2012 July

Old Faithful, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

When you go to Yellowstone National Park you have to see Old Faithful…it’s the law you know! One of the wonders of the world, at least for me. The last time I was there, some thirty something years ago, Old Faithful erupted every hour on the hour plus or minus a few minutes. This past June on our National Park vacation, Old Faithful now erupts every hour and twenty minutes due to ongoing seismic events affecting subterranean water levels.

Sometime in the past the US Park Service installed a nice comfortable bench system practically surrounding the geyser to enhance visitors experience and comfort. However, an hour and a half is a little long sitting on the hard, wood surface waiting for the next eruption. Behind this great bench system is the Visitor Center where you can ask questions or buy anything you want about Old Faithful. Yes, we got our refrigerator magnet. There is also an old fashion soda fountain cafe in case you want to eat something before the next eruption, you have an hour and a half.

There are other smaller geysers all around Old Faithful and this is called the Upper Geyser Basin in which Old Faithful is in the southern section. A trail system connects most of the geysers and it is a hit and miss proposition if and when the smaller geysers erupt.

I think early morning or late afternoon when the air is colder you get the most photogenic images due to the dense hot water hitting the cold air…lots of steam to make that spectacular photograph.

Oh, and did I tell you, you have to wait an hour and a half between eruptions?

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright Ben Gundy and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Ben Gundy.

Canon G12

ISO 100, 1/400 sec at f/7.1

admin :: Jul.14.2012 :: Landscape, Yellowstone :: No Comments »

Female Pronghorn Procession

This image of four female Pronghorns in a procession heading up the hill to find better cover to hide in. It seemed that when more and more photographers show up the skittish female pronghorns tend to turn and head uphill and disappear into the forest. I did not see any baby Pronghorns on this trip but might have been a tad early as some of these females possibly could be pregnant.

Yellowstone is a great place for photographing wildlife. I have never been let down photographing wildlife for the few times I have been there, either in the early spring or in the fall. Most photographers, that I have seen using modern DSLR’s, are using a 70-200mm/70-300mm zooms with some Canon users shooting with a 100-400mm zooms. Once in a while, you see someone shooting with a 500mm, or larger, Canon or Nikon telephoto lenses. It must be nice having such a long lens but definitely not really needed in Yellowstone National Park.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright Ben Gundy and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Ben Gundy.

Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Canon EF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 L at 300mm

ISO 200, 1/800 sec at F/8

admin :: Jul.11.2012 :: Wildlife, Yellowstone :: No Comments »

Embedded Camarasaurus Skull

During our National Park vacation we stopped at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah to tour their newly reopened Quarry Exhibit Hall. Due to age, seismic activity, and settling of the exhibit hall, the hall had to be rebuilt or torn down. It was decided to rebuild the all glass exhibit hall housing the hillside quarry of dinosaur bones. With the newly rebuilt exhibit hall stabilized, viewers can once again see a magnificent hillside scattered with dinosaur bones from the Jurassic period 150 million years ago.

This image of vertebrae and skull from a Camarasaurus, plant eater, is just one of thousands of bones scattered on this hillside. The scattered bones represent the bottom of a river that flowed through here millions of years ago gathering these huge creatures when they died from varied unknown reasons.

For more information on Dinosaur National Monument please click on the name sake.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright Ben Gundy and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Ben Gundy.

Canon G12

ISO 100, 1/5 sec at f/8

admin :: Jul.07.2012 :: General, Southwest :: No Comments »

Baby House Finches

We have a breezeway between the house and garage. In this breezeway we have hanging baskets of various plants to give a little color to the large void between the two structures. In this particular hanging basket is a Geranium and under this Geranium, in the basket, is a House Finch nest. This is the second batch of young ones this year from the same two parent birds. Unfortunately, the first batch of babies were attacked by a Blue Jay and I could only save two of them. I don’t know the behavioural patterns of Blue Jays but I understand this is what they do during nesting season.

This batch of babies is six strong with only four showing in the image. The other two are buried under the pile of baby birds. So far, no Blue Jays around to disrupt the family. Boy, they sure look hungry don’t they…

As of today, June 23rd, the six babies are doing quite well and should be fledgling within the new week.

Update: July 3rd, all six babies have finally fledged. We now have a new nest, in another hanging basket, with three eggs in it.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright Ben Gundy and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from Ben Gundy.

Canon EOS 1D Mark III

Canon EF 100mm f2.8 Macro

ISO 1600, 1/60 sec at f/32

Canon 580EX flash with diffuser