they have such interesting stories to tell.

There's also the videos I want to shoot. I create some very unique images and I want to show people how I do that. So there will be some videos covering not only location selection but also composition and processing. I think I've progressed far enough in my studies that I have something to give back to the community. And I have time to create them so why not?

Midway Geyser Basin

I got up early to get to this area before the buses full of tourists showed up. They tend to swarm an area and once that happens you can't get shots without people everywhere. This picture was taken at 7:30 am and, as you can see, I had the place pretty much to myself. I like how the walkway curves into the picture, leading you eyes further into the frame. The morning steam also helps to establish some mystery.

The colors come from bacteria living in the hot water. One would think they couldn't survive but they do. It's a whole study just to understand how they cope with the caustic environment.

This is a pretty standard shot. I blended 3 images together using Photomatix and then finished off in Lightroom. I really like the mystery of this shot and the amazing colors. Hope you enjoy them too.

Midway Geyser Basin/Yellowstone - 16mm,f/16,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Mammoth Springs - Yellowstone

Another Day in America

I believe this was the headline on the Huffington Post yesterday. Another mass shooting in America ... Ho Hum. Nothing to see here ... move along. 26 people this time, in church. A crazy guy (no sane person does these things ... that's a given) walks into a Baptist church during Sunday services and blows away half the congregation. Half were kids. The shooter had a previous domestic violence charge against him but the military ... he was ex-military it turns out ... the military had forgotten to record this little tidbit on his record so he was able to get his gun without problems. And once again we have this conversation ...

Trump says, as one has come to expect from him, that this isn't a "gun" problem but a mental health problem. I wonder, just for the hell of it, what would have happened had this guy been carrying just a knife. You think 26 would be dead? Really? I think as soon as the knife appeared someone in the church would have gone after him and we'd be talking a different story right now. Maybe a few people sustained "minor" wounds disarming a crazy guy. But that's not what we got, is it? We got a semiautomatic weapon and lots of dead/wounded people. A bit different I think. And the "hero" who shot at him, missed of course because he wasn't trained and was nervous so he missed. I wonder how many of the slugs they dig out of the victims came from his gun? Anyone willing to make a guess? So no, he wasn't a hero. His gun made no difference in the outcome. It certainly didn't stop the killer did it?

I look at my country and wonder what the hell went wrong. When did the crazies take control of the country? When did we start selecting the most insane among us to be our leaders? I can't even begin to describe just how nuts we've gotten. Look at our leaders, local, state and federal, and tell me that they are the best of the best. They're not even the best of the worst. They're mostly just crazy. Is that the new normal for our elected leaders? Do we need to institute a mental exam and they have to "pass" by getting the highest crazy scores possible before they can run for office? We are heading for the abyss and everyone seems OK with that. Well, I'm not.

Mammoth Springs ... Yellowstone

I've already talked about Mammoth Springs in earlier posts so I won't bore you with a repeat. This image was taken on the other side of the walkway from where those earlier images were shot. The water has cooled somewhat by this point and the structures being deposited have gotten lower and less pronounced but are still extremely interesting. You can see, in the upper left corner, some calcium carbonate which has dried and bleached out. It is stark white. The colors in the frame are created by living organisms thriving in the warm, mineral rich water. Mostly shades of brown but I've also seen yellow, green and blue in other pools throughout the park. Life always finds a way to thrive, even in the most adverse conditions. It's truly amazing how they do that. So sit back and enjoy ... Mammoth Springs in Yellowstone.

Mammoth Springs - 35mm,f/18,1/100 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Mormon Barn at Grand Teton

Las Vegas...

59 people died in Vegas over the weekend. 59 people enjoying a concert on the strip. Over 500 were wounded, many seriously. Many lives were changed forever. And once again we have to face the questions. What happened? Why did this man go so wrong? What drove him to commit such a heinous act? I don't know but I wish I did.

