Mark's Musings : Practical Photography and Beyond

Day 7 (final blog post) - YNP/GNTP- 2011 Fall Trip

2011-10-07T00:14:00.001-04:00

7x6 bull elk in Yellowstone's first fall snow., a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

First, A big thanks to all of you following this blog. I have appreciated your emails and FB messages. Today was our final day in Yellowstone. Because of the snow storm system, we decided to travel to Idaho Falls tonight and leave from here in the morning for the Salt Lake City airport to avoid any potential travel delays associated with the storm. We will be home by midnight Friday night.

We slept in a little and got into the Park around 8:30am today. It was cloudy, rainy with snow expected after 2:00 pm. Yellowstone National Park is expected to get 6-10 inches of snow. Several roads were closed by the rangers by 3:00 pm. Several cars slid off the road over by Old Faithful. It's amazing how different parts of the park vary dramatically with snowfall. When it snows at 7,000+ feet, it snows!

We traveled through Madison (the bull elk and his harem were there) but didn't stop. We moved on through Norris (really foggy), on to Hayden Valley, no rain there but cloudy, several wolf watchers there with spotting scopes. Two wolves of the Canyon Pack were running around too far out for photos but saw these beauties through a scope. From Hayden, over Dunraven. Dunraven was VERY rainy, foggy, at some point, visibility was 50 feet! This was an "exciting" drive. Kim drove it and did well. No wildlife seen in Dunraven or Tower. On to Lamar, cloudy and rainy as well but YNP is gorgeous this time of year with red, gold, and orange grasses. Just beautiful. We stopped at the "carcass" but the carcass was nowhere to be found. We were told two grizzlies were on it yesterday and at one point, 7 members of the Pack came in together and drove the grizzlies off of the carcass. We were told (also) that it was Monday evening when the Pack chased and drove the elk cow into the Lamar River (shallow area), and the elk cow fought them off as long as she could until tiring. Several people stayed around until 8:30pm Monday and the wolves had not made the kill yet but did so during the night sometime. The carcass image I posted Tuesday was taken after 1pm Tuesday so that means the carcass was picked clean in 17 hours or less!

While we were at the carcass today, someone yelled "grizzly!"and there was a young grizz at the top of the hill behind us. We watched him travel east to west for a few minutes then he disappeared.... which means Kim (finally) saw her first grizzly bear! A bald eagle landed in a tree by the Lamar River and reared it's head back calling upon landing. It made me smile.

From Lamar, over to Mammoth, more rain and no wildlife spotted. Had a quick lunch in Mammoth, on to Norris, then on to Madison. I snapped a few landscapes along the way. I spotted a bald eagle sitting in a tree across the Madison River. Perhaps the same one who eluded me yesterday? I was determined to get this one (see pic below). We stopped (we were the only car parked) but we started an "eagle jam". I snuck across the street to get a better view. I snapped several images and then this guy pulls up, gets out of his car and slams his door shut loudly and the eagle flew off. Some people just don't get it.

It was beginning to snow heavily now and I found the 7x6 bull elk and his harem and got some "snow images" (see pic above). I have a zillion images to go through just of this bull elk! We left YNP around 5:30pm and arrived in Idaho Falls at 7:45pm. The snow was really falling and the road through the Targhee National Forest was untouched and treacherous. It was 35 miles per hour for a long ways until the roads improved.

Dan and Bonnie went on their own today. They are in YNP one more day. It was a pleasure having Dan and Bonnie in the Park at the same time. They had a great time. It was their first YNP/GTNP visit.

This trip is now sadly over.

Kim had a great time, seeing far more wolves than I thought we would see. We were lucky having a carcass (It's simply the circle of life in YNP.)

This will be one birthday present, Kim won't soon forget.

Every time we visit YNP/GTNP, the trip goes so fast. We really don't want to leave....

We love this place.

Thanks again for following!

Mark

YNP Madison River bald eagle- Oct. 6, 2011

2011-10-07T00:13:00.001-04:00

Madison River bald eagle, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

This one didn't get away from me!

Day 6: YNP/GTNP - 2011 Fall Trip

2011-10-06T00:31:00.001-04:00

behind Signal Mountain Lodge, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Today was a bad weather day and tomorrow is worse (based on prediction). 1-2 inches of snow expected Friday but we are heading to the airport Friday morning. I hate rain in YNP. It puts me in a bad mood.

Based on the forecast, we went south to the Tetons today. Left West Yellowstone around 7:30am and arrived at Oxbow Bend around 9:30am. The weather was better than YNP. It rained heavy then some sun, lots of clouds then cloudy most of the day.

On the way down, I snapped a few YNP scenics. Except for a few bison and a couple of mule deer does, the wildlife seems to have vanished. Maybe they sense the big weather changes and snow coming? We went looking for moose and we found a cow moose bedded down in tall grass. No photo op, IMHO but a zillion people were there shooting away. Grabbed a few images of the Chapel of the Transfig. I wanted to find Kim a bear and we found a cinnamon bear but he/she was back in the brush eating berries and Kim only had a 3 second glimpse of him/her. (Noteworthy in that, a significant amount of leaves have come down since our October 1 visit. We lucked out with a great day in GTNP on October 1.)

After finding essentially zero wildlife, we had a nice lunch at Signal Mountain Lodge. I snapped this image (see pic above) from the back of the restaurant. Not a bad view while eating, huh? The clouds obscured the mountains which was a bummer but that was what the day was like.

We headed back to YNP (snapping a few scenics like Lewis Falls.) by 2:00 pm. We stopped at the Old Faithful General Store, and then headed up to Norris and saw no wildlife except for a couple of bison. It was raining pretty hard by now and we decided to head back to the hotel BEFORE dark! In all my 5 trips to YNP, this was the worse weather day and least productive wildlife viewing wise. It was frustrating. I never even used my 500mm at all today.... and to top it all off, as we were headed to the hotel, I spotted a mature bald eagle in the top of a tree by the Madison River all hunkered down in the wind and heavy rain. I thought this would make a great "bad weather" wildlife image... so we found the road to get down to the eagle. Kim was driving. I asked Kim to pull up across from him (he was across the river) and my thought was to photograph him out the backseat window with the 500 + 1.4 TC. So Kim stops the car, I quietly get out of the front seat , get in the back seat, scramble for my 500, trying to manage it to be handheld, and just as I was about to open the window... Kim said those dreaded words: "nevermind, he flew off"...... I was less than pleased. I would have made a sailor blush with my reaction.

I thought , of course, he flew off at the last second. It was consistent with the day. Sucky. then more bad news, as we arrived in cell service, my Apple iPhone received a text message, stating that Apple founder, Steve Jobs had died.

R.I.P. Steve, you literally have changed the World. My condolences to his family and the World.

We had dinner with Dan and Bonnie. They were in the Tetons today too but we didn't know it until we had dinner with them. They were going to check out the Beartooth Highway today but decided against it with the impending bad weather.

Our last day in YNP is tomorrow, Thursday, October 6. The weather looks bad all day.

Somehow, I need to find a way to end this trip with a bang!

Stay Tuned for Day 7, the final trip blog post.

Day 5: YNP/GTNP - 2011 Fall Trip

2011-10-05T01:04:00.001-04:00

Grey wolf on carcass, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

We started at 7:00 am but the weather forecast looked gloomy. It was very cloudy at 7am and we figured it would be a high ISO day but it turned out to be a good weather day overall. After a McDonald's breakfast, we headed into the park and quickly came upon a 7x6 bull elk and his harem. We got some beautiful images of this elk and his girls. We discovered an osprey's nest by the Madison River occupied by two osprey.

We then proceeded towards Mammoth with the intent to check out the Blacktail Plateau 6 mile drive. No wildlife found but a few nice landscapes. We moved on to Tower area. I suggested we drive Lamar and see if anything is happenin'. We saw tons of bison along the route to Lamar. As we entered Lamar Valley, a coyote popped up from the roadside and crossed the road in front of me, I got a nice image of him from the car with the 70-200.

Things looked quiet... until we turned the bend and I radioed Dan and said," we have a big jam" up ahead. We stopped and asked "what ya got"? and it was one word, WOLVES!. We parked, and set up and didnt realize at first that the Lamar Canyon pack took down an elk cow Monday night (the night before) and the carcass was 200 yrds (rough guess) or so from the road. I used my 1DM4, 500 + 2X TC with a 30% crop on the image posted above. We spent around 3 hours with the wolves skipping lunch. There were 4 wolves present total but only one at a time on the carcass. Also present, a ton of ravens (of course), several magpies, at least 2 coyotes hanging around waiting for their turn, and we had 4 bald eagles around, with two landing and picking at the carcass. The wolves kept chasing all these "visitors off", so they were busy all the time. It was great to watch all the action. Just really cool. It's amazing how "picked clean" the carcass was in such a short period of time. We were hoping a grizzly would show up but no grizz while we were there. We endured 3 rain episodes during this time. We had no plans to leave. Rain be damned.

After this highlight of the day, we split up. Kim and I went over to Hayden and did a few landscapes, went out to Sedge Bay and no significant wildlife noted. We headed back to the hotel and stopped by Madison again and spent a few minutes with the elk and his harem again.

We had a pizza with Dan and Bonnie for dinner.

The weather is progressively getting colder with a real good possibility of significant snow on Thursday. We are hoping for below freezing temps the next two days. The worse the weather, the more wildlife out and about. Plus we want that elk bugling with some nice breath in the frosty air!

So far, it has been a terrific trip. I still need to find Kim a bear. The bears are few and far between here now. "They are around" but nothing like the Spring (of course).

Two more days to go. Stay tuned for Day 6.

Day 4: YNP/GNTP - 2011 Fall Trip

2011-10-04T01:26:00.001-04:00

Bison Jam in Lamar Valley, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Another YNP day in the books. What a day it was!

We started out (again) in Lamar Valley looking for the Lamar Canyon wolf pack. I really wanted Kim to see them so we left earlier this morning hoping for better luck.... and lucky we were!

We found the "YNP wolfers" at the pullout east of the Hitching Post pull out. And within minutes, of arriving, the pack (I counted 6, others say all 11 of the pack were there) was clearly visible to the naked eye and moving west towards the Hitching Post pullout so we all jumped in our cars and head there.

The wolves arrived at that area as predicted, played around for a while, went up the Cache Valley trail and disappeared. Kim and I traveled west of Lamar as Dan and his wife stayed in Lamar. Kim and I checked out the Slough Creek area and found some pronghorn and bison. We headed back east to Lamar and got into a 3 mile long bison jam. Bison jams are a slow go. See bison jam pic above. Note the beautiful fall colors of the grasses in Lamar (actually all over Yellowstone). In the pic, this is the car in front of us.

Dan and Bonnie stayed in YNP as I took Kim on the a tour of very scenic Beartooth Highway, (on the way there just east of Cooke City, a red fox shows up and is walking down the road towards us, I stopped the car and snapped a few pics of him on the road), we had a great lunch in Red Lodge, MT and then drove to Cody, WY, then to the YNP east entrance, then over to Hayden Valley. Lots of drive time but the Beartooth highway was breathtaking! This is a must see, IMHO. The drive to Cody from Red Lodge showcases beautiful country as well!

On the way into YNP, Kim and I got into ANOTHER bison jam in the Fishing Bridge area. Thats two for the day! Geez.

Kim and I went on to Hayden Valley, snapped a few landscapes, no wolves sighted, some mule deer does, and a bald eagle perched on a tree stump. We then drove to West Yellowstone (Madison) and found Dan there snapping pics of a beautiful bull elk and his harem! Gary D. from Facebook found us in Madison and we all chatted for awhile. We decided to have dinner together at my hotel tonight.

Overall, another great day in Yellowstone. A big weather system moving in by Thursday, maybe a foot of snow at 7, 000 feet or higher.

Stay tuned for Day 5. This trip is going fast as they all do!

Day 3: YNP/GTNP - 2011 Fall Trip

2011-10-03T00:11:00.001-04:00

bear print on car, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Day 3 and another long day. The weather forecast was 80% chance of rain and it never rained a drop, with cloudy to sunny all day!

We left for Lamar Valley at 7:00am. We arrived in Lamar around 7:35am and (of course) we were told we "just missed " the wolf pack. Dang! (hint: not the word I used). We quickly found a pronghorn buck and 3 females grazing near the road. We photographed them of sometime. Suddenly, the buck took off full speed about 200 yrds west and we wondered why then we saw the coyote it saw... the buck ran at the coyote, stopped about 10 yrds short of him, stared at him, the coyote got the hint, and left the area by crossing the road to the hills. A couple of other stunning coyotes (beautiful winter coats) showed up and got some nice images of these guys. Dan stayed with the pronghorn while Kim and I went through Lamar Valley and checked out Slough Creek and found a huge bison herd within yards of us. Got some great frame filling images of these guys. Dan and Bonnie joined us there.

We moved on over to Mammoth, found several elk cow and a few bucks lounging in the yards in Mammoth. We went to Gardiner, had a very nice lunch and took pictures of the north entrance arch. We proceeded down to Norris area, and photographed Gibbon Falls. We stopped at Sheepeaters Cliff and got some nice images of a few birds and some "least chipmunks". We moved on to Hayden Valley and found a ton of people at the Grizzly overlook.... and sure enough, the Canyon wolf pack was running around about 3/4 mile out in Hayden Valley. With binocs, a spotting scope or a long lens, you could easily watch them. The alpha female is beautiful. We saw a total of 5 wolves. Kim got to see her wolves but we are hoping for a better day in the morning at Lamar Valley. It is always exciting to watch the wolves.

The day slipped away from us and we headed back to Cooke City for dinner. We are headed to West Yellowstone tomorrow for the next 3 nights.

