Yellowstone

Upper Yellowstone Falls

My friend George Chen e-mailed me about taking a bus tour to Yellowstone National Park one evening in mid August. I said, “sounds good to me”, so we made plans to leave late September to take advantage of cooler temperatures and less tourist. This particular bus tour stopped at many interesting places in the seven days traveling and I will post additional pictures from the trip in my blog at www.TheRetiredPhotographer.com/blog in the weeks to come.

The tour bus left very early in the morning from West Yellowstone, where we stayed overnight. It was a rainy foggy morning heading towards the falls with Upper Yellowstone Falls being our first stop. Upon arriving at the upper falls, I didn’t know what to expect so I left my Canon 5DMkII in the bus because of the wet weather but I did have my trusty Canon G12 tucked into a jacket pocket. Walking down to the viewing area was a little slippery in the rain but all forgotten when we arrived looking up to the right where the falls actually started. The upper falls are a series of small step falls leading down to where the lower falls drop steeply into a the Yellowstone Canyon.

As you can see in the image the wet rock and fog give the picture a different dimension. This is a straight shot tweaked in Lightroom 4 and yes, the foreground water was this shade of green.

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 400

admin :: Oct.18.2012 :: Yellowstone :: No Comments »

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