Wildlife, landscape and weather photography
Those logs must have really been lodged in there to hang on against the current. Taken at the top of Upper Mesa Falls in Idaho, the logs had clearly been there for a long time which is pretty impressive.
The technique for this image is just like a similar one I shared recently with flowers. Using a slow shutter speed allows the waters to be “blurred” and gives it a feeling of motion and power.
I’m back! Not that you knew I was gone thanks to the magic of scheduling posts ahead of time but I just returned from a week of much-needed R&R in Yellowstone and the Tetons. It was an absolute fantastic trip despite the unusually warm weather and smoke from wildfires and I captured a good number of cool images.
As we have been to the area many times, we did mix it up a bit, checking out some new sights / sites including where this image was taken – Upper Mesa Falls in Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho.
If you are ever in the area, it is well worth visiting. The waterfalls were impressive but this was my favorite shot as it uses a technique I have been wanting to try out.
Getting the flowers to stay sharp while using a slow shutter speed to portray the speed of the water rushing by is not easy. It of course requires zero wind as you need the flowers to stay perfectly still and for the first time I was able to pull it off. This was taken from a busy boardwalk so I had to handhold the camera versus using a tripod which made it even tougher.
Ideally, I would have been able to secure the camera solidly and go even slower with the shutter speed further blurring the waters but as-is, I am pretty pleased with the shot.
Much more to come from this trip in the days ahead, including a bear or two or more. 😉
This was a fun little diversion on our trip to northwestern Colorado earlier this week.
Fish Creek Falls is right in Steamboat Springs and a short, easy hike from the trailhead. While figuring out our plan for the day, my wife mentioned she heard there was a cool waterfall nearby. She was definitely right!
At 280 feet tall it is big and throwing in the heavy runoff from snow melt, it was absolutely roaring.
Our mid-day visit wasn’t ideal in terms of photography with harsh light but I made the most of it by throwing on a Neutral Density (ND) filter and using a slow shutter speed. That allowed the “blurring” of the water as it rushed down the falls and the creek.
The scene was absolutely gorgeous – and loud – and we were happy to finally be back in the #mountains.
Taken during our visit a couple weeks ago to Colorado Springs.
Named after the famed poet, author and defender of Native American rights, Helen Hunt Falls was a nice little diversion for us during a recent visit to Colorado Springs.
The 35 foot high falls aren’t particularly big but they are pretty. I used two, ND8 filters to allow for slow shutter speeds to blur the water.
I have memories of the park from when I was five years old up to two years ago when this image of the Lower Yellowstone Falls was taken.
Naturalist John Muir said, “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” That is especially true of this place.
Plunging just over 300 feet – nearly twice as high as Niagra Falls – the Lower Falls in Yellowstone National Park is nothing less than amazing. With lots of snowmelt following a very wet winter and recent rains, it was even more so during our visit a couple of weeks ago. Fed by the Yellowstone River, it is the largest volume waterfall in the Rocky Mountains. From this spot, the waters then enter the 20-mile-long Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone which at more than 1,000 feet high is astounding unto itself.
While on Interstate 70 I have probably driven by and seen this hundreds of times but never stopped. On a whim during our return from leaf peeping, my son and I checked it out.
Located an easy walk from downtown Idaho Springs, Colorado, the Charlie Tayler Waterwheel is at the base of Bridal Veil Falls which feeds into Clear Creek. It is a very cool, very pretty spot with the waterfall and waterwheel provide nice subjects.
The wheel was originally built in 1893 by a local miner. Mr Tayler is said to have claimed his long life was attributed to having never bathed or kissed a woman. I’m not so sure that is a worthwhile trade off. 😉
Among the highest in Canada, the waters of this waterfall in Yoho National Park drop 1,260 feet from the top. It was nothing short of impressive and something whose scale is tough to capture in an image.
Fed by waters from the Daly Glacier, its name is taken from the Cree and loosely translated means “it is magnificent.” That certainly seems fitting.
We actually only went here on whim as we had finished our planned sightseeing earlier than planned and were looking for something to fill up the time. Boy are we glad we chose this to see!
Kind of a fun picture I think. By using a slow shutter speed, you can blur fast moving objects, in this case the rushing water of Sunwapta Falls in Jasper National Park, Canada. A conversion to black and white seemed to work well.
This was one of many impressive waterfalls we visited on our trip up north, all of which yielded many pictures. Lots of tourists were around this site though and the lighting on the morning we visited was far from ideal. Rather than battle those elements, I chose to focus on close in views of the falls.
While the family slept in (I have to allow that every now and then to keep the peace – haha), I headed off solo to scout out the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park, Montana. This area is not visited near as often as some of the other, more popular areas in the park but it can certainly hold its own in terms of beauty. Wildlife was scarce but the sunrise and scenery were amazing.
I had been focused on the west, watching the rising sun illuminate some of the mountains near Swiftcurrent Lake. While that scene was indeed beautiful, turning around found an even better view. The sun was rising and illuminating the creek, waterfall and landscape in its golden light.
I snapped a few pictures, including this one, then put the camera down and just stood there, soaking in the sun’s rays, the sounds of the rushing water and appreciating the stunning scene before me. It was just kind of one of those ‘moments’ in your life that you just can’t help but remember for a very, very long time.
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