When we got back in Cooke City for dinner, we parked by the restaurant and a guy, standing near our car (where we parked) remarked to us about a "bear paw print" on our car door! I said, "huh?" and he said, "look here"! and sure enough there's a small bear paw print. (see pic above). It looks like a young black bear print. Apparently, the bear made it rounds to the cars in the parking lot as Dan's car had paw prints too! We HAD food in the car but moved it inside for that vary purpose- not to entice the bears. Apparently the smell of food being there lingered on the car. Bears have an amazing sense of smell, for good reason, as their survival depends on a great nose...

Another day in unpredictable Yellowstone.

What will tomorrow bring?

Stay Tuned for Day 4.

Day 2: YNP/GNTP - 2011 Fall Trip

2011-10-02T01:05:00.001-04:00

Oxbow Bend Civil Twilight, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Up at 4:45am, Down at 11:30pm. It was a full day today as it always is here in these Parks. Alot to see and precious little time to see it. We only have 10- 11 hours per day of decent light.

We started out with a fantastic sunrise at Oxbow Bend. The place was crowded. The parking lot was full. A school bus of several photography students showed up... it seems like "everybody and their brother"was there. The Fall colors in the Tetons are peak and very near peak at Oxbow. Dan and I even climbed the hill across the street (remember this place is 7,000 feet above sea level) so it was a nice treadmill type of workout to get there. We got some terrific images from Oxbow. The posted pic is from my Canon P&S. The place was simply beautiful this morning. After Oxbow, we went Cattlemans bridge, Jackson Lake Dam, Schwabachers Landing (great reflections) then to Mormon Row.

We were told of some Moose over at Gros Ventre Campground. We went there and found nothing.We drove down the road and found a "jam" and the folks were watching a huge bull moose and a cow
down a small hill by a stream bed.

The cow was feeding on some leaves. the bull resting. The light was awfully harsh but we stayed anyway. Dan wanted to get a better shot of the cow so he went down into the stream bed, maybe 30 yds from the cow. The cow "pushed him away" telling Dan he was too close so Dan backed off. The bull gets up and walks toward the cow. The bull apparently sees Dan and decided to bluff charge him (gets within 6-7 feet according to Dan) sending him a message.... I was down in the stream but decided to go back up the hill...about the time I get up the hill, a hear some branches breaking (the bull crashing through the brush) a lady who was down there with Dan comes flying up the hill WITHOUT her camera and tripod! The next thing I see is Dan flying up the hill too! A little startled (eerr shaken up). Folks, this was a huge bull moose. Let's just say Dan vamoosed it out of there. ;-) He is ok but the bum knee is sore.

We had lunch, then drove to Yellowstone photographed Moose Falls (yes, no kidding, Moose Falls) ...West Thumb, Fishing Bridge, Hayden Valley, Dunraven, Tower and Lamar Valley. We had a wily coyote decide to walk down the middle of the road in front of our car and Dan and Bonnie experienced their first bison jam in Lamar Valley. Bison all around us. You could touch them if you put your hands out the window (which I didnt...)

We are staying in Cooke City the next two days... the town with ZERO cell service.

6:15am wake up call. Hope to find some wolves at sunrise in Lamar Valley.

Stay Tuned for Day 3.

DAY 1: YNP/GTNP - 2011 Fall Trip

2011-10-01T00:24:00.003-04:00

DAY 1: Yellowstone/Grand Teton NP- 2011 Fall Trip (Quarter moon over the Tetons), a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Kim and I flew from Cleveland to Baltimore then Baltimore to Salt Lake City. Dan Behm and his wife, Bonnie were on the same flight. The flight out was on time and flawless. Great landing in Salt Lake by the pilot. Nice and smooth.

We picked up our bags, got our rental cars and started the 5+ hr scenic drive to Jackson, WY.

The day was sunny, hardly a cloud in the sky. Beautiful. After some lunch, we resumed our journey.

Once we got to Idaho Falls, we split up. Kim and I continued on to Jackson. Dan and Bonnie got a few groceries and arrived about 45 minutes behind us.

The ride through Swan Valley, ID was very pretty with some great fall colors. Yellow aspens were the dominate color. The ride through the Targhee National Forest and the Teton Pass was beautiful was well. Once we started descending into Jackson Hole, the fall colors were really vibrant. We saw a moose upon entering Jackson Hole. Didn't stop for pics. We decided to spend the rest of the light we had (we got in JH around 6:55pm, Sunset was 7:06 pm.) driving through the park. We saw a male pronghorn, bison (of course) and a wildlfire at the Albright Turnout. (see pic below). We proceeded up the main park route and folks, the fall color now is spectacular! We hit it spot on! By the time we got to Oxbow Bend, it was too dark but looks like great color as far as my eyes could tell. There were several cars still in the OB parking out. We drove by Oxbow and saw a "jam" on the road to Jackson Lake. It was "dark" now BUT we knew why everyone was there as there were several bull elks bugling in the grasslands right by the road. We could see one bull's silhouette and he was a BIG guy! It was a stereo experience of elk bugling. The rut is on! Kim's first elk bugling experience.

There was a beautiful quarter moon above the Teton range. See pic above. Again, this was a P&S pic with flash going off of course. (ahemmmmm, I know) but again, you get the idea.

We then drove back to Jackson Hole, has some dinner, and checked in hotel. We will be spending up to 2:00 pm in the GTNP Saturday, October 1 trying to see as much as possible as the weather is expected to change here (Jackson) to rain for the next few days. After our visit here, we are headed north to Yellowstone!

We have a 4:45 am MST wake up call. Headed out for sunrise at Oxbow and go from there.

Stay tuned for Day 2.

Albright Turnout wildlife

2011-10-01T00:24:00.001-04:00

Albright Turnout wildlife, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Please excuse the IQ. This was a P&S image out the car window, in low light at 55 mph but you get the idea!

The Countdown is on!

2011-09-28T22:58:00.002-04:00

The countdown is on for my Fall Yellowstone/GTNP birthday trip for Kim. 48 hours to go!

Kim is looking forward too seeing her first bear and/or wolf in the wild!

Yellowstone and the Grand Teton National Parks in the Fall!

2011-08-23T04:26:00.001-04:00

I am returning to 'heaven on earth" September 30-October 7, 2011 with my wife, Kim. This trip was planned as a surprise birthday gift for her. She loves wolves so the big objective this trip is wolves!

I am home! plus a couple of Yellowstone wildlife notes.

2011-06-20T00:19:00.002-04:00

(1) The coyote pups were not seen all day Saturday, June 18, 2011. That pretty much confirms the parents have moved them to another den. We were very luck to get the photos we did on Wednesday, June 15.

(2) The Madison Eagles: I have learned that the female was killed over the winter, thus the reason for no eaglets this year. The male has paired up with another female, thus there will be (likely) a new family in the spring of 2012.

Mark

Day 9: Yellowstone / Grand Teton Trip - 2011 (FINAL TRIP BLOG POST)

2011-06-19T01:14:00.008-04:00

Black wolf - Yellowstone National Park, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Sadly, after 2,845 miles driven, 74 hours and 7 mins of car time with my son, Jared, and countless special moments and laughs, my (and Jared's) Yellowstone/ Grand Teton 2011 trip has come to a special ending........ I will never forget this trip.

Today was very special. I was able to photograph a Yellowstone black wolf in Lamar Valley. This was one of my goals this trip. Unless you are very lucky, the Yellowstone wolves are elusive and difficult to photograph as they are often "far off", viewable by only a spotting scope. Today, this goal was accomplished. See pic posted above.

Jared and I started out at 5:05 am and arrived in Lamar around 7:00 am, making a few landscape images along the way. It was a beautiful, colorful Yellowstone sunrise. We saw a few black bears along the way to Lamar but didn't stop....

We could hear the wolves howling soon after we arrived in Lamar.

There were many "wolf watchers" in place with spotting scopes. The radio signal (this wolf was collared) was getting stronger that she was near...... and in a few minutes, this beautiful black wolf appeared over the hill, trotted across the expansive Lamar plains, swam across the river, shook herself off, and crossed the road at the same point as always towards their den.

I can not tell you how thrilling it was to watch this beautiful animal in my viewfinder the whole way. I almost forgot to take pictures, I was that awe-struck. Trust me, you have to experience it. It gives you the chills....

After that experience, Jared and I made our way over to Hayden Valley, then the Fishing Bridge for lunch.We drove to the east entrance but no moose but we did see 6 big horn rams. We drove the west loop and wanted to photograph the Grand Prismatic Spring but it started to rain so we decided to head back to Lamar for spend our final hours of the trip.

We arrived at Lamar at 4:30 pm. There was a light rain and wind. We decided to stay as it looked like it (the weather) would pass over.

When we arrived, we were told that a golden eagle flew about 20 feet over everyone's head and then landed across the street. Just my luck.... I miss it by an hour as I would love to have a nice golden eagle in flight image. Besides, my high school mascot was the golden eagle, the Belpre Golden Eagles!

I said to Jared, "I would love to see that golden eagle again"....

So, I set up my gear and we waited for more wolves to return at sunset but no luck... it was beautiful in Lamar (as always) but quiet........ After 2.5 hours, I was about to pack up the gear and Jared said, "Dad, whats that bird? It's big "... and I looked and, yes, it was a golden eagle soaring over my head! It was pretty far up even for my 1300 mm (35 mm equivalent) with overcast dark skies but I fired away and came away with a decent golden eagle image. Wow, how cool was that? My trip was complete now. We packed up and made the rainy drive back to West Yellowstone and had a pizza together for dinner. We are packed and headed home in the morning, on Father's Day.

What a Father's Day present! ....to spend 9 days in Yellowstone with my son, Jared.

Kim, Jared and I all love Yellowstone. It is a very special place.

If you have never visited, you must do so... sooner rather than later. If you have experienced Yellowstone, then you know what I speak of.........Yellowstone Simply Rocks!

Thanks to all of you who have followed this blog. I hope you found it entertaining to read.

Best Regards,
Mark
6/19/2011

Day 8: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park Trip - 2011

2011-06-18T00:29:00.006-04:00

TRip
"Shane" cabin, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

The plan today was to explore GTNP more and hopefully see the coyote pups again and some interaction with their parents.

We left West Yellowstone around 6:00 am and arrived in GTNP around 8:00 am. We saw a nice grizzly bear along the road on the way in with a bear jam but we didn't stop. We figured, "ah, just another grizz."

On to Jackson Lake dam, we saw an juvi eagle perched in a tree but he/she wouldn't fly for me, and some pelicans. We drove from the dam to Moose junction looking for moose but none seen then on to Gros Ventre Road and no moose there nor the campground area (but Jim Brown reported getting great pics of moose several hours later!).

Moving on, we visited the site of the "Shane " cabin. The cabin was used in the 1953 movie, Shane. See pic posted above.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shane_(film)

Feeling adventurous, we drove by Miller Butte (no big horn sheep found), then on to the Curtis Canyon overlook. I came across a unique landscape op on the way back from the overlook.

We then grabbed some lunch and met up with Cindy, Wilma, Jim and his wife and MPEG professional member, Ed Heaton and his son at Mormon Row. This was the first time, Ed and I (and the other members) have met. Ed is a very pleasant guy.

I am sorry to say the coyote pups were NOT seen from sunrise up to 2:00 pm today. I suspect Mom and Dad have relocated them because of all the car and human traffic in the area. This makes our coyote images from Wednesday even more rare! We enjoyed watching those guys/gals and I hope they survive in the Tetons. Wait until you see some of these images. Really, really special.

We decided to head back to Yellowstone but stopped at Jackson Lake dam again but nothing going on.

I spoke with several people and YNP was pretty quiet today. We explored from Hayden Valley to Fishing Bridge to Mary Bay and nothing. We headed back to Hayden Valley and two grizzlies are spotted a few hundred yards out and one was headed our way.

A photographer with a long lens (it looked like a Nikon 200-400mm) decides she is going to walk out TO THE BEAR coming our way. The folks, watching the bear, tried to talk her out of it (this is a very stupid thing to do...BTW). She walked about 80-90 yards out, had second thoughts and retreated back to the cars.

What in the world is wrong with people? An experienced wildlife photog should know better, IMHO.

We decided it wasn't worthwhile to hang around as the light was really low. We had dinner in Canyon and returned to West Yellowstone around 10:00 pm

We have a 4:15 am wake up call for Saturday. We plan to be in Lamar Valley by 6:30 am and finish this amazing trip with a BIG BANG by covering the whole eastern part of the Park.

Wish us luck!

Stay tuned for Day 9 (FINAL blog post) tomorrow.

Mark

Day 7: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot (FINAL MPEG GROUPSHOOT DAY)

2011-06-17T00:22:00.009-04:00

sow and two cubs, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Jared and I "slept in" today after 6 days of an average of 4.5 hours sleep/day. We have been busy guys.

Also, today was the last official day of the MPEG Groupshoot as most everyone is headed home tomorrow to begin the arduous download/post processing task.

Jared and I realized this was a day where we may see little since we didn't get into the Park until 10:30 am.

Each day since Tuesday this week, the Park has gotten more populated as the tourist season ramps up next week. Except for one day (out of the 5 GS days), we have had perfect to near perfect weather each day for the Groupshoot!

This morning, Jared and I started into Madison (one eagle on the nest with a mild "eagle jam") but the eagle was backlit so not good light. The best light for this nest is late afternoon, about 2 hours before sunset.

Otherwise, nothing going on in Madison except for the usual elk and bison. Nothing in Norris to Mammoth. We had lunch in Mammoth and visited the great horned owl's nest there, snapped a pic of the adult but she kept her eyes closed. On to Gardiner canyon but no big horn sheep. An osprey flew at us and over our car there. Mammoth to Tower- nothing significant. We went to Slough Creek to check on the golden eagle's nest and the eagle was soaring high over the cliffs when we arrived.

