Photo of the Day

We all have photographs that we wish we could have done a better job capturing them. Even though they are not technically great, we cherish them because they have a special meaning or significance to us. This is one of a series of photographs that fit this catagory for me.

Yellowstone wolves attacking a bull elk

In mid June of  2009, I was visiting Yellowstone National Park. As per my usual luck, the weather had been pretty gray and cloudy most of the precious few days I had to visit. Late one afternoon I was making my way toward the West gate when I saw something running across the vast meadow off to my right. Wildlife sightings in Yellowstone usually bring traffic to a standstill on the narrow two lane roads, and the scene that was unfolding cause a major traffic stoppage. Although they were extremely far away from the road, it was apparant that three wolves were in hot pursuit of a male elk.

I have watched countless televison specials, movies, and videos of scenes like this, but I had never witnessed one in person. There is no comparison. While watching and trying to photograph this I actually got goose bumps. The elk jumped into a small stream to help slow the wolves down and not allow them to attack him from the rear. The Black wolf who is running from a charge by the elk in this frame can clearly be observed wearing a tracking collar in other shots. He also appeared to be the dominant wolf and lead the numerous attacks on the bull elk.

Trying to photograph this with the equipment I had was a real challenge. I was shooting a Canon 50D, and the longest lens I had was a Canon 400mm f5.6 fixed focal length lens. A super sharp lens but at f5.6 not great in low light. With that lens on they were still to small in the viewfinder so I had to add a 1.4 extender to now give me 560mm of focal length. Sill not enough, but it was the best I could do. The issue was this canceled out the auto focus on the lens and pushed it to an f8 minimum apeture with no image stabilization. Afraid I would miss the action if I tried to dig out my tripod or monopod, I just braced against my vehicle and fired away. Trying to manually focus and track moving creatures at over 500mm is not easy.   At ISO 400 I was able to get 1/1000 second on some frames at f8. I ended  up with about 20 usable frames from this amazing event. I really wished I had a better body and much bigger lens, but you just have to do the best you can with the equipment you have. None of them are great, but I cherish them and this was the highlight of this trip to see something like this.

So now you want to know the rest of the story, right? Well the elk made several attempts to get out of the stream but was forced back in by the wolves. After standing long enough to catch his breath and gather up his resolve, The bull elk charged out of the stream and went on the attack and charged at the wolves. He really went after them hard and made them turn and run. They decided he was to much for them to handle and they allowed him to trot off. But no sooner did the elk leave and I saw the wolves zero in on a lone mother bison with a young calf off in the distance. I tried to track them to see what would happen but lost sight of them behind some trees. I knew without protection of a herd, they might be able to seperate the calf from it's mother. The cycle of life is often not very pretty to watch, but it is necessary.

Scott

Road Trip Day 7

I thought I would get an early start on my second day of touring Yellowstone N.P. on June 17th. Before I even got in the west entrance gate, I encountered my first wild life traffic jam of the day. A large heard of Bison were right on the edge of the road so everyone was stopping to take photos. I was pretty far back in the traffic jam so I had to just sit and wait it out. I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye and saw this approaching Coyote.

Having my camera sitting next to me with my 70-200mm and a 1.4 extender attached allowed me to easily capture him as he trotted by unfazed by all the traffic and people around. You can see he is in the middle of shedding his heavy winter coat.The richer colors in his summer coat are showing well as he losed that dull winter fur.

As we headed to the southern part of the park you start to encounter the many geo thermal areas of the park. Again the weather was ever changing and frustrating me at times, but I just made the most of the limited chances I had to try and capture some good images.

The thermal pools and geyers are amazing to see and watch.

 

This massive male Bison was resting right by the side of the road. Kinda nice when you do not even have to leave the car to get some amazing closeups. Converted this one to a B&W  and thought it looked better than the color version.

A river of gold!

Old Faithful goes off around every 92 minutes.

After a long day of touring the park, I was heading back when I saw something running arcoss a large open area. At first I thought it was a bear, and then I realized it was an Elk being chased by wolves. So I hit the brakes and jumped out to photograph one of the most dramatic scenes that I have witnessed live and in person. I put on my 400mm f5.6 lens, but they were still pretty far away. I then attached my 1.4 extender to the 400mm lens. This lens does not have image stabilization, and adding the 1.4 extender knocked out the auto focus of the camera. I attached a mono pod and leaned against the car to try and steady myself here while trying to manually focus on the action. The three wolves continued to attack, but the elk would jump into this shallow stream to keep them from attacking his rear. I was able to get about 20 sharp frames total of this scene. This went on for about 20 minutes until the Elk finally decided to take the fight to the wolves. He started aggressivly charging them and had them running from him. They soon decided they did not have enough of them to take down this healthy bull, so they let him trot off.

Road Trip Day 6

Early on June the 16th, we left Cody WY. and headed to Yellowstone National Park. My plan was to enter the park at the east entrance and tour the northern half of the park on this day and stay in West Yellowstone Montana, just outside the west entrance to the park. I had attempted to find some lodging in one of the main park lodges, but you need to make these reservations about a year ahead of time to get the dates you want. The weather on this day was variable to say the least. Cloudy and rainy would give way to some breaks in the clouds and nice light, but it never lasted more than a few minutes at a time. Somewhat frustrating to me as a photographer, but again the moody dark clouds made for some dramatic landscape photos.

This is you first view of Yellowstone Lake as you come in from the east entance.

My goal was to try and get some good wildlfe photos on this trip, but when you are traveling with other people you have to try and make everyone happy so I limited my time when I was trying to get some photos. Unfortunately many of the animals are fed by the tourists and have become shameless beggars. As I pulled up at the side of the road to decide if I wanted to take some photos of the lake, this enormous raven hopped up on the sign right in front of me and gave me a perfect pose. Of course he was eyeing me up for a handout. When I did not offer one and started to get back in my car, He decided he was going to come right in with me.

All the roads in the park are two lanes with not much shoulder or places to pull over except at designated locations. Any wildlife sighting just brings traffic to a halt. People stopped in traffic will abandon their cars to go take photos. So getting through the park can be a very slow and frustrating at times. 

This Grizzly Bear was pretty far across a river alongside the road. I had a 400mm lens and still had to crop into this photo to create this image. Here he was scratching his back on this tree, but you can see all the scarring on the tree from previous bears marking territory. 

This is a shot of the LowerYellowstone Falls. Here the Yellowstone River flows through the Grand Canyon of the Yellwstone, which is up to 1000 feet deep.  There are many hiking trails and scenic overlooks that provide breathtaking views and photo opportunities along this amazing canyon.

It is incredible to see how many of these trees and shrubs cling and grow on the steep rocky embankments. Erosion continually exposes their root systems, and many of the trees appear to have the majority of their root system exposed, but they still survive.

Just an amazing landscape to behold. I could just sit for hours and stare at it's incredible beauty.

I probably would not have spotted this baby Elk on the hillside since it naturally blends in so well, but it was calling loudly for it's mother and I was able to locate it.

Manmoth Hot Springs is a must see area if  are planning a trip to Yellowstone National Park. Located in the Northwest area of the park, Mammoth is a large hill of travertine that has been created over thousands of years as hot water from the spring cooled and deposited calcium carbonate (over two tons flows into Mammoth each day in a solution).  Some of the most surreal landscapes you will ever see due to the geo thermal activity that occurs. It was a very long day and I did not get to my hotel in West Yellowstone until after dark. With only a couple days to tour the park, I could not spend nearly enough time at the many locations I stopped at. But I did take many , many photos. Tomorrow will be the southern half of Yellowstone National Park.