I'm not going to go on a rant about gun control so you can relax. America has gone so far around the bend on guns that it is literally impossible to talk about them in a coherent and rational manner. For too many Americans, guns are such an integral part of their family that they get all discombobulated when anyone brings up the idea that they might want to curtail their ownership. There's something almost orgasmic about an AR-15 with a "Bump Stock" firing several hundred rounds a minute that just cannot, it would seem, be denied. Better than sex? For some it would seem so. And it is almost ... almost except for the dead and wounded ... almost comical to see a congressman wind himself up into knots trying to justify why guns are so sacred that nothing can be done to stop them. In fact, the NRA and other gun clubs would like to force everyone to have a gun for "protection". Imagine for just a minute what would have happened if all those concert attendees, all 22K of them, had started shooting at the Mandalay Bay hotel in a really stupid attempt to stop this one shooter from continuing his rampage. You think one window in that building would have survived the onslaught? So everyone, according to one Republican congressman, should have had a similarly equipped AR-15 with a bump stock so they all could have spent several 100 round clips trying to hit a guy firing from a blacked out window somewhere on the building. They could have easily put a million rounds into the facade and still not stopped him. But they would have probably killed a lot of people in the building. But hey, it's all about freedom, don't you know? But, as I said at the onset of this column, I'm not getting into this with anyone. Not worth all the anxiety and heat it would take and to no avail. Changing a gun owner's mind is almost impossible. To fix this problem we need to change the culture of our country. We need to, somehow, heal the deep fissures that exist between various communities in this land. I don't know how that happens given all the hate I find as I travel around. I don't know how to get everyone talking. But that's what needs to happen and soon. We can't keep watching as more and more, mostly white people decide that the only way out is to kill a lot of strangers, randomly, and then kill themselves. That's not the way to go forward. So figure it out and get started.

Mormon Barn at Grand Teton

I'm sure most of you have seen this image before. In the valley just east of the Grand Tetons, there's a dirt road and many old, wooden structures. It's called "Mormon Row". Mormons were the first settlers in this area; they were mostly farmers. They build their homes and barns in the valley, a few miles east of the mountains. I'm not sure how successful they were as the soil is mostly moraine, rubble washed off the peaks. I can't imagine they were terribly successful but I'm sure they gave it their best effort. The Snake River runs nearby so maybe they also tried to raise cattle which might have been more amenable to the conditions. Now, of course, the mountains and part of the valley are in the Grand Tetons NP. It a spectacular place. I spent 5 days in the park, taking well over a thousand pictures. Got some beautiful images which I'll show as time goes on.

I spent several early mornings with these buildings. I was there quite early as I wanted to take pictures before the crowds. Seems everyone who visits the park has to stop by and wander along the road so getting good pictures is a challenge. If you visit, plan to get up early, before the big buses with all the foreigners start to arrive. You'll get nothing useful once that happens.

This particular image was taken with my 70-200 mm telephoto lens on a Canon 60D. I was at 70 mm which, on the crop sensor, is about 105 mm equivalent. I had to walk far out in to an adjacent field to get the whole structure into the frame. The telephoto "pulls" the mountains closer to the barn which gives a much more dramatic presentation. The sun was low in the sky, over my right shoulder so there are some nice shadows. It was 7:30 am but the sun had already been up for a while. Next time I visit I'll try to get there before sunrise so I can get the red glow on the peaks and the barn. There's always something that can be done better. That's why it's important to visit over and over. One could spend a lifetime just photographing the West and it still wouldn't be enough time.

I combined 2 shots with Photomatix and then finished in Lightroom. I want to run these same images through blending to see if the result is better. I'll try that in a few days and report back if the results are good.

Get to Grand Teton NP. It's well worth the trip. Enjoy.

Mormon Barn - 70mm (1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Tower Creek at Tower Falls - Redux

Censorship...

I've been running into a very disturbing issue the last few weeks. I read a lot ... mostly on the Internet. I read from websites across the political spectrum because I want to get a broad understanding of the issues and to remove, as much as I can, political bias from my reading. But something really sad is happening. Because our government is very conservative now, there has been a strong undercurrent to eliminate "fake news". Now, I'm a reasonably smart person and I have no idea how one identifies fake news. I don't think anyone really knows what this is but our president has been humping this idea since his campaign days. He doesn't know what "fake news" is either but, by his definition, it's anything that disagrees with his position (at the moment). Since he tends to be conservative, he thinks anything from a "liberal" or "left wing" website or publication is automatically fake news. That, in itself, is a terrible position for a whole host of reasons. But what makes this much worse is the attempts by social media and search engine companies (mostly Google and Facebook) to translate this desire to eliminate "fake news" into algorithms in their respective online environments. Google, in particular, has made major changes to their search engine and many of the sites I read are reporting that their content has disappeared from searches. Many are afraid they will be forced out of business because they are losing hits and, as a direct result, advertising revenue. If you are a conservative and are cheering this outcome, let me remind you of something ... liberal ideas are all that stands between you and disaster. Think about all the nice things you have in your life ... 8 hour days, holidays, unemployment insurance, workman's comp ... those all came into being because of some "lefty" deciding that workers needed a break. Do you really want to return to the days when Pinkerton detectives gunned down striking workers at Carnegie's steel mills? Now I will admit that liberals do get it wrong sometimes. Welfare was a disaster on many levels. But we need liberal ideas now more than ever. We face problems unlike anything from the past and, I'm sorry, conservatives have no clue how to solve them. Going back to the "good old days" is not an option simply because, first, the good old days weren't all that good for most people and, second, America isn't the same country that it was back at the turn of the 20th century. We absolutely need new ideas and new approaches to get past where we are. And those nasty liberals are the only ones who have the ideas and the new approaches. Sorry, but that's just how it is. Conservatives need to "tolerate" liberal ideas and even give them a chance to succeed. How much success have the conservatives had in solving the health care mess? Anyone? They come up with these disasters that will never work because they are so wound up with their "philosophy" that they are unable to even try new approaches. So we get these twisted train wrecks that will never solve the problem and will kill a lot of people in the process. I'm not a liberal, a lefty or a progressive. I'm not a conservative either. I'm practical ... I want solutions to problems. I don't care where they come from but I do care that they fix whatever is wrong. I hate wasting money chasing stupid ideas and I hate giving money to people who already have too much of it. Fix the damn problems!