While in Slough Creek, a couple of tourists told us about a carcass in Canyon with grizzlies, blah, blah. We skipped Lamar Valley, went to Canyon and found nothing, asked a Ranger and he never heard of anything (and these guys are in the know) so we have no idea what the tourists were talking about.

We continued on through Hayden Valley. We were "complaining" how boring it was and suddenly, we see two cars stop and two ladies jumped out of their cars. I said to Jared, " wonder what's up"? Jared said, "oh, it's just a bison" and I saw the same brown blob on the hill, he thought was a bison but when the big grizzly bear lifted her head, I knew it wasn't a bison! It was the grizz sow and her two cubs that I photographed in pouring rain a few days ago... now, I have another shot at them in better light.

I set up quickly and started shooting away. The bears were 100 yards away across the field from 4 elk. The elk "ignored the bears" until the bears got a little closer then all 4 elk "froze and stared" in the direction of the bears but we could see no bears.... then here the bears come towards the elk... and the elk slowly but surely retreated into the woods. By this time, there is a massive traffic jam and a 150+ people watching these bears. See pic posted above of the sow and her two cubs with one being the runt...

We all thought we were going to witness a grizz-elk confrontation but it didn't happen.

We stayed at the bears until 6:00 pm or so then headed back to West Yellowstone to meet everyone for the final MPEG Groupshoot dinner at 8:00 pm

All 13 Groupshoot attendees (including me) had a group dinner at the Wild West pizzeria. Good times had by all. Everyone had a great Groupshoot and all were telling exciting stories of their Yellowstone/Grand Teton experiences at dinner.

This Group was a real pleasure to work with! I want to thank my son, Jared for his assistance with the Group and his companionship throughout this trip.

Also, My Thanks to Jim and his wife, Eve; Steve and his wife, Judy; Peter; Tim and his wife, Julie ; Wilma, Cindy and Judy and her son, Toby for being a delight to work with and it was my pleasure to show them around these two great National Parks.

Everyone will have some terrific images and stories to post soon.

Jared and I are staying two extra days and will return Sunday, June 19, on Father's Day.

We plan to revisit the Grand Teton National Park Friday most of the day then return to Yellowstone in the afternoon. We will give Yellowstone one last go around on Saturday. We will head to Salt Lake City early Sunday morning and hope to visit Antelope Island State Park (suggested by my FB friend, Gary D.) on our way back to the airport.

I gotta run, we have a 5:00 am wake up call in 5.5 hours.

We are rounding third and heading for ...... home.

Mark

Day 6: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2011-06-16T11:01:00.009-04:00

coyote pups, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

WOW.. is all I can say! What a day...

We had a 3:00 am wake up call and left West Yellowstone at 3:56 am for the Tetons. 11 of the 13 MPEGers made the trip. We arrived at Oxbow Bend at 6:09 am, just in time for some very nice light and a beautiful, cloudless morning at Oxbow Bend. The reflections were the best I have seen there.

After Oxbow Bend, we broke up into two Groups, Jared lead some members primarily interested in landscapes to the Signal Mountain area and I lead the wildlife folks to the Cattleman's Bridge area. We regrouped at Oxbow Bend at 9:30 am.

At Cattleman's, two members left for the car early. Cindy and I followed shortly. I radioed ahead to make sure the other two were "Ok".. and they radioed back and "there's a bear here"... and I said, " like where?" and they said just a feet from you in the woods to the right" and I said, " Oh, "Sh........oot"...

Both of us got our bear spray out and walked slowly back to the cars. It was a nice, big black bear just 10 yards or so from us..... of course, this caused a bear jam and before you knew it, we had 15-20 people there gawking.

We proceeded on to Cunningham's cabin and spent a good deal of time there, then Schwabacher's Landing then to Mormon Row. I wanted to wait until 10am or so for some clouds to develop for the Mormon Row shoot..... and indeed, we had great clouds. Actually, the day was perfect weather wise until it got windy in the afternoon as predicted.

The plan was to finish up at Mormon Row, grab some lunch then "go on our own".......well, that plan collapsed quickly.... and here's the story... As I was walking back to my car to put my stuff away, a lady comes up to me and says," Do you know where the coyote pups are?"... and I said, " No, I don't" and she said, "well, they told us they were by the pink house here" and I said, " I am not aware of them"..... THEN as I walked further to my car, I happen to glance to my right and THERE they were! Running around the log cabin beside the pink house! 3 were out playing and for a brief time, all 5 were out (their Mom never showed up as we left at around 5:30 pm or so). I snapped the pic above when all 5 looked our way. This was a great experience.... We spent 5 hours there!

Around, 5:30 pm, I said to Jared, let's head back to West Yellowstone, but let's stop by Jackson Lake Dam on the way back and let's see if anything is going on there..... Well, we witnessed eagles, osprey, pelicans, a very stupid human (will post a complete story on the MPEG Forums soon) and I snapped a pic of an incredible wildlife encounter that many will swear it was "photoshopped". One bystander even offered to be my witness if people didn't believe it. He asked for my business card so he can view the pic on my website and say "I was there" to his friends. I will post this amazing event on the Forums as well.

We stayed at Jackson Lake Dam for 2-3 hours then drove back to West Yellowstone in record time after being up for 21 hours. We got back to the hotel at midnight. We both fell into bed and woke up 8.5 hours later.

June 15 was just another unpredictable, breathtaking, amazing, unbelievable, and incredible day in these two fine National Parks.

We are planning (Thursday) to spend just an 8 hour day in Yellowstone. The MPEG "final night" dinner is tonight at the Wild West Pizzeria at 8:00 pm.

I (and Jared) am staying 3 more days and departing Sunday, June 19, Father's Day.

Day 7 coming up tonight!

Mark

Day 5: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2011-06-14T23:15:00.011-04:00

Yellowstone Sunrise, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

What a difference a day makes!

Today started as a beautiful, foggy sunrise (see photo above) in Yellowstone and progressed to one of the most beautiful days I have ever witnessed here. The weather was "picture perfect" all day!

Jim and his wife Eve asked if they could tag along with us today and I said, sure! Jim says "I can find stuff!".......

We started in the Park around 5:50 am. We stopped by the Madison eagle's nest and noone was home.... but as we just started back on the road, an adult eagle was flying straight at us, flew over the car and I am guessing, went to the nest. We missed him/her by 10 seconds! It's all about timing sometimes..... We didn't go back to the nest as we had a long day ahead of us.

We stopped briefly at a carcass in Madison which has been picked clean. One of the MPEG members reported that 2 wolves were there the previous night around 8:00 pm.

We proceeded north and stopped by Sheepeater's Cliff. We found one marmot who posed for us and we snapped a few pics. Jared was getting something from the car when he came over and informed us that he saw a black bear walk out of the woods, crossed the road about 30 yards from him and headed to the river. We never saw the bear again. Jared was jacked about the event.

We went to Mammoth and checked out the great horned owl's nest at the Visitor's center. One adult was there and an owlet but they were sleeping so no good photo ops. As we were driving out of Gardiner area, an osprey flew over our car, headed to the very swollen and rushing Gardiner river, splashed down and came up with a fish and flew right back at us heading south. It was amazing.

How in the world did that Osprey see that fish in a rushing, foamy river in bright sun and nail it. ?

The whole thing was over in seconds. I never had a chance to photograph anything as I was in the car driving the opposite direction. Birds of prey never cease to amaze me.

The Gardiner Canyon was void of Big Horn Sheep again. We proceeded to the sandhill crane's nest in the middle of Floating Island Lake. One adult was on the eggs and the other feeding in the grass on shore. I was hoping for a fly into the nest by the other adult but it didn't happen. There were a variety of ducks there as well along with a proud Canada geese couple and 3 chicks.

We cruised through Lamar Valley and saw the usual stuff.. bison, elk and pronghorn ...before stopping by Barronette's Peak and we spotted two mountain goats and photographed them.

We then drove out the NE entrance, drove through Silvergate and Cooke City.... then drove the Beartooth Highway for a few miles then took the 62 mile Chief Joseph Scenic Highway to Cody, WY.

Let me tell you folks, this is no exaggeration, this was the most scenic routes I have ever witnessed! Some vistas were simply jaw dropping. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Jim and his wife treated us to lunch in Cody.

We proceed on to Yellowstone from Cody which is very scenic too! We didn't see much of anything super exciting the rest of the afternoon in Yellowstone (the Fishing Bridge area and Hayden Valley).

We spent most of the day outside the Park so I am sure we missed something....

Jared and I wanted to get back at a decent hour as the Group is headed to the Grand Teton National Park at 4:00 am to get to Oxbow Bend by 6:15 am for nice early morning light... we will spend the better part of the day there tomorrow.

I am headed to bed as we have a very early start and another long day ahead of us...

Stayed tuned for Day 6.

Mark

Day 4: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2011-06-14T00:37:00.006-04:00

Big Horn Sheep Ram, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Wow, what a day! I am not sure where to start but here goes...

We got in the Park by 5:00 am. We proceeded to Hayden Valley (HV) first. The drive to HV was quiet, peaceful and beautiful. Hayden Valley had a strip of fog across the snow capped mountains with dramatic clouds and color. I got some really nice landscape images there. We saw no wildlife action, yet.

We then proceed to Lamar Valley and witnessed grizzlys, mountain goats, sandhill cranes, 3 playful young coyotes, and a couple of very busy badgers with ground squirrel catches. We spent a great deal of time with two young grizzlys (male and female, mating and playing). Famed YNP photographer, Tom Murphy was there with a ranger giving a mini lecture on bear behavior to a few park visitors.

The weather was BEAUTIFUL up to 2:00pm then the overcast skies and rain came.....

After lunch, we went over to Mary Bay area and spent time with another grizzly very close to the road. I got some terrific, "fill the frame" images.

Then we decided to go over to the east entrance (with Jim and his wife) and came across two nice Big Horn Sheep rams, a really cute Pika and a cow moose with a newborn (born this morning!).

On the way back from the East entrance, we photographed a proud bald eagle perched in a tree by the road. It was continuing to rain so we decided to go back to the hotel via Hayden Valley and whoa, here was a massive "bear jam" and the Hayden Valley sow and her two cubs were about 80 yards from the road foraging for food. By this time, I am in a cold, pouring rain trying to photograph this grizzly family in the dark practically as the skies were really overcast with the storm front.

'I hope to capture this griz family in better light/weather before we leave.

Oh, Just another "boring day" in Yellowstone.............

The MPEG Group was on their own today. I heard from two members and they had great days in the Park as well.

We had a quick McDonald's dinner and "retired" as we are back at it at 5:30 am again.

I hope the weather improves tomorrow as we still have much to accomplish this trip.

Stayed tuned for Day 5.

Mark

Day 3: Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park Groupshoot

2011-06-13T00:27:00.004-04:00

Young Grizzly Close Encounter, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

The MPEG Group entered Yellowstone at 5:39 am this morning. The forecast wasn't pretty but we worked through it.

Over half of the 12 MPEG members on this Groupshoot have never been to Yellowstone or visited many, many years ago so I spent the day giving the Group a "Tour of Yellowstone" to help them become acquainted with Yellowstone and it's areas (Madison, Norris, Canyon, etc.)

Throughout the day, we experienced: RAIN, FOG, SNOW, SLEET, and SUN with temperatures from 33F - 47F. It rained about 40% of the day.

We started via Madison (from West Yellowstone) and I pointed out the Madison eagle's nest. There was one adult bald eagle sitting proudly in the nest but the light was too low (as it was raining and overcast)

We made our way to Norris to Dunraven Pass where the snow line was above our vehicle's roof on Dunraven Pass. It was snowing most of the way through the Pass. I "wished everyone a Merry Christmas" on the our walkie talkies. We then stopped by the Tower Falls osprey nest and were greeted with two big horn sheep ewes and a lamb within 30 feet of us..... and we enjoyed the ospreys bringing in fish and sticks to the nest! Great stuff .. We then encountered a black bear in Tower. I got some nice frame filling images of her/him.

We stopped at Slough Creek. No wolves but a grizzly far up on the hill. We proceeded to Lamar Valley and saw a beautiful snowed tainted landscape with many bison, elk, pronghorn, and a grizzly foraging for food on the ridge line. Everyone loved Lamar Valley.

After Lamar, we moved on to Mammoth and Gardiner. No big horn sheep detected in Gardiner Canyon. but saw a bald eagle and two osprey. We drove by Swan Lake Flats which was flooded then on to Hayden Valley. It rained most of the way then stopped for awhile while we were in Hayden Valley.

The Hayden Valley Grizzly and her two cubs were on the west side of Hayden Valley but were pretty far out. We moved on to the Fishing Bridge area for lunch then out to Mary and Sedge Bays and then on to Lake Butte Overlook. At this point, the group "broke up" to "do their own thing" for the rest of the day.

Jared and I went back to Hayden Valley and found a cow elk nursing her calf but she (cow elk) laid down to rest before I could get set up but I got some decent images of the calf.

We were driving east past the Fishing Bridge and I said to Jared, "Lets go back to Mary Bay and see if there are any eagles around"... and.. (you cant make this stuff up folks) at that moment a bald eagle flew over our car into the woods by Mary Bay. While at the May Bay eagle's nest ( no eagles on the nest, BTW), we were told by another visitor that there was a bear up the road so we quickly changed plans and zipped up the road.

About a mile or so, there was a young grizzly bear eating grass by the bay... he/she ran at some canada geese and flushed them.... he/she then came up the hill right towards us (not charging us, just working his/her way to us while eating grass. Of course, many people with no brains got real close. Though Jared and I were not that close, we did unlock our bear spray and had it ready!

