More from the Land of Fire and Spit

Black Sand Geyser Basin

The latest in photographs from the caldera of Yellowstone National Park!  I keep thinking of Yellowstone as an ancient place, where prehistoric beasts roam, and fire bubbles up from the earth.  These are panoramas made from three to sixteen individual parts, and photographed in some of the park's most active geyser basins.  The sun stayed protected until the morning I was leaving Wyoming, and even those rays were fleeting.  These should compliment the photos in my last post from this winter trip.  Click on the image to see a larger version.

"Bobby Socks" trees

Night at Mammoth Geyser Basin

Midway Geyser Basin

Norris Geyser Basin

Bison Bison

 The Bison of Yellowstone National Park are the ugliest beautiful creatures among the many we saw in our latest visit to the Land of Fire and Spit.  For the first time I was able to visit Wyoming in a winter wonderland of wildlife activity.  We viewed Wolves, Coyote, Trumpeter Swan, Geese, Bald Eagle, Buffalo, Big Horned Sheep, Elk, and Mule Deer.  Still, I may favor the Bison as my overall favorite.  I love their slow landscaping as they peruse the warm thermal areas, and their masks of snow as they dig through drifts to reach meals.  They are the greatest contradiction; a species that looks as though they should never have survived the ice age 10,000 years ago, yet they also narrowly escaped extinction by man a hundred years ago.  Of the millions that once roamed North America, Bison bounced back from just 800 around the turn of the 20th century, to an estimated 200,000 currently roaming the U.S. and Canada.  

Yellowstone in the winter was gorgeous.  There were a lot of utterly quiet moments, where I walked in the snow at night, or out in a forest snowshoe adventure.  Compared to the peak summer months, Yellowstone winter felt like the park was just as busy as it should be, and the animals ran the house.

You should check out my previous Bison pictures if you haven't seen them.

A brief history of my love for the West

South Dakota

My love for everything West was seeded at a young age, but was experienced first in a trip from Philadelphia to Seattle with a good friend, Andy Szymczak.  This 2006 journey led us to Badlands and Yellowstone National Parks, both of which are now among my favorite public lands.  These Holga photographs are part of the documentation of my initial experience with the majestic Western landscape.  It was silly of me to think there would be wide open areas, ranges of untouched wilderness for us to dirty our boots, and still I try to wrap my head around my own feelings and approach to photographing this landscape.  Do I document these spaces for their pristine beauty, the preserved features of an ancient geologic era?  Or do I allow for the power-lines, fences, man made objects, and even human visitors?

I am lucky enough to be going back again this weekend, for a short stint in the frozen caldera of Yellowstone.  Soon to come will be snow covered bison and plumes of hot white steam rising through the frigid air.  Until then, enjoy these images that sparked what may become a lifetime of documenting our public lands...

Andy in front of Grand Prismatic Spring

Somewhere in Wyoming

Thermal Pool

Badlands National Park

Al's Oasis, Andy pets bison

One of the many wonderful oddities along the trip

Portfolio

"Yellowstone NP 5" Wyoming

I am excited to add a page to this blog, which you can find at the top of the right hand column, under the heading "More".  There you will see a link to this homepage, or one that takes you to my "New West" portfolio.  Please write comments, suggestions, or share your favorites.  This is a semi-permanent addition to the blog, and will only change to be updated.  There are currently 26 images that I am very proud to share on that page.  Enjoy.

A study of Old Faithful

Millions of people flock to Yellowstone every year, and one of the many main attractions of the park is the 90 minute wait for Old Faithful's regular eruptions. In the past three summers, I have been stationed literally right where the picture above was taken, teaching photo workshops throughout the day.

Here you can see the National Park Service webcam of Old Faithful.

This idea was sparked by images I have seen (in person at the Michener Museum in Pennsylvania) of Ansel Adams views of Old Faithful. I hope the inspiration shows through, and that I was able to create a more modern approach to the subject.