Tower Creek at Tower Falls - Redux

Last time I put up a photo of Tower Creek in Yellowstone. It was a clear day and I got one aspect of the creek. This time I give you essentially the same image but with snow! Winter stays late in Yellowstone and, despite it being late May, we had lots of snow. So, 2 days in a row I visited the Tower Falls area and the same spot on the river. This is also a long exposure (121 sec) with my 10 stop ND filter. It was overcast so the image is darker but also very interesting. I love snow because it covers up so many "warts" in an image. All the broken trees evident in the last image are basically gone. This is a single image, worked in Lightroom to bring out the best. I hope you enjoy it.

Tower Creek at Tower Falls - 35mm,f18,121 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Tower Creek at Tower Falls

Tower Creek at Tower Falls

I've not been doing much with my Yellowstone pictures and I can't really explain why. I would guess it has to do with 'Y' being late in the alphabet and my catalog is sorted alphabetically so I always find another image to process as I scan down the listings. Seems kind of stupid given there are so many amazing images from there so I resolve to try and process more Yellowstone images in the coming days and weeks. There's really some fabulous stuff in those files.

This image is one of those great shots. In the northwest corner of the park the Yellowstone river runs through canyons and eventually reaches the "Grand Canyon".  Tower Creek breaks from the river and runs to the west until it reaches Tower Falls. Just above the falls is where I took this image. The creek is really wild there, crashing through the boulders as it rushes to get beyond the towers. The noise is almost deafening. I actually visited this place 2 days in a row because it snowed one day and I wanted to see what it looked like with the boulders covered in snow. That's a picture for another day. To find this place, drive to the Tower Falls parking lot. Just before you enter the lot you cross a small bridge, next to the visitor's center. This cascade can be seen from that bridge. You can work your way to the water by walking to the left end of the bridge and easing down the rocks. For maximum impact, get as close to the water as you can.

Whenever I get around water I always bring out my 10 stop ND filter because I love how the water turns soft and mysterious. This is a rather long exposure, 90 seconds at f/18, so any turbulence has disappeared. The contrast between the soft water and the sharp, hard boulders really jumps out. This is truly a special place.

Yellowstone River - 35mm,f/18,90 sec,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Mammoth Hot Springs

The Gods are not Happy...

I'm sure most of you have been reading about (or experiencing first hand) the tremendous heat sweeping across much of the US. We're experiencing much the same in Crimea where temperatures have been in the 90's most of the last week and are forecast to remain this way for another week at least. In addition, they have been drowning in Moscow for much of the summer as a persistent low pressure storm dumps massive amounts of water on the area at least once a week. They have been dealing with floods and damage on an unprecedented scale. You may not like the Russians but this is not something you should wish on your worst enemy. I will not draw any lines between these events and climate change but you can if you wish. The weather is getting very dicey of late and it is not a good thing. We are ill equipped to deal with what is happening. And America is not immune to this either. After a horrendous winter and spring on the west coast, something I experienced first hand during my last photo cycle, California is once again burning. We should all be wishing for rain in the West.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Yellowstone is one of the most amazing places. I've already written about this before but still ... one cannot say too much about all the really cools things to be found there. I was in the park for 8 days and took well in excess of 2300 images. Everywhere I looked there was something to shoot. I could have easily doubled that number had I just looked a bit further but I was at the end of my trip and exhausted so I spent much of my time resting. I will return there in the near future and intend to take as much time as is needed to visit every nook and cranny to see what I can photograph. Expect a lot of Yellowstone in this blog in the coming months.