The image above was taken at 300 mm (no, that's not my car). I have some frame filling images taken with the 500 + 2X TC but we had to go down the road a bit in order to get the whole bear in the frame which means we were at a safe distance. I will post these images on my website soon.

After this exhilarating close encounter of the grizzly kind, I went to meet and introduce myself and Jared to one of my FB friends who works at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel. I had never met David until today. He has been kind in helping me prepare for my trip to YNP. I appreciate David's kind assistance.

David's YNP blog is here: http://ddouglasphotography.blogspot.com/ if you would like to read about his YNP adventures.

Jared and I returned to West Yellowstone at 8:45 pm (but stopped by the Madison eagle's nest but no eagles around) . We had a great pizza at Wild West Pizzeria for dinner and called it a 15 hour day.

We are back at it again at 5:00 am. All MPEGers are on their own Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. We are spending Wednesday all day together in the Grand Teton National Park.

Day 4 adventures coming tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Mark

Day 2: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2011-06-12T00:53:00.005-04:00

Osprey GTNP, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Today, Jared and I spent from 5:30am -2:00pm in the Grand Tetons then moved on to West Yellowstone to meet with the rest of the MPEG GS attendees for our 7:00 pm dinner.

It was raining when we left our hotel at 5:30 am (3 hrs of sleep). By the time we got to Oxbow Bend for sunrise light, it was beautiful! We didn't make it for the beginning of sunrise but was told by a few other photogs there we didn't miss much in the way of color. The best light was 6:30am to 7:00am then a cloud bank ruined it.....

I got some different compositions of Oxbow this time around. There were some western grebes in the water close by but my long lens was in the car at the time.

We proceeded to explore the Jenny Lake and Signal Mountain areas.We drove up to the tip top of Signal Mountain overlook, took a few pics and watched a young black bear forage for food. We discovered Jackson Point overlook and was WOWed by the view there! Just one picturesque scene after another at all the turnouts.

We had some breakfast at Signal Mountain Lodge then explored the Jackson Lake Dam area. As we drove into the Dam(n) parking area, I spotted an adult bald eagle flying in the tree line. This area is known for eagles and osprey.

We explored Cattlemen's Bridge and discovered another amazing vista plus a beautiful mountain blue bird posed for us, a couple of colorful flickers posed as well and of course (the long lens is in the car 1/4 mile away!!) PLUS I witnessed an osprey circle overhead, dive in the water for a fish, struggle with the fish in the water then an american white pelican rushes over to the osprey to try and snatch the fish away from the osprey... as I watched in stunned silence.

Jared, did said to me, as we parked the car and started walking to this area (about a 1/4 mile): "Dad, you sure you don't want to take your long lens?", I said, nay.... "we are just going to check this place out, what can happen? " LOL.....Thats the beauty of these parks.......the unpredictability and when we will I ever learn????

We then visited Cunningham's cabin (some unique images there), Schwabacher's Landing, Mormon Row, went to lunch at Dairy Queen..... then revisited the Moran Junction Osprey nest. One chick is in the nest but we didn't see any adults on the nest. I told Jared look nearby as they usually perched close to the nest and BINGO, there she was .... perched in a nearby tree (See posted pic above). I was on the wrong side of the light but it was a fun find anyway.

We then headed to Yellowstone. Still tons of snow on the ground in south Yellowstone. In fact, so much snow, you could take some "winter 'scape" pics in June and people would swear they were taken in December.

Lewis Lake is still frozen solid.

We had a very nice dinner with all the MPEGers tonight. We discussed our plans for the week. We head out into Yellowstone at 5:30 am MST for the first official day of the MPEG Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park Groupshoot.....

Stay Tuned for my Day 3. The word is there is a carcass in the Canyon area and we plan to check it out first thing in the morning....

Mark

Day 1: Yellowstone/Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot: The Arrival

2011-06-11T01:57:00.011-04:00

Oxbow Bend June 2011 sunset, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

Jared and I flew from Cleveland to Salt Lake City, UT (with a change in planes in Chicago) then rented a 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and made the scenic 5.5 hr. drive to Jackson, WY (Grand Teton National Park). All flights were smooth and pleasant. We arrived in the GTNP around 8:12 pm MST(local time). I posted several updates with some pics on Facebook as we travelled along the scenic route.

The mountains are BEAUTIFULLY snow covered! Better than last year! The trees have early leaves, looks very nice and spring-y! We timed this Groupshoot perfectly. ALL major roads are open in both Parks AND the Beartooth Highway from Cooke City to Red Lodge opened TODAY!!!

We saw a Mule deer along the side of the road in the Targhee National Forest. We saw numerous cow elk in the park and we spotted a cow elk and her cute, young calf! We had a bison herd cross the road in front of us (we had to wait for them to cross) on the way to Oxbow Bend.

We decided to go directly to Oxbow Bend (see pic above) vs to hotel as we were running out of light.

We arrived at Oxbow Bend around 8:57pm (sunset was 9:03pm). There were only 2 other photogs there. The cloud coverage in the west was too thick and sadly no significant sunset color BUT I couldn't resist and took a P&S pic to post here. The place is down right too pretty to pass up any photo op.

At Oxbow Bend (it was very low light) but we saw two osprey fly overhead and several river otters playing in the water close by. No pics as the long lens was still packed.

After giving up on sunset, we drove to Jackson Lake Lodge and had some late chow at the Pioneer Grill then headed back to the hotel to check in, etc. On the way to the hotel, we saw MANY (20+ elk along the side of the very dark road back to the hotel - even bright headlights didnt help much). One elk crossed in the front of us. Good thing I was going the speed limit. ;-)

We plan to hit it bright and early in about 5 hours, head back to Oxbow Bend for a sunrise (hopefully), then scout out several new areas for the MPEG members who are all arriving tomorrow evening.

We will kick off the Groupshoot with a private 7:00pm dinner Saturday and discuss safety rules and go over the agenda for the week.

Over half of the 12 MPEG members are Yellowstone/GTNP newbies so I am excited to give them this opportunity.

Stay tuned for Day 2!

Mark

Mormon Row barn- June 2010

2011-06-08T15:29:00.002-04:00

Teton View, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

48 hours to go until our arrival in the Grand Teton National Park!

The weather looks great for the MPEG Groupshoot's duration.

All road are open in the park as of today, June 8 and we are good to go!

Lone Bison in Yellowstone National Park

2011-06-01T07:23:00.003-04:00

Out Standing in his Field, a photo by Mark/MPEG (Midwest Photography Enthusiasts Group) on Flickr.

In 10 days, I will be leading a group of 12 MPEG members/spouses on a 6 day (June 11-17, 2011) photographic journey in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

I will be blogging daily on our day to day adventures in these two great National Parks..

Please join us via this Blog.

Mark

Day 8 (FINAL Blog Post): Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2010-06-11T02:45:00.005-04:00

Today was our final day in Yellowstone. Jared and I put 1,854 miles on the rental car driving in both parks for 8 days. We (the remaining MPEGers - 5 of the 9) started out at 6:00 am. Our plan was to make rounds throughout the entire (YNP) park on our final day. Mission accomplished!

and we went out with a bang!

Starting from West Yellowstone, we drove through Madison to West Thumb area , stopping at the Firehole River Canyon along the way to snap the falls. It was a beautiful morning in Yellowstone...mist rising from the Madison and Firehole Rivers as elk and bison grazed nearby. We stopped at Keppler Cascades to photograph the cascades. We made a pitstop at the Fishing Bridge then drove out towards the east entrance and back... then up through Hayden Valley stopping at the S-curve pullout, doing a few landscape images... then on to Canyon....in Tower Fall, we found an really cool Osprey's nest by the Yellowstone River on a rock structure allowing you to see IN THE NEST from above. The mom and her 3 very young chicks were in the nest. We photographed the mom leaving the nest and returning with a stick which she meticulously placed in a certain spot in the nest. The father arrived shortly with a piece of fish for the babies. We photographed his arrival, and the mother feeding the chicks. This was a very nature experience.

Moving on towards Lamar Valley, we turn the corner in Tower and a very nice Bighorn Sheep Ram was sitting in the grass posing for several photographers and other by-standers. Seeing a bighorn sheep ram was the furthest thing from our minds this morning, especially in Tower. We called this a "ram jam"..

We made rounds at Slough Creek where we were educated on the movements of the Slough Creek wolf pack, their den location and the four pups by the "wolfies". We didn't see any of the wolves during our brief stay. We continued on through Lamar Valley and found the usual stuff (bison, etc.) but no "jams".

From Lamar Valley, we headed to Mammoth. We quickly came upon TWO young black bears (2 miles apart) grazing about 50 yards away from the road.

It started to thunderstorm and rain by now so we stopped in Mammoth for lunch.

After lunch, we drove from Mammoth to Norris, with plans to continue on back to Hayden Valley then finish up at the Midway Geyser basin before a final farewell dinner.......

Well, those plans got derailed. As we drove from Mammoth to Norris, we ran into "grizzly jam" involving the well known Grizzly sow and her 4 cubs. It was raining hard, dark overcast and it looked like the rain would stay awhile. In about 20 minutes, the skies started to clear... and then Momma and her 4 cubs were on the go.... traveling south along the base on the valley and they were moving fast. The elk and the elk calves on the hill got " the heck out of dodge" as they smelled the Grizz coming. The elks were scattering in all directions....

The Grizzly sow at times would run and the 4 cubs would frolic ahead of her, wrestle with each other, start to climb a tree and then didn't, stand up on their hind legs and look around... they were adorable to watch through the viewfinder... a very special moment and of course, one is a runt, always lacking behind. (see pic).

The Park Rangers arrived and they expected her to cross the road so they started clearing traffic, asking us to stay back, etc.... while the rangers were concentrating their efforts south of us, someone near us, spotted the Grizz Mom about 50 yards from us in the woods!! We asked a driver of a southbound car to alert the ranger... the ranger comes running down to our area and starts to clear traffic there. After a 2 hour ordeal, the Grizz sow and her cubs never crossed the road but headed back north. The ranger speculated that with all the people noise and cars, she become nervous and decided not to cross the road with her babies.

After that exhilarating experience, we headed south to Norris to Madison and found a very nice bull elk grazing and snapped a few images of this handsome guy.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped one last time at the Madison eagle's nest. Both adults were perched nearby in trees but no "fly ins to the nest" which is what I was hoping for.

Jared and I headed back the hotel around 8 pm, unloaded the car and had dinner with the other MPEGers, exchanging stories and memories of the last 8 days.

Jared and I are driving to Salt Lake in the early am, then flying home Friday afternoon.

This has been an unbelievable MPEG Groupshoot! I personally have 140 Gb of images to sort.

We saw everything.. big horn sheep/lambs, grizzlies /cubs, black bears/cubs, wolves, bald eagles, golden eagles, osprey/chicks, marmots, elk /calves, bison/calves, proghorn/babies, beavers, badgers, ground squirrels galore, coyotes, sandhill cranes/chicks, mountain blue birds, violet green swallows and I am sure I am missing something... AMAZING wildlife ops!.. and beautiful landscapes!

I would like to thank all of the attendees for being a great Group to work with the last week. Thanks to all of you for reading the blog and emails regarding the blog. A special Thanks to my wife, Kim for "holding down the fort" the last week.

I will be posting images from this trip here over the next few weeks: http://galloimages.zenfolio.com/p204504601

Be sure and check them out!

Goodbye to Yellowstone!

Mark

PS. Click on the pics to enlarge!

Grizz Sow and her 4 cubs in tow
Close-up of Grizz Sow
Runt of the 4 cubs catching up!

Day 7: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2010-06-10T01:47:00.002-04:00

I think all the wildlife took a day off today!

Jared and I started out at 7:00 am after getting an hour's extra sleep last night. The primary goal today was Grizzlies.

We started out driving to the Dunraven Pass area and no sign of the Grizz Mom and her 2 cubs. I asked some bear watchers who were there "parked and watching" and they reported nothing so far. We made rounds up and down Dunraven to Mt Washburn and nothing. Some photogs were photographing a few Grouse. We decided to visit the Tower carcass and there were several "long lenses" there but the carcass was bare (ie. no takers).... the photogs were sitting in lawn chairs, drinking coffee and socializing.

We decided to head over the Tower Bridge area, and Slough Creek and nothing going on. We continued on to Lamar Valley to stake out the Osprey's nest by the Lamar River. The chick was in the nest and one adult was sitting in a nearby tree. My goal was some nest landing images. In about 75 mins, there were two flights to/fro the nest by the adult. My fav is the pic below. Time well spent. hope to stop by there Thursday as well.

We decided to move on towards the Fishing Bridge to have lunch. Hayden Valley was "dead". I snapped a few landscapes of the Yellowstone Mountains and River scenics. Had a nice lunch at the Fishing Bridge with the three Columbus MPEGers who happened to be there as well. They also reported "seeing nothing" all morning...

After lunch, Jared and I decided to drive to the East Entrance via the Sylvan Pass. Lo and behold, about 3 miles up the road, we come across a "grizzly jam" along with three YNP Park Rangers for crowd control.

A large Grizzly bear captured an elk calf for dinner and was "snoozing" since his belly was full. He was about 50 yards from the road. At one point, he got up, walked a few steps, then fell over, scratched his belly and fell asleep again.... I snapped a few before he feel asleep. This was the highlight of the day!

We continued to drive over to East Entrance and took in the view. There was plenty of snow on the ground there.

We went back to Hayden Valley and set up camp (at our fav Hayden Valley turnout) for the approaching dusk in hopes of seeing some wildlife activity. A few eagles flew by, I captured my first Mountain Blue Bird, saw a red tailed hawk get harassed by a raven, a few white pelicans flew by and several elk around but no wolves and no bears.