Everything in Yellowstone is driven by the massive volcano that lies just a few miles below the surface. Heat from the underlying magma rises through the rocks and heats water which constantly percolates downward from surface snow and rain. Once heated the water rises and absorbs minerals from the rock. Depending on the combination of heat and water, various features form on the surface. If there is high heat and lots of water, you get geysers like Old Faithful. Less water but high heat gives you fumerols and mud pots. Low heat and lots of water gives you hot springs like Mammoth. This particular thermal feature is special for several reasons. One, it's not within the main caldera for the volcano. It lies several miles to the north. Second, due to the presence of abundant mineral salts the water is very saturated and, once it hits the surface, quickly evaporates to create the most amazing basins and structures. Because the caldera is seismically active, the underlying rock is constantly shifting so the springs move around meaning a great area one year becomes a barren, bleached pile of mineral structures the next. And, the whole thing is a massive breeding ground for bacteria and other organic entities which give the structures color and a fluidity that is very interesting. The whole structure is very much alive.

It was still winter in Yellowstone when I visited in late May. We had snow several evenings and cold nights. The best images are found in the early morning, just after sunrise, when the hot water creates a dreamy, steamy patina around the springs. I was there around 10 am, well after sunrise, but the cold morning air was still turning the steam into dense clouds. It was very mysterious.

This image was taken in the Lower Terrace area. I parked in the second lot above town and followed the wooden walkway upwards. You can't seen this particular area from the road but follow the walkway to the right and take the stairs leading higher into the field. Suddenly you emerge into this magical place and it's spectacular. I believe the area is called Minerva Terrace but I'm not sure. I do recommend going early as the tour buses start to appear pretty quickly and then it's almost impossible to get a clean shot with all the selfie shooters popping up everywhere. The dead tree is testament to the shifting nature of these fields. It's fairly intact meaning it was living not too long ago. The colors all come from the bacteria and other creatures that thrive in this hot water. There were even birds walking in the water, eating this living mat. Too hot for me but they seemed very happy there. What I love most about the picture is an almost painterly look. That's due to the steam and the way the bacteria soften the structure. It gives the most amazing dreaminess, doesn't it?

Mammoth Hot Springs - 78mm(1.6 crop),f/18,HDR,ISO 400,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Wyoming Sunset

The Eyes...

I've had more than my fair share of eye problems of late and, unfortunately, the issues continue. The biggest problem has been hemorrhaging in both eyes in the last few years. Laser surgery sealed off the leaks but there's serious side effects that continue. I have a lot of debris in both eyes and that makes seeing a big issue. I have "spider webs" in both eyes, collagen webs that hang in my vision and cause distortion. When I was home this last trip I noticed that they seemed to be falling apart and debris is floating all over the place, including near my retinas. So occasionally my vision simply blurs and I can't really distinguish much of anything. Not a good thing when you are a photographer. Usually I can move my eyes and the blurring goes away but it's still a major inconvenience. I'm hoping the problem abates but might take a long time. I still have the webs in my right eye and the surgery was several years ago. The eye doctor assures me they will go away but, at my age, time is fleeting and I don't have years to wait. Not sure what I can do to fix the problem.

Wyoming Sunset

It's funny. Most of the time, to capture the images I put in this blog, I have to work very hard. I have to find the location, often carrying a ton of camera gear on my very broken shoulders, deal with the elements, sometimes risk life and limb to get in a place to make the image, and then hope that the results are worth all the effort. Out of thousands of images I take each cycle I'm lucky if I get 100 that are useful. Of course, some of that bulk is simply due to taking lots of cycles looking for just the right light. It's not unusual to take 50 sets of images to get one final presentation. That's just the nature of the beast.