We left at 6:30 pm so we could meet everyone for dinner at 8:00pm. We just left our fav spot and down the road about an mile, Jared spotted two wolves heading south by Creek Otter. No photo ops as their appearance was very brief as they disappeared in the trees. They looked like they were on a mission.

On the way back to the hotel, yet another "bison jam" (see pic of the Leader below). This pic was taken handheld out the window as the bison came within a foot of my car as they passed by.

We had a nice dinner and now looking forward to our last day here (Thursday) in Yellowstone and hopefully the day will be filled with great stuff!

Stay tuned for the FINAL blog post, June 10!

Mark

Day 6: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2010-06-09T02:06:00.003-04:00

No rain was expected today.. but our early start down to the Tetons was a foggy one for the most part. As we arrived in the Grand Teton National Park (GTNP), the skies were robin blue/partly cloudy with the peaks of the Tetons obscured with clouds... but a beautiful day in this beautiful National Park!

As we entered the GTNP (driving from YNP) around 9:00 am , we were greeted with a "grizzly jam". A young Grizz was looking for grubs under rocks in a meadow beside the road, about 100 yds or so away. Of course, there was a big crowd. We stopped and snapped a few of this young grizzly bear.

The Tetons were absolutely gorgeous! Well lit, snow covered but a bank of low clouds played havoc with the peaks, however. We proceeded to Oxbow Bend and found the tip top of Mt. Moran clear of clouds but the rest obscured with clouds. We had a decent reflection in water so we worked this area for a few minutes. On to the Snake River Overlook and found the same...clouds obscuring the peaks. We spent some time there and then went to Schwabacher's Landing. We found the water in the beaver pond "for the reflection" to be non-existent because of the high water flow. We didn't shoot much here.

We then proceeded to the Mormon Row area and again, found the Teton peaks obscured with clouds. We didn't shoot any landscapes at that time. The coolest thing about this location was a badger's den! A badger mom and her 4 young badgers.... I was turning the car around and Jared spotted the cute, furry guys in a field by the road. We shot the heck out of these guys! None of us had seen a badger before and we are proud of our first badger images.

I made a decision to break for lunch thus hoping the clouds (covering the peaks) will be gone after lunch... We arrived back at Mormon Row and was greeted by clear peaks! We spent a great deal of time here shooting all perspectives. Great landscape ops!

We re-visited the Snake River Overlook and Oxbow Bend and re-shot some scenes with the clear mountains/peaks.

We then drove back to YNP and visited Old Faithful. I then spent about an hour at the Madison eagle's nest looking for more nest landing ops. The Juvi was in the nest, one adult was in one of the trees by the nest. While I was watching (hoping for) for the adult to fly from the tree to the nest (he never did), the other adult (flew in over my head from behind me) arrived and landed in another nearby tree. I waited until I was at 3200 ISO, +3 EC and a SS of less than 1/1000, then I hung it up for the night.

Driving back to the hotel, I found a beautiful sunset over the mountains NW of West Yellowstone and a snapped a few frames.

Well folks, another 14 hours in the Parks.

Two more days left. We plan to seek out more Grizzlies tomorrow, a few waterfalls, and maybe stake out an Osprey's nest in Lamar Valley... plus whatever else "pops up" unexpectedly which is normal for Yellowstone.

Stay tuned for Day 7,

Mark

Day 5: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2010-06-08T02:27:00.003-04:00

Rain, rain go away.. and it finally did after lunch... but another interesting day in Yellowstone!

We got started around 7:30 am, and decided to go North to get out of the worse rain. We used the new road under construction from Madison to Norris which is one lane from 8am-10pm each day. Just our luck, a large herd of bison decided to take the road as well and traveled up the road amongst all the cars to Gibbon Meadows. The herd "took it's good ol' time". This caused us to lose an hour of time. We were not happy campers ... but happy to see the next available rest stop after that ordeal!

We decided to go from Norris to Canyon to Tower... and of course, we missed the Grizzly and her two cubs by like 2 minutes! They just crossed the road when we arrived and went down in the ravine. Major bummer.

We visited the recent carcass in Tower and there was a young black bear feeding on it. He started to come towards us (Yes, we have bear spray with us) but it was a young black bear and the Park Ranger shooed him away into the woods across the street. Got some nice images of him. (see pic).

We moved on to Slough Creek to show the others the golden eagle's nest. No golden eagle there at that moment..then on to Lamar Valley where some mule deer and Pronghorn posed for us. We photographed the Lamar River Rapids (see pic). We discovered an Osprey's nest (with a baby osprey) in Lamar which I GPSed. We plan to check that out later this week. We headed to Mammoth for lunch and on the way, we spotted a coyote pestering a bison. No contest here. The bison will win this one.

After lunch, we looked again for some bighorn sheep rams but found only moms and babies.

The rain had finally stopped as we headed back towards Tower. We photographed Undine Falls. A wily coyote showed up and trotted along side my car and then got in the middle of the road in front of my car. They have the right of way...(see pic)

Near Dunraven Pass, we came across a foggy Dunraven area with the Grizz and her two cubs in the fog. Two rangers were there directing the Grizz jam. The bears eventually when back up the hill. I will get these bears before I leave Friday! They have been elusive for Jared, Jack and I.

We stopped by Artist Point of the Lower Falls and shot some landscapes there. The clouds were dramatic! Good stuff.

On the way back to hotel to have dinner with everyone, I stopped by the Madison eagles nest. One adult was in a nearby tree. I stopped, set up and snapped a few of him. I was lucky as he decided to fly to the nest and I was able to get a decent landing pic of him. (see pic: note the shadow of the eagle's head on his right wing!). The juvenile popped up and the adult begin to feed him for long period of time. (see pic). All priceless!

Tomorrow, we will be in the Tetons all day. The weather looks A+ for Tuesday in Jackson, WY!

Stay Tuned for Day 6!

Mark

Day 4: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2010-06-07T01:10:00.002-04:00

Today was "on your own" day for all the MPEGers.

The rain was back today for most of the day. We headed to the northern part of Yellowstone today to try to avoid as much as the rain as possible as the rain was tracking south of Canyon-Norris Road. We had some periods of no rain and just overcast skies but no blue sky at all today. The moderate/heavy rain limited the landscape ops but boy, the cool wildlife was plentiful but mostly in the Northern part of the park.

We (Jared, Jack and I) started by driving from West Yellowstone to Madison (one adult bald eagle was at the Madison nest in a nearby tree) then to Norris to Swan Lake Flats to check on the Grizz mom and her 4 cubs. The bear watchers there told us the Grizz Mom and the cubs crossed the road at 6:30 am but were not in sight at that time we were there at 8:45 am.

We went to big horn sheep country looking for some Rams but not one sheep found. We drove on to Tower and came upon a huge crowd at the Tower Bridge. Upon arriving, we learned that a black bear (about an hour prior to our arrival) had killed a elk calf for breakfast. The bear was sitting under a tree by the Yellowstone River next to his kill taking a nap but looking up occasionally at the crowd on the bridge.

The fun part of this event was watching a common raven trying to be very wily to get his share of the kill without the bear seeing him....fun stuff! We left there after taking many bear pics and proceeded towards Lamar Valley.

We stopped at Slough Creek and Jared spotted a bald eagle in a tree by the creek. We walked towards the creek and and snapped a few pics of my fav subject. While there, we were made aware of a golden eagle's nest on a nearby cliff. We spent about 30 mins there photographing the golden eagle at the nest . He flew to a nearby tree and then back to the nest, thus capturing a few in-flight shots. That was the first golden eagle I have photographed to date. IMHO, this was the highlight of the day. See pic.

We proceeded on to Lamar Valley and saw nothing exciting (bison, pronghorn). We back tracked and headed to Canyon via Dunraven Pass. It was very foggy in the Pass and still plenty of snow on the ground there. See pic. BTW, the Columbus MPEGers had a good day with some very nice Grizz sow and her two cubs!

We arrived in Canyon and came upon another large "jam" and this time it was the well known Black bear sow and her 2 cubs feeding along the road. A few photogs were photographing a coyote on a carcass (MPEGer Marty Belan got soaked but he was there to get those images) We got several nice images of the three bears in Canyon.

After eating a late lunch in Canyon, another bear was seen at the Fishing Bridge area but the rains picked up (heavy at times) again and we decided to head back to the hotel so we can meet up with everyone for dinner at 7:30 pm.

On the way to the hotel, we came across yet another "jam" at the Madison River just west of the road junction to Norris. The crowd was watching a Elk cow and her calf starting to cross the Madison River. The calf was following his mom into the river when we arrived. (All the creeks and rivers here are swollen with heavy current because of the snow melt and rain). As the calf was following his mom, the rapid water current was sweeping him downstream! The crowd was silent and I stood there thinking I was about to watch a elk calf drown before my very eyes...... I never thought about taking a picture...I was frozen .. watching this play out in front of me.... the calf was calling to his Mom for help as the cow elk looked helplessly at her calf....being swept downstream.

The calf eventually managed to swim towards the shore to climb out of the river (the crowd started clapping!). The calf ran to his mom (obviously scared) and immediately got a drink of milk!

This was the most dramatic part of the day..... Amazing.

Trust me, in Yellowstone, you never know what you will witness at any moment..... Yellowstone is Wild by Nature!

Tomorrow, Monday, June 7, we are headed up north again to avoid the predicted rain for Monday. The weather for rest of the week looks pretty good. Tuesday will be "Tetons Tuesday" as all of us will spend the entire day in the Grand Teton National Park. Three members depart Wednesday morning and the rest of us depart Friday.

Four more days of sheer photography bliss!

Stay Tuned!

Mark

DAY 3: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2010-06-06T02:11:00.005-04:00

Today, the weather was surprisingly terrific! It was raining when we left the hotel at 5:00 am but by the time we arrived at Dunraven Pass it was snowing then it progressed to clear, blue skies.

On the way to Lamar Valley (via Dunraven Pass), we saw a "jam" in Hayden Valley and was greeted with the Otter Creek Wolf Pack working on a bull elk carcass. They were several hundred yards away but I might have a decent pic at share later that was taken at 700mm.

From the wolves/elk carcass, on to Lamar Valley, where we shot some landscapes, no wolves, and a very friendly colony of ground squirrels. We saw some mountain goats at the cliffs in Lamar and a pronghorn mom and her baby posed for us. We moved on to Mammoth Hot Springs, as we watched a coyote start to chase an adult elk cow but thought better of it and moved on. We snapped the Sandhill Cranes and their two chicks at Floating Island Lake. A coyote (yesterday, it was reported) attempted to nab the chicks but the adult Sandhills repelled the attack.

Had Lunch at Mammoth, proceeded to Swan Lake Flats based on report from a park tourist that the Grizzy sow and her 4 cubs were there. We rushed over and sure enough, we got some decent pics of the mother and her 4 cubs.... we stayed around for 20 mins, the mother appeared to lay down, so we left and headed to Gardiner looking for big horn sheep. Honest.... within 10 mins after the leaving the Grizz at Swan Lake Flats, we heard on our radios, that the Mother Grizz has chased down an elf calf for her (and the 4 cubs) supper! BUMMER! We heard it was spectacular...... I was depressed for some time.....

However, we got some GREAT Big Horn sheep images with their lambs..... the lambs put a smile on our face. We visited a Convenience Store in Gardiner and discovered that a bear cub had become separated from his mother, fell in the river, swam downstream, ascended the river bank and climbed the nearest tree it could find which was on the convenience store property!!.. it was clearly frightened as people gathered around. A YNP Park Ranger was arriving as we departed....Geezz.. there is wildlife everywhere!

On the way back into the park, we photographed the Roosevelt Archway.

We proceeded to Hayden Valley for some landscape pics... not much wildlife at that time but there were a ton of bison in the morning. We took a short drive towards the east YNP entrance and took in the breathtaking vistas that area of the Park has to offer!

Back to the hotel at 9:00 pm, after putting in 16 hours in the Park today.

Sunday, everyone is on their own for the day and we will have dinner at 7:30pm to learn from everyone about their experiences they had for Sunday. The weather is expected to be good for most of the day.

The Park (for a Saturday) had light traffic which is a good thing ...as us photographers are trying to get to place to place quickly...

It starts all over again in about 6 hours!

Stay Tuned!

Mark

Day 2: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2010-06-05T00:58:00.003-04:00

The theme today was RAIN! It rained most of the day with some very short periods of no precip. The next several days say 20-30% rain so we will take it day by day and work with it.

The five of us who arrived yesterday started out this morning from Jackson, WY around 6:45am. We traveled some of the local roads known for wildlife. We found the usual bison, elk and pronghorn. We turned down Mormon Row Road and I spotted a young Swainson's hawk sitting calmly in a tree. We spent some time with him until he flew.... He was cooperative though.

We shot some of the Mormon barns with the Tetons in the background shrouded in fog. The shoot there was a muddy mess. I hope the Rental Car folks don't mind a little mud. Proceeded to Oxbow Bend but Mt. Moran was obscured by fog. The eagles were still hanging out there though.

The 3 Columbus MPEGers proceeded to Yellowstone while Jared and I waited for 2 members to arrive at Jackson Hole Airport. We had a quick lunch with them and then we escorted them to West Yellowstone. As we drove through the YNP higher elevations, there was a significant amount of snow still on the ground.. and of course, the falls and rivers are flowing well! Gorgeous (rainy) scenery.

We ran across a HUGE bull elk in the Lower Geyser Basin grazing by the roadside... he then proceeded to cross the road in between cars minding his own business..... and that's no bull.........then we saw many baby bison (a ton of them...) grazing by the Madison River with the parents, several of the babies together. This was quite a sight to see. On the way to West Yellowstone, the Madison eagle's nest was occupied by one adult... Yes, of course, we stopped and took a few snaps.

Meanwhile, the highlight of the day for the 3 Columbus members was they came across a young grizzly in the Lake Butte Overlook along with "a million other people" (aka bear jam) and got some nice images of him.

We all had dinner together tonight and planned tomorrow by consensus which is a 5:00 am start and we are headed to the Northwestern part of Yellowstone looking for bighorn sheep, grizzlies, and wolves ... and whatever else shows up....we plan to eat lunch out of our cars to avoid losing valuable shooting ops so the local supermarket was happy to see us!

Doesn't this sound like fun?

Day 1: Yellowstone / Grand Teton National Park GroupShoot

2010-06-04T01:59:00.001-04:00

Hello Everyone,

First, I have been awake for 22 hrs and if this post seems incoherent, you will understand why!

What a day! Flight to Salt Lake City was fine. The 5.5 hr drive to Jackson, WY was on schedule for Jared and me, but the 3 other members who were with us had a defective rental car and had to go back to the airport, replace the car and start over again. They arrived 3 hours late.

Jared and I (since the others were delayed) decided to venture out and see what we could find...Within minutes of driving into the Grand Teton National Park, we come upon a big bull moose grazing off the road about 75-100 yds. This was my FIRST bull moose experience. He does look like bullwinkle! There were several cars pulled over admiring this guy..... then we proceeded to Oxbow Bend...saw some elk and bison (the usual) on the way.. At Oxbow Bend, the sky was cloudy thus no sunset color but I snapped some images of the classic Oxbow Bend/ Mt. Moran scene with dramatic clouds. We will see how they turn out....

Within 45 minutes at Oxbow Bend, we snapped several American White pelicans in the Oxbow Bend water. Some took off in flight and flew right in front of the Tetons (see pic). We saw a nice big beaver by the water's edge and snapped him.

I was talking with a couple from Florida and I remarked, "all we need is an eagle to fly by" and (honest to God..) just as I said those words, a juvenile bald eagle flew out from the trees and circled over the water at Oxbow Bend... Amazing... You gotta love this place!

It is truly WILD! Unpredictable! It really is exhilarating to be here not to mention BEAUTIFUL... snow capped mountains....JUST BEAUTIFUL!

The rest of the MPEGers arrive tomorrow!

I am going to sleep... Goodnight!

Mark

"We are off to see the Wizard... of Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons!"

2010-06-01T23:37:00.000-04:00

In just under 48 hrs, 9 MPEGers will converge in Yellowstone for a MPEG GroupShoot they will remember for a long time!

I will be blogging daily here beginning June 3 to June 10, 2010!

Mark

Pelican Phun!

2010-05-04T00:08:00.002-04:00

I spent some time last week photographing pelicans along the Mississippi River. This was my first season with the Pelicans.

Here is a sample of some Pelican Phun!

HDR Software Shoot-out soon!

2010-04-26T16:08:00.001-04:00

I have ordered my CS5 upgrade. I will receive it next week. I am eager to try the NEW HDR Pro feature in CS5. I have HDR Photostudio but have yet to use it. I am a 3 yr. Photomatix Pro user.

Once I receive my CS5 upgrade, I plan to find some time and work some images, compare and come to a conclusion as to which one works best for me. I try to achieve the Painterly Look.

I will post the summary and results for you to decide as well.

Stay tuned!

It's Spring time at the CVNP Heron Rookery!

2010-04-23T14:09:00.001-04:00

I stopped by the CVNP (Cuyahoga Valley National Park) Heron Rookery last evening (4/22/2010) briefly to check out the latest activity.

There are over 70 nests, lots of Great Blue Herons, nest building activity and some nests had babies but the baby boom is still a few weeks away.

Here are some images from my visit:

A Great Horned Owl Owlet at 4-5 weeks old

2010-04-09T14:58:00.002-04:00

They are growing fast! This image was taken 4/9/2010:

Spring Project: Great Horned Owlets

2010-03-29T13:48:00.001-04:00

One of my new photography projects this Spring is a Great Horned Owl's nest that I have visited a few times. There are 3 owlets that are growing fast and furious week by week.

This image is from March 23, 2010.

More to follow!

Added music to my bald eagle photography slideshow!

2010-03-05T10:19:00.000-05:00

I added the Native American song, the "eagle song" by Phillip John Charette

Click here to check it out :http://galloimages.zenfolio.com/

It fits the story... Enjoy!

Youtube Video of the Iowa/Mississippi River Eagles MPEG GroupShoot!

2010-03-02T12:25:00.001-05:00

Click here for some eagle action!

A special thanks to Mike D for putting this together for us!

Mark

Sometimes, you have to put your camera down...

2010-03-01T21:31:00.003-05:00

I returned Sunday, February 28 from my 4th and final trip this winter to the Mississippi River in Iowa to photograph bald eagles. This was my first winter photographing these amazing birds at L&D 14.

In the 4 trips, I shot over 12,000 images total.... all in RAW! I met many new photography friends, exchanged several business cards, and learned some new things about photography and eagle behavior.

In the many hours, I spent photographing eagles there, I was focused and intent on getting the best images I could get. I keep checking my shutter speed as the light changed in order to keep my shutter speed up, I chatted with fellow photographers but keeping one eye open so I wouldn't miss that perfect shot. At times, there were many eagles flying around (at the same time) and it was intense and difficult to know which bird to track and follow through the viewfinder. In some cases, the eagle would fly around and around and around.. for 2-3 minutes then go back to the tree.... It was "exhausting" at times.

Sunday, February 28 was my last day at L&D 14 for this season. I wanted to go by one more time (on my way home) and "say goodbye" to the place. As I was driving to L&D 14, I decided to leave my Canon 7D/500 f4 L in my car and just walk around and enjoy the eagles! I watched them fly in and out, fish, and soar above me on a crisp, clear Sunday morning.

It was obvious that (in the last week) many of the eagles have left the area and headed back north for the Spring/Summer/Fall to return again (like many, many years in the past) in December to winter along the Mississippi River.

There were a few eagles left to "enjoy" this Sunday morning and I did...

As nature photographers, We often don't see the forest for the trees.

Sometimes, you have to put your camera down and appreciate the nature we love so much.

I can't wait for winter 2011 to enjoy (and photograph) these truly astonishing birds of prey.... again.

Mark

Me at L&D 14, February 28, 2010

MPEG Iowa Eagles GroupShoot: Day 2 (Final Day)

2010-02-20T19:48:00.002-05:00

Today, despite the overnight snow and the fog that lingered throughout this cloudy day, we had really good eagle activity! We had some very unique ops like 3 eagles fighting over a fish on the ground, eagles on the ice, a mating ritual in the sky plus many eagle fishing events! There are some really beautiful juvenile eagles here.

A few members left today because of the impending snow storm but 16 in total will be celebrating a great GroupShoot with a MPEG Party tonight at Happy Joe's (Pizza) in downtown Le Claire. We have a private dinner room waiting for us.

There were a lot of smiling faces throughout the GroupShoot as members were getting amazing eagle photography ops for the first time!

The rest of us are headed home tomorrow to beat the snow storm, and of course, we are looking forward to sorting and post-processing THOUSANDS of bald eagle images.

Everyone is looking forward to Winter 2011 for the next MPEG Iowa Eagles GroupShoot!

Mark

Here are two images from today. Essentially unprocessed, RAW converted to JPEGs.
Click on the pics to enlarge!

(1) Eagles on the ice
(2) A juvenile shows off his beautiful body!

MPEG Iowa Eagles GroupShoot: Day 1

2010-02-19T19:40:00.005-05:00

We made it to Iowa! We have 15 MPEG members for a total of 21 in attendance.

We had decent light (bright overcast) for today with many eagles and good activity... many fishing events, aerial battles for fish, etc. and some great portrait ops.

Tonight, 1-2 inches of snow forecasted, snowing ending in the morning and we expect mainly clouds tomorrow after 1:00 pm tomorrow. A snow storm is headed here Sunday evening but all of us will be on our way home Sunday morning with the storm following us to Cleveland!

Overall, it was a good day and many members are realizing how difficult it can be to photograph eagles as they move 50-100 mph in their flight activities.

Here are two images from today. Click on each image to enlarge it.
(1) An eagle retrieves a fish in the snow.
(2) An eagle calls for his mate in a tree overlooking the Mississippi River.

10 Random Facts You may not know about the Apple iPad!

2010-02-18T07:40:00.001-05:00

1. It will pair with any Bluetooth keyboard
2. It’s smaller, lighter and cheaper than some Sony Vaio netbooks
3. People say the iPad won’t allow multi-tasking but it appears that it will – at least when you are using some Apple apps
4. A base model iPad will hold approximately 22,000 1024 pixel photos
5. You can indeed output the iPad video to an HDTV
6. You will be able to connect USB devices to the iPad through an adapter cable
7. You will be able to read SD/CF cards onto an iPad through an adapter cable
8. The iPad is similarly priced to the less powerful, mono-screened Kindle DX
9. Most (if not all) external batteries for iPods and iPhones will also power the iPad
10. The iPad is not supposed to replace a laptop or a net book – it’s a new class of device

Source: PadPundit

Back to Iowa Again... The third and final time for this bald eagle winter season!

2010-02-16T22:11:00.002-05:00

I am returning to Iowa again this weekend along with 16 MPEG members in tow (with some spouses and SOs) for total of 23 eagle fanatics!

It should be interesting... stay tuned.. I will probably blog daily!

Apple's Aperture 3.0 vs Lightroom 3.0 ?

2010-02-15T20:43:00.001-05:00

As you know, I am a current Lightroom (LR) user . I use LR to catalog my images, sort, and make basic exposure adjustments. Up until the release of Aperture 3.0 a few days ago, Lightroom (IMHO) was the better product.... but I believe Aperture 3.0 has caught up to and maybe surpassed Lightroom.

Now, we all know that the final version of Lightroom 3.0 has not been released yet (April 2010, I believe) and maybe the final LR 3.0 version will surpass Aperture 3.0?

I have both software programs. I did upgrade to Aperture 3.0 for $99.00 yesterday. I am eager to try Aperture 3.0 out while awaiting the release of Lightroom 3.0.

Competition is good and Apple just rattled Adobe's LR cage with Aperture 3.0, IMHO.

I bet there were some "intense LR team meetings" going on at Adobe last week.

Time will tell......

"Out on a Limb"....

2010-02-13T00:48:00.004-05:00

A juvenile bald eagle overlooks the Mississippi River at sunrise...

Day 3: Return to Iowa! (FINAL)

2010-02-12T00:31:00.006-05:00

Lo and Behold.. Two sunny days in a row so plenty of light... and PLENTY of eagles! I would GUESS 50-60 eagles in the area! They seemed to be everywhere at times.

We started out early this morning. It was 1 degree F. The Mississippi River had sheets of ice floating by the hotel. We arrived and saw maybe 6 eagles in the immediate area. Everyone was cold... us and the eagles and they (the eagles) didn't move for most of the morning. When it is really cold, they prefer not to fly to conserve energy. We went over to the ice area but saw no eagles on the ice at the time we were there. One landed on the ice briefly then flew off.

We then made back to the boardwalk area.. again no movement. I spend time getting some nice front-lit portraits of the eagles in the trees. From what I am told by the local photographers, the mornings are typically "dead" (little activity). We went to lunch and returned around 12:30pm. More photogs started showing up. We had a crowd of 40 or so photogs by 1:30 pm. One of the local guys brought some fish to throw out into the river to get the eagles off their duffs! Within 5 secs, 4 eagles were circling and checking the bait fish out...

THEN around 3:00 pm... someone rang the dinner bell as numerous eagles started coming from all directions, fishing, circling, flying overhead, tree to tree, etc.... and then a period of maybe 30-45 mins, NOTHING again... then all of sudden eagles appeared out of thin air...fishing again... this went on until sunset... everyone left by 5:15 pm (sunset was 5:30pm) Myself and 2 other people were just leaving and BAMMMM... eagles everywhere again... fishing... they must have realized they better get their supper as it will be dark soon! It was non-stop for 15 minutes...

It was damn near dark and I am shooting @ f4, ISO 1600, +1 EV just to attempt to capture the action.... I was lucky to capture an attempted "fish-jacking" as an adult and another juvi tried to steal a juvenile's fish from him! The one adult is flying upside down with talons up in an attempt to grab the fish but he was not successful! The juvenile got away and flew to a nearby tree to eat his supper. See image below.

It was a "shoot out" at the OK Corral as I netted a total of 100GB of RAW images!

I am looking forward to leading the bald eagles MPEG GroupShoot there soon as I want the GS attendees to experience the Midwest's ultimate location for bald eagle photography too!

I am posting 3 images today:

(1) A tree (or more) full of eagles! I counted 16 in this image.
(2) The fishjacking! An adult and another juvi ganging up on a juvenile eagle but they were not successful this time.
(3) A juvenile eagle flies right at me and over my camera lens.

I apologize as the images are RAW converted to JPEGs with no routine post processing. Click on each pic for a larger view!

Thanks to all of you following my blog!
Mark

Day 2: Return to Iowa!

2010-02-10T19:42:00.002-05:00

On my way to customer appointments today, I saw at least 10 bald eagles either in the trees along the road or soaring overhead. At one point today, 6 eagles flew out together (out of the nearby hills) so the "hills are alive" with these guys.

The BIG news of the day!... the sun does shine in Iowa! In fact, there was a cloudless, sunny sky all day.... which of course, is not "ideal" for nature photography either....but I'll take it. I had about 15-20 eagles all around me this late afternoon with some pretty good activity. I was happy to finally take some eagle images with some decent light and the light sure makes them pop! Something about light and photography that go together, huh?

I spoke with some local photographers and they showed me a good spot to see eagles on the ice eating their fish in the mornings.

Hopefully we will have good weather for the upcoming MPEG GroupShoot here!