Then there are the rare occasions when the image comes to me. It literally drops from the sky and hits me square on the head. Such was the case for this photo. I had just left Yellowstone, heading south toward Albuquerque and my trip back to Russia. I was in a rest area on I80, near Laramie, WY. It was located on a hill above the highway so I could see a long way in all directions. It had been cloudy most of the day and was very windy. I was sitting in the truck, feeling it rock as the wind roared up the hillside, reading on my tablet. I was facing east with the sun setting over my shoulder. For some reason I looked in the rear view mirror and saw the beginnings of a spectacular sunset. Everything was perfect. I was really tired, having been up since 4 AM but I knew that I'd really kick myself if I let this event slide. So I grabbed the camera and my tripod and headed out into a field near the parking area. Several people had the same idea I had and we all stood there, our cameras at the ready, watching this majestic sunset unfold. The colors were amazing and the clouds, interacting with the strong winds, created the most spectacular shapes. This was, by far, the best sunset I'd seen on this trip. It was a wonderful way to finish the trip from hell. I guess the gods were feeling sorry for me and decided to give me a little pick-me-up as a going away present. This is the west at its best.

Wyoming Sunset - 16mm,f/11,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

There was this bear...

Yellowstone has been on my wish list since I started this whole process several years ago. Not only is it the oldest national park in the world but it is also among the most spectacular. They've got just about everything ... wild animals, spectacular scenery, geothermal features out the wazoo (over 10,000) ... there's something for everyone. I'd been intending to go there earlier in the trip but was told that the park was mostly closed due to heavy snow so it would have been a waste of time and money to try getting there. But I had time at the end of the trip so I made the 1000 mile drive from Albuquerque to the park in the middle of May. Spent over a week in Grand Teton and Yellowstone and it was worth every minute I invested. I could have easily spent another week and still not visited all the areas. I took almost 3000 images in that week, almost half of all the images I took for the whole trip. It was amazing and made the cycle worth the effort. Had I not gone I would have written off the entire trip as a waste.

One of the attractions is the big animals. They have buffalo, elk, moose, bear, wolves, coyotes ... in abundance. I was in Mammoth Hot Springs for 5 days and almost every day there was a large herd of buffalo living in the center of town. I also ran into them on the road several times, so close I could have rolled down my window and stroked their flanks. Not a good idea of course because buffalo are know for their hair trigger tempers and they can destroy a car in a heartbeat. Also ran into several bears including a mother and her cub that took up residence on the side of the road and disrupted traffic for several days. It's almost comical to watch people when they see bears. They slam on the brakes and pull off the road, oblivious to traffic and anything else around them. They will literally chase a bear with their cameras trying to get a shot. Of course, only an idiot chases a bear and there are "accidents" every year between people and bears ... the bear almost always wins unfortunately. Also, unfortunately, quite a few bears are killed or injured by cars driving too fast on the road. There's a reason why the speed limits are 35-45 mph on roads that look like they can easily handle 60. It's all about the animals.

Anyway, the last day in Yellowstone I wanted to take a sunrise at Yellowstone Lake. That required me to get up really early, like 4 am, and drive down past Old Faithful to a town called West Thumb which is on the lake. Coming down the hill above town I see a good spot to set up my camera so I hang a quick u-turn and park off the road. Set up the tripod and camera and start shooting. After a few minutes I hear loud billowing coming from the valley below but don't think anything off it. Figure it's a moose or buffalo. Keep shooting when suddenly, there's a loud crashing noise and a medium size black bear, probably a female, comes blasting out of the trees not 50 feet from me and goes barreling across the road and down the slope on the other side. Not even sure she saw me but she was definitely in a big hurry to get somewhere. I guess I should have had a "holy shit" moment but I can't say I was really too excited. Heart rate barely changed and other than being startled by all the noise I had almost no reaction. Since the bear was between me and my truck I'm not sure what I could have done other than start yelling like crazy and flapping my coat. I would have used my tripod to keep the bear at bay so I could maneuver to my truck but that would have been the extent of my efforts. Had the bear really wanted to attack me I wouldn't have been able to do much. But man, that was definitely one of the biggest rushes I had. Definitely an interesting way to end my trip. Only wish I'd been able to point the camera and get a picture. Now that would have been something to capture!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

One of the attractions in Yellowstone is the "Grand Canyon". Not nearly as large as the one in Arizona it is still pretty spectacular. The Yellowstone River has, over millions of years, carved a nice ditch through the soft rock which is several hundred feet deep and very impressive. I was there in the late afternoon and, fortunately, the place was pretty much deserted so I was able to set up my tripod and get a good panorama. I really like the drama it captures, of the darkening sky and the cliffs and the river far below. This is a pretty standard process, HDR in Photomatix, blending in Photoshop and finishing in Lightroom. All I can say if, if you have some extra time on your hands, please make a trip to the Northwest corner of Wyoming and spend some time exploring Grand Teton and Yellowstone. You won't be disappointed.

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone - 24mm,f/18,HDR,ISO 100,license CC BY-NC 4.0