I am posting two images that illustrate the nice late afternoon light today. The top image is a juvenile bald eagle and the second image is an adult bald eagle. Click on the image for a LARGER view.

Day 1: Return to Iowa!

2010-02-09T17:41:00.003-05:00

We made it! It snowed overnight in Joliet (about 3 inches), short of the predicted 6 inches. We left Joliet ... headed to Le Claire, IA via I-80W. I-80W was clear and dry for the most part. No travel issues at all. Smooth sailing!

We arrived in Le Claire around 1:00pm CST. We went straight to the eagle location. It was snowing pretty good the whole time we were there (about 2 hours). There were 5-6 eagles in the area. They were hunkered down because of the weather but on 3 occasions we were treated to some eagle fishing, some eagle aerial play with other eagles, an eagle chasing a gull....but the snow made photography a challenge.. keeping the snow off the lens, off the view finder, autofocusing on the BIF through the snow... I used manual focus for some portrait shots in the trees.

Tomorrow's weather calls for AM Clouds/PM Sun. I am excited about seeing the sun in Iowa tomorrow for the first time!!

Stay tuned!

The pic below is a snowy pic of an adult bald eagle landing through the snow in a tree. Click on the pic for a larger view.

February 9-11, 2010: Return to Iowa!

2010-02-09T00:47:00.003-05:00

As you know from my last trip to Iowa, I had an ice storm the one day which wiped out my customer appointments and eagle shooting for that day. I rescheduled by customer appointments for Feb 10-11.

My son, Jared (and MPEG member) is traveling with me this time.

The original plan was to leave Cleveland, Tuesday, Feb 9 around 6:00 am for Iowa. We would arrive around 1:00 pm, shoot some eagles, go to dinner and then Jared is treating me to a Gov't Mule concert Tuesday night in Davenport, IA. Ever heard of Gov't Mule? Could this concert be more exciting than shooting eagles?

Anyway, the NEW midwest snow storm changed our plans. I debated whether to even make the trip....but after some analysis of weather along the way, I decided that we should leave Cleveland today no later than 4:30pm EST and get to Joliet, IL by 9pm CST before the snow hits here. From Joliet, we are only two hours away from Le Claire, IA.....

We left Cleveland at 4:13pm EST and arrived in Joliet, IL at 8:57pm CST and not a snowflake to be seen... We then headed to a late dinner and while at dinner, it started to snow around 9:15 pm CST.... and still snowing!...........

We are expected to have at least 6 inches of snow by morning here in Joliet. Jared and I are placing our faith in the (Illinois) IDOT and (Iowa) IDOT in keeping I-80 very drivable so we can head out for Le Claire no later than noon and arrive between 2-3pm CST Tuesday. I should get a few hours of eagle shooting in provided it is not snowing when we arrive. The weather for Wednesday and Thursday looks good (partly cloudy)!

If we had waited to leave Cleveland Tuesday am, it would have been a very long and messy/snowy drive from Cleveland to Le Claire!

Stay tuned!

Topaz Remask 2: Replacing a boring sky

2010-02-06T04:36:00.006-05:00

I enjoy using Topaz Lab's plug-ins, I have Topaz Adjust, Topaz Detail, etc. I recently purchased Topaz Remask 2 knowing it would come in handy sooner or later...and the sooner is here.

During my recent Iowa eagles trip, the skies were overcast everyday. I didn't see the sun for 6 days (I am looking forward to seeing the sun this week in Iowa during my return trip.)

I have a ton of nice eagle images but the skies in the images are boring....gggg...ggg!

Topaz Remask 2 to the rescue! Topaz Remask is very to use by masking out the eagle in seconds, (cutting out the sky) and then simply dragging in a new sky background via Photoshop.

The new images below are BEFORE and AFTER.

Never fear an overcast day again when shooting eagles! I also "re-positioned" the eagle for a better composition in the AFTER image.

Pretty cool, huh?

BEFORE....

AFTER...

HDR PhotoStudio Announced Today for the Mac!

2010-02-02T23:09:00.003-05:00

Dang... I just gave a HDR presentation tonight at the Canton Camera Club and when I checked my email after the presentation, I have an email from Unified Color Technology that says HDR PhotoStudio is now available for the Mac!

UCT claims HDR PhotosStudio is better than Photomatix with color! We shall see... I am eager to try this one!

Click here for HDR PhotoStudio for the Mac!

I will be back soon with my experience!

The January Iowa Eagle Trip: 150 GB, 4000 images and....

2010-02-01T10:23:00.003-05:00

the 4,000 was narrowed to 1,500 and in those 1,500 images, I have post about 50 keepers thus far but I have a few more to go.... therefore I had about 1-2% keepers, which I thought was pretty good! I posted one of my favs below. You can see the entire eagle slideshow by clicking here!

I am headed back for "more" Feb 9-11 and then again Feb 19-21 leading a MPEG GroupShoot!

Apple's iPad and Photography!

2010-01-27T21:32:00.003-05:00

I see the iPad as a great photographer's tool, especially showing your portfolio to potential clients!

I am an Apple Addict.. I am "in"! I will post a review in the future.

Check out Apple's iPad here!

Here is one whale of a fish (eagle) story "caught on tape"!

2010-01-24T11:14:00.003-05:00

On the last day of my Iowa trip, I stopped by to see what was going on with the eagles. It was me and 4 other people. The other folks were a couple hundred feet down the boardwalk from me.

I was looking for "multiple eagle" shots, something different.. when suddenly, two eagles took off from the tree they were perched in. I followed them visually first as they flew up and away from me by several hundred yards...I noticed the two eagles getting closer (for a cool image) so I just started shooting this event...the eagles were so far away, I didnt realize what I was photographing until I heard one of the other photogs exclaim" Ohhhhh he got it!"..... and I thought, what is he talking about?

This event happened in a matter of a few seconds. The one photog was watching the event (not photographing) and told me that the one eagle clipped the other (which had a fish), the eagle lost his fish in mid-air then snagged it again on the fly.... I got every frame BUT the last frame showing him with the fish in his talons as he recovered it....had I had known what I was actually photographing at the time, I would have shot a few more frames... Nonetheless, here are 5 images that show you how the event unfolded. I cropped the images by 50% or so. I apologize for the poor image quality but enjoy!

Note: Eagles are lazy and they often try to steal another's fish. I saw this happen more than a few times...In this case, the eagle with the fish initially retrieved his own fish!

Top to Bottom: (click on each image to enlarge)
Photo 1 - The two eagles are flying together..the eagle with the fish is on the bottom.
Photo 2 - The eagle (top) without the fish overtakes the eagle with the fish
Photo 3 - The top eagle "clips" the eagle with the fish and causes him to drop the fish in mid-air
Photo 4 - The eagle (who had the fish) immediately pursues the free falling fish
Photo 5 - The eagle with talons open is about to reclaim/snag his fish in mid-air... and he does! (trust me).

Day 6: The Iowa Bald Eagles (Final)

2010-01-21T20:01:00.007-05:00

The ice storm has come and gone. It took me 20 minutes to "de thaw" my ice encapsulated car.

Of course, I just had to go visit the eagles one more time before I left for Rockford, IL today. When I arrived, I was the only one there.... just me and the eagles PLUS more overcast, grey, ugly skies! Is there a sun?

Over the next hour or so, 6-8 people showed up including two guys from California with 500f4s.

There were only 6 eagles or so in the area (that I could see) but there was a fair amount of action for the small number of eagles. There were 4-5 eagle fishing events... some very close, some far away in the middle of the Mississippi River. We did have two eagles take off.... one with a fish and the other chasing him.. the one eagle dropped the fish and the other eagle snagged the fish in mid-air! I do have some frames of the event! I have to look closely and see what I captured.

This location for eagles is awesome! You are very close to them... and even with 300mm, you will get a few images to be proud of!

The eagles are there until early March then they start to migrate back up north for the spring/summer/fall...until they come back in December...

If you love bird photography, love eagles and want to be a personal witness to one of the most majestic birds you will ever see.. then the Iowa Mississippi eagles is the ticket! Buy your ticket and smile the whole time!

I will post 3 pics today.... one of 3 eagles in an icy tree this morning... an adult having a snack.. and a red -tailed hawk who just showed up chasing gulls.... I get the impression that the hawk knew his picture was being taken? Ya think? CLICK on each pic to enlarge!

Thanks for sharing my Iowa eagle experience... I have 150 GB of images to sort, catalog and post-process! I hope to have some "finished images" posted here this weekend!

Mark

Day 5: The Iowa Bald Eagles >>> ICE STORM TODAY!

2010-01-20T13:24:00.013-05:00

One word describes today... Ice!

My customers cancelled today and tomorrow. All Iowa schools are closed. The entire area is under an ice storm warning for the next 24 hours. My car is iced over. I am stuck inside in Iowa. I hope to depart Thursday as scheduled for Rockford, IL. The winds are gusting to 30 mph, the Mississippi River is rough, and I assume the eagles are hunkered down as well.

There will be no photo ops today.

Another cool thing about traveling and photography is that you meet other photographers from all over the USA. Here, I met photographers from Ohio (Cincinnati), Illinois, Wisconsin and yes, even California!

I asked the guy from California, "wouldn't it be closer for you to go to Alaska to shoot eagles instead of Iowa ?"... He said, "Yes, it would be closer but it was far less expensive to travel here than Alaska"...

Bottomline: If you want to shoot eagles, live in the midwest and can't afford to go to Alaska, then Iowa/Mississippi River is THE PLACE to be in January/February each year ! I agree, except for the weather being less than ideal...I have been very happy with my first trip here.

Look at the bright side (no pun intended) with this weather, I didn't have to worry about blown-out highlights and shadows!

I am posting two pics today. The first one showing photographers lined up along the Lock and Dam boardwalk on Sunday, January 17. The second pic (from yesterday) shows the split second an eagle snatches a fish from the water! Click on the pic for a larger view.

I will post a final installment (Day 6) tomorrow night.

Thanks again for following my blog!

Day 4: The Iowa Bald Eagles

2010-01-19T20:20:00.009-05:00

This morning I could see the other side of the Mississippi River which was a good sign. The fog had lifted as the temperatures dropped. The trees were all frosty. On my way to customer appointments this morning, I saw bald eagles in trees along the way....kinda cool.

The sun peaked through briefly and the skies cleared by sunset but for the time I spend with the eagles today, the skies were still grey with some patches of blue skies here and there.

Tom and his wife left today after he spent an hour or two with the eagles. I arrived shortly before he left. There were only 3-4 photogs there (including us). Maybe 6 eagles in the area (that we could see). 4 eagles sat in the trees by the locks for a long time. Every once in a while one would fly down, grab a fish then fly back up to his perch...but compared to the other days, the weather was better but it was dead (eagle activity wise)....Nothing was going on.... I even contemplated packing it in for the day...

> Then all hell broke loose!!

I was speaking with a photographer (Bob from Chicago) and his friend when suddenly the Lock and Dam folks opened up the locks of the channel where the eagles usually feed.... water rushed in for a few minutes and OUT OF NOWHERE in 1-2 minutes...we had eagles coming from ALL directions with a massive feeding frenzy of (we counted at least 10, I bet 15) eagles diving/fishing all at once.. it was the most unbelievable thing I have witnessed.

Bob and I were stunned. We didn't know what/who to photograph.. it was complete eagle chaos! We had no warning or time to think. I had to change CF cards in the middle of this craziness with frozen fingers. My thumb was so numb (from the cold) and I couldn't feel to press the AF button any longer. It was wild! My heart was pounding....

After things settled down, another local photographer (who just arrived) told us a friend of his who works at the L&D called him and said they were going to open the locks and to get down there soon... but he arrived too late! I guess the churning water makes the fish more plentiful, easier to catch thus causing this feeding behavior...not only for the eagles, but gulls and ducks had a feeding field day too!

The eagles were so close, it was difficult to track them... not to mention my fogged up viewfinder to make things more crazy... shooting when you can't see !

The guy said they only open the locks a few times/month so we were lucky to be there....

Tomorrow (weather wise) doesn't look good as an ice storm is coming. There may be no photos ops for Wednesday. I will have to play it by ear.

I posted two pics below. Both eagles (adult [top] and a juvenile) were part of the feeding frenzy. They were shot with the 500f4. These images were NOT cropped and unprocessed. RAW images converted to JPEGs for posting purposes.

Note: the look in their eyes.... It's dinner time!

Day 3: The Iowa Bald Eagles

2010-01-18T18:30:00.009-05:00

Well, weather wise, today was more of the same... foggy, overcast, grey skies. I still haven't seen the sun since I arrived on Saturday. Maybe , JUST maybe, some sun tomorrow?

Kirby left this morning. Tom and I spent another 4 hours with the eagles this afternoon. Here were far fewer photogs today, maybe 15 at the most. Though we did get some decent images today ( I only shot 40GB today), the eagle activity was less today. We had about the same number eagles around us. At one time, 6 (in a row) took off across the Mississippi River with a leader.. the lead eagle harassed a duck with a couple of passes then gave up, flew back to west shore and the other 5 followed him back... too funny!

I met a local photog today and he said the eagles will be around until early March then a large number of pelicans arrive in April/May and will hang around until the Fall.

I got a nice shot of an eagle (who was perched for a long period of time) then suddenly he swooped out of the tree down to the river, "snatched something" and flew back to his perch. I didn't see anything in his talons but I zoomed the image and he nailed a fish with his beak and ate it on the way back to his perch! Thats what I call drive thru take-out! The agility and accuracy (of their hunting skills) is nothing short of astounding!

The highlight of the day was two adults started flying together, then separated, then flying together in essence "chasing each other" around the tree tops, over our heads (just several yards above us), at a high rate of speed, darting and dodging... They were very difficult to track through my camera viewfinder as they were so close and so fast... I was able to snap a few with the 500f4 and felt lucky to get this image below. I never get tired of watching eagles....

Please check back for Day 4 tomorrow... I hope for better light!

Here is an image of the two adults flying together right over my head....

Day 2: The Iowa Bald Eagles

2010-01-17T17:50:00.005-05:00

It was a foggy start today...the fog lifted around noon but we had grey skies all day. The weather didnt stop the eagles... We had about the same number of eagles today (vs. yesterday) and again, lots of activity! At one time, we had 3 eagles fishing one right after the other.. like airplanes coming in for a landing... it was really something to watch and photograph!

MPEGer Tom and his wife arrived today.

There were several photogs there today. We saw more juvenile eagles today than yesterday. I have a few nice tree portraits of some juveniles.

Tomorrow's forecast is the same, cloudy... but it really doesn't matter as just being around these awesome creatures, makes the sun shine in your spirit!

Be sure and check back tomorrow for Day 3. I am hoping to see the sun before I leave here Thursday.

BTW, I have another 40GB of images from today! Good thing I bought a 1.5 TB HDD recently!

Here is a pic from today of an adult bald eagle with his dinner!

Day 1: The Iowa Bald Eagles

2010-01-16T18:36:00.005-05:00

I am here! I left Cleveland at 5:34 am EST this morning and arrived at my Iowa location at 12:15 pm CST. It was a 488 mile very easy drive from Cleveland. It was cloudy/grey when I arrived and remained cloudy the rest of the day so the weather was not the greatest (of course) but the excitement was there as I saw a bald eagle in a tree as I drove into the Lock and Dam area.

As I drove into the parking lot, 6 eagles were in the trees around me, chatting with each other. There were 2-3 other eagles in other trees for a total of 6-10 eagles, both adults and juveniles, at any one time.

The activity of the eagles , flying over, fishing, trying to steal the other's fish (I have a great pic of two juvis mid-air sparring for one fish!). Some time there were 2-4 eagles fishing at one time, and it was difficult to decide which eagle to follow and photograph. I used my 500 f4 and had the Canon 50/100-400mm on my hip... many times the eagles were so close, I used 300-400 mm. Kirby arrived about a 1/2 hr after I did. We shot until 4pm CST as the light was getting dismal. I shot 40GB of RAW images today... downloading them to my Vosonic now and then will be ready to go again tomorrow....

I am very happy with this location... the eagles are very close and very active! These truly are amazing birds... and to watch them fly over the water..looking for a fish.. and then they SUDDENLY drop their legs/talons and snatch the fish with precision.... one of nature's truly outstanding events to witness!

Tomorrow is suppose to be partly cloudy so hopefully we will have some blue skies /decent light? Please check back for Day 2.

Here is a pic of one of the eagles in a parking lot tree... very easy to photograph with 300mm or so!

Follow Me Here Daily - Jan 16-21, 2010!

2010-01-15T04:55:00.002-05:00

I will be in Iowa and Illinois photographing the "Masters of the Sky", the majestic wintering bald eagles of the Mississippi River each evening! I plan to blog daily during my visit... Enjoy!

HDR Photography is Everywhere... Love it or Hate it ....but it's Everywhere....

2010-01-14T21:07:00.003-05:00

I visited a Barnes and Noble this week while I was on the road. I make two stops at least. The first at the magazine rack to see what's new in photography magazines (boy, the UK sure puts out alot of them!) and I stop by the digital photography shelves and see what's new there....

At the magazine rack, I saw at least 4 magazines this month with HDR (high dynamic range) photography on their cover as a main article inside. The articles speaking about realistic HDR vs. surreal, etc.

The book shelve has titles like Practical HDR, The World in HDR, HDR Photography workshop, Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Photography and now, they have High Dynamic Range Photography for Dummies! I own them all...

I have been doing HDR since 2007. I use Photomatix Pro ($99) . I have tried other software but Photomatix Pro is still number 1, IMHO. HDR Soft now offers Photomatix Light for $39.00

You have to love it! HDR is nothing more than a technique to allow you to capture the high dynamic range of a scene (what your camera sensor can't do with a single image) to reveal details in the shadows, midtones and highlights!

Embrace HDR .. it's easy!

Here is an example of what HDR can do for you....

Change Your Location!

2010-01-13T20:31:00.005-05:00

My nature photography friends often "complain" that they have "nothing to shoot". The reality is you can only shoot your "backyard" so much and then you have to change your location!

Even if you lived in Yellowstone, at some point, you will want to change your location!

Changing your location means walking, hiking, biking, driving, flying to somewhere photogenic that you have not shot before and shoot something new! Great photo ops just don't fall into your lap, YOU have to plan and develop them. It may cost you money to change your location.. gas, airfare, hotel, etc...but if you don't change your location, then you have nothing new to shoot!

Visit a State/National Park, National Wildlife Refuge, Wildlife Areas.. there are MANY places to go and shoot.. Go find them and take great, NEW photos!

Short Eared Owl ( Killdeer Wildlife Area, Harpster, OH)

RAW Workflow- Software and Plug-Ins

2010-01-09T22:41:00.002-05:00

Folks ask... Whats your RAW workflow?

First, except for sports and casual shots, I shoot full RAW (no sRAW, etc.). I want ALL the information I can get out of a digital file. Yes, the RAW files are bigger and you need more harddrive space but if you are serious about your photography, RAW is the only way to go! Simply put - RAW ROCKS!

Reminder: Always try to get the BEST possible exposure in camera! The fewer adjustments you have to make in the computer, the better, IMHO.

My workflow is as follows:

(1) Import RAW images into Adobe Lightroom
(2) Make any necessary adjustments like exposure, WB, and picture style in Lightroom. I do not denoise or sharpen in LR.
(3) I denoise EVERY image using Nik Software's, Dfine.
(4) I make further adjustments using Nik's, Viveza 2 (Great software!)
(5) If need be, I make further tweaks/enhancements using Nik's ColorEfex Pro, Silver Efex Pro, Topaz Adjust, Topaz Detail, OnOne's Photo Tools Pro, FocalPoint 2 and/or Photoshop CS4.
(6) I always sharpen LAST. I use Nik's Sharpener Pro.
(7) I print from Lightroom.

Lightroom 3.0 is expected to have many improved features like Denoising and Sharpening. Perhaps my workflow will change with Lightroom 3.0?

Gadget Bag: Field Storage - Outdoor Photographer | OutdoorPhotographer.com

2010-01-08T20:25:00.003-05:00

I use a Vosonic MSV, the VP8870. I found the Vosonic VP8870 to be inexpensive and it does the job. I download my RAW images to the Vosonic at the end of a day's shoot (like in Yellowstone). I view the images for sharpest and histogram viewing. I use the VP8870 only for photography. Uploading images from the VP8870 to my iMac (into Lightroom) is fast!

You have to be careful with the CF slot as the pins can easily become bent if you are careless about inserting and taking the CF card out of the slot (been there, done that!). The small battery doesn't have a long life/charge. You can purchase extra batteries. I keep the battery charged with a car charger during the day.

For the money (approx $200-300 USD depending on the HDD size). The Vosonic VP8870 is a winner! The Vosonic is sold here in the USA.

Gadget Bag: Field Storage - Outdoor Photographer | OutdoorPhotographer.com

GalloImages website has some big changes!

2010-01-07T10:50:00.001-05:00

Check out the new changes to my website, GalloImages!

Please sign my guestbook!

Top iPhone Apps for Photographers | Virtual Photography Studio - Digital Photography Business Guide To Resources, Products and Information

2010-01-07T01:12:00.000-05:00

Top iPhone Apps for Photographers | Virtual Photography Studio - Digital Photography Business Guide To Resources, Products and Information

Get "WISED" UP!

2010-01-07T00:51:00.000-05:00

MPEG member, Jim Delahoyde sent me this acronym he devised to help remind him about checking his camera settings before/during each shoot. How many times have you forgotten to do this and got burned? I am guilty and I even teach this stuff in my nature photography seminars!

Thanks Jim!

W = Check to insure correct White Balance
I = Check to insure ISO is set correctly. Your last shot may have been at night ISO 1600, and now you are in bright sunlight
S = Check Shutter Speed to match what is being capture.
E = Check Histogram for applicable Exposure Compensation.
D = Check (aperture) Depth of Field to insure what you want in focus is in focus.

My new bean bag works well at Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge

2010-01-05T22:10:00.016-05:00

I received my new bean bag support as mentioned in the 1/1/2010 blog post. I am in Southern Indiana and stopped by Muscatatuck NWR about an hour before sunset tonight. I made the auto tour rounds with the bean bag on the driver's side window sill and the Canon 7D/500f4 rested on top of it as I drive around looking for raptors.

The idea is to use my car as a blind and be camera ready to get those shots I have been missing by getting out of the car, etc. I filled the bean bag product with bird seed for two reasons, if I need to dump the contents (to reduce weight), the bird seed is a benefit to the birds as food and I have bird seed readily available if needed for set-ups.

The bean bag is heavy. It feels secure thus no fear of it flopping around or sliding off. The bean bag provided a steady camera/lens support in lieu of a tripod or monopod. I would highly recommend it. I am very happy with this bean bag.

I saw one bald eagle.. I didn't get a decent shot of it (as it was flying over my car when I saw it). I found several hawks (6-7) mostly red-tails.

Here is an image of a red-tailed hawk taking off from a tree today. I like his head poking out from the wings. I feel I could have used a little higher shutter speed. This image was at 1/1600; f5.6, iso 400 at 700mm and the image was cropped.

Me and the Canon 7D / 500f4 L shooting at North Chagrin Reservation

2010-01-03T17:56:00.004-05:00

photo by Karl Hassel

My first trip to the Mississippi River to photograph bald eagles!

2010-01-03T11:34:00.006-05:00

In two weeks, I will be making a trip to Iowa (along the Mississippi River) to the various Locks and Dams to photography bald eagles. One of my fav subjects to shoot. These birds are really amazing to watch. The Mississippi River is a winter migration spot for bald eagles from Canada and Minnesota.

Here is a cool link for Mississippi River eagle lovers!

I have seen eagles move people to tears as they watch... in awe... as their first bald eagle majestically flies low over their head.

I will be blogging daily here during the trip with sample images each day. I will be there for 5 days.

Please check back!

Here is an image from May 2009 in Sandusky. Here is a link with a Tribute to these eagles!

My Take: Avatar 3D

2010-01-02T19:22:00.004-05:00

I saw Avatar 3D this afternoon. As a sci-fi fan, it is a SPECTACULAR sci-fi movie. It has love, hate, adventure, creed, action, excellent CGI.. you name it!

Even if you are not a sci-fi fan per se', I believe you will enjoy and appreciate the movie. I would suggest you see it in 3D. I give it a Grade A! It's "right up there" with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy..

I can only guess that this will be one spectacular, "must own", blu-ray disc. If the AQ and the VQ isn't top notch, I will be shocked!

Run, Don't Walk to see Avatar 3D ASAP... Trust me!

Happy New Year 2010!

2010-01-01T10:33:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year Everyone! Let's hope 2010 is a better year for you and your family!

Speaking of hope, I hope to get better pictures (well, I would be happy with A picture) of raptors from my car. I had to find a way to work smarter.

As I drive through these wildlife areas looking for bald eagles, and other raptors (winter is a good time to do this..), I come across some real beauties on a tree limb, fence post, etc... and then the trick is... getting a good picture with a long lens. I have tried to be "sneaky", stealthy, go slow, don't make eye contact etc.... but as soon as I open the car door (ever so slowly) or roll the window down... pooooooffff they are gone! These guys are smart... and Skittish is the word.

So, I purchased a bean bag support for a long lens. I should have it in a day or so. I believe this will help me use my car as a blind, avoid exiting the car, etc. thus get those images that I am missing otherwise. I can use this on my window, hood, the ground, etc. This product was highly recommended.

I am eager to try it out... and I will post some "bean bag supported" images here for evidence!

Darkness, a great iPhone app for Photographers!

2009-12-30T21:21:00.000-05:00

This iPhone app is a super app for photographers! Darkness doesn't keep you in the dark when it comes to knowing times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset and much more!

Darkness is just $0.99!

The Sandisk 16 GB CF UDMA 60 MB/sec cards Rock!

2009-12-30T21:04:00.003-05:00

Fellow photographers ask me what CF cards I use with my Canon 7D. Since the Canon 7D has two digic IV processors, it can take advantage of the UDMA card speeds. UDMA cards can get expensive but I have found the SanDisk 16GB CF UDMA 60MB/sec to work great! I rarely fill up the buffer when shooting BIF and I shoot RAW too!

For the money, the SanDisk 16GB CF 60MB/sec card for $111.00/card on Amazon get the job done. I carry 3 of these cards in my photog vest.

Also Calumet, just released their new brand of 16GB UDMA cards which writes at 63MB/sec. They are $145.00/card.

Bald Eagle Photoshoot Results!

2009-12-30T00:26:00.001-05:00

I went to two wildlife areas today to hunt for the most amazing bird, the bald eagle. I found a few including a beautiful juvenile bald eagle.

I am looking forward to my first Iowa trip in January 2010 to photograph bald eagles at the Mississippi River.

Here are few images from today:

I finally saw 2012!

2009-12-28T20:36:00.000-05:00

It was ok. As a sci-fi fan, the special effects were amazing and the blu ray (when it is available) will have great audio "demos" but I found the plot a little corny. I am really looking forward to seeing Avatar in 3D. This movie sounds like a real good one.. if you like sci-fi, that is!

Welcome to Mark's Musings!

2009-12-28T20:28:00.001-05:00

Look for my thoughts on canon,.digital photography, home theater, the movies and whatever else crosses my mind!