25-MAY-2010
Roosevelt Arch, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
This opening image is far different from a photograph I made of the same arch on a previous visit to Yellowstone in the late fall of 2008. The image I made then (
http://www.pbase.com/image/104717209 ) speaks of chilling cold, while this image, made from a far different perspective, speaks of the coming of spring. The snows of winter still linger on the mountains in the background, yet the giant swirl of cloud seems about to bring a nourishing shower to the fields of green below it. This historic northern gateway to Yellowstone, was built in the early 20th century, and dedicated by President Theodore Roosevelt himself.
24-MAY-2010
Crossing the Madison, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
This is the first in a sequence of four animal portraits that cumulatively speak of the coming of spring to Yellowstone. Here, an elk fords the Madison River. Snow still lines its banks, yet the melt off is in full swing, and the Madison is at full flow.
24-MAY-2010
Bald Eagle, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
I photographed our national bird perched high on a dead tree on the banks of the Madison River. Being clear of spring foliage, the tree offers an undisturbed vantage point to the eagle, which waits patiently for signs of passing fish.
24-MAY-2010
Marmot, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
We began photographing this marmot high on Sheepeater Cliff, but it was too far way and too small for us to make a worthy image. Suddenly it descended, and came towards us as far as it would dare. What made the image so special is that this marmot is in the process of foraging for food – a straw of grass even hangs between its lips. Patches of melting snow still remain on the ground around it -- a reminder that no so long ago, finding such straws of grass was not an easy task.
25-MAY-2010
Bighorn Sheep, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
This was one of four female bighorns that we found foraging in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, which in the spring is known as “America’s Serengeti.” Within eyesight at the time were not only these bighorns, a rare sight at such close range, but also bison, pronghorn, and elk. Meanwhile, just down the road, two black bears grazed in a field. I made numerous images of these bighorn sheep as they worked their way down a slope towards us. This was the shot I was waiting for – it represents the instant one of them dared to cross the diagonal highway boundary separating the world of nature from the world of man.
24-MAY-2010
Man and nature, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
Volcanic Yellowstone has the world’s largest concentration of geysers and hot springs. In this image, people traverse the edges of the natural world, a steaming terrace in the Norris Geyser Basin.
25-MAY-2010
Closer still, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
Mammoth Hot Springs brings tourists within a few feet of springs of boiling water, warmed by the magmatic heat pouring from the earth’s interior. These people stand amidst the steam on the boardwalk at Canary Springs.
26-MAY-2010
Excelsior Geyser Crater, Yellowstone National Park, 2010
Formerly a geyser, this crater is now a hot spring pouring boiling water into the Firehole River. This image puts the viewer virtually into the crater itself – it is so hot that a camera's lens will fog over in a matter of seconds.
25-MAY-2010
Yellowstone’s namesake, Yellowstone National Park, 2010
Moving from the deep blues of Excelsior Geyser Crater, we found these rich yellows in Orange Spring Mound, near Mammoth Hot springs, a natural color which perhaps played a role in the naming of Yellowstone National Park. Made of travertine (calcium carbonate), such formations as these are often rich in primary colors.
25-MAY-2010
Canary Springs, Yellowstone National Park, 2010
Using a 16mm wideangle lens, I was able to build my foreground out of the patterns left by calcium deposits, while at the same time lead the eye to the steaming terraces and the spectacular cloud formation at the top of the image. The dead trees are casualties of nature at work.
26-MAY-2010
Bison on the Firehole, Yellowstone National Park, 2010
This image begins a sequence on the bison, also known as the American buffalo. I found this one fording the Firehole River, given its name by the hot springs that line its path. Yellowstone has the largest free roaming bison population in the world. The herd numbers 3,500.
25-MAY-2010
Newborn bison calf, Yellowstone National Park, 2010
These bison are grazing the Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley. The calf has been born very recently, a common sight in the early spring months.
25-MAY-2010
Trying their legs, Yellowstone National Park, 2010
Amazingly, these newborn bison calves are already testing newly discovered legs just hours after birth.
27-MAY-2010
On the road, Yellowstone National Park, 2010
The final image in this bison sequence within this photo-essay features the heart of a herd of buffalo heading directly towards us, with the newborn calves keeping up the pace and the adult bisons guarding their progress. I made this image through the front window of a car while stalled in traffic waiting for the herd to clear the road near the Madison River.
25-MAY-2010
Newborn bear cub, Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
Bears are quite secretive during the day -- most of them rest and forage deep in the forest. Yet we saw this mother Black Bear and her newborn cub grazing in a field of dead trees, at a considerable distance from the road. Using a 400mm lens, and cropping my image in half, I was able to picture them here grazing on a thin green band of grass, surrounded at front and back by a fallen forest probably produced by a violent windstorm.
26-MAY-2010
Honeycomb Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
The violent eruptions of Yellowstone’s many geysers are crowd pleasers. I waited for eight tourists to gather at the foot of this erupting geyser and made this image to demonstrate both the force and scale of the event.
27-MAY-2010
Ice breaks up on Lake Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
Lake Yellowstone is North America’s largest mountain lake. It is 20 miles long, and can be as deep as 430 feet. During the winter, it freezes over. We were there as the ice was breaking up, the blue sky reflected in the patches of frigid water. I watched the body language of the tourists viewing the lake from Pumice Point and made this image at the most expressive moment. Snow may still blanket the distant peaks, yet there is no doubt that spring has come as well.
27-MAY-2010
Castle Geyser, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
A rising sun puts the force of this erupting geyser into contrast with a partially overcast sky. My 14mm wideangle lens stretches the scene wide and tall enough to embrace the height of the column of water and the surrounding terrain. This image opens a four-picture sequence that boldly symbolizes the beauty and grandeur of the vertical works of nature here at Yellowstone.
27-MAY-2010
Lone pine, Yellowstone Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is 1000 feet deep. Hot water acting on volcanic rock created the canyon’s distinctive colors. To create this second image in the four-picture sequence, I found a narrow tall pine standing alone on the side of the canyon and moved my camera position so that it fit neatly within the vertical streak of white rock on the opposite side of the canyon. Outlined against that band of contrasting color, it seems to soar even higher.
26-MAY-2010
Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
The third image in this series of vertical thrusts is a long vertical trail of brilliantly colored calcified rock that characterizes the stunning beauty of the Grand Prismatic Spring. The largest hot spring in the United States, it is known for its vivid colors, the result of pigmented bacteria in the microbial mats that grow around the edges of mineral-rich water. The color varies by season, and with the coming of spring, the orange and red colors replace the winter mats of dark green.
27-MAY-2010
The Yellowstone River, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
This image concludes the penultimate four-picture sequence of the powerful vertical thrusts that mark nature’s imprint on Yellowstone. The force of the Yellowstone River as it courses through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is evident in the surging white water that fills the gorge following the snowmelt each spring.
27-MAY-2010
The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2010
The final image of this photo-essay offers a strikingly different vision of one of the most photographed vistas in the world. Normally, photographers are likely to concentrate on the thundering Upper Falls and its relationship to the Yellowstone River. I’ve done this myself on previous visits to the Park. (See
http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/zooming ) In this case, however, I wanted the scene to work more as a symbol of the coming of spring, a visual story of growth and regeneration. And so I used a 14mm wideangle focal length to devote over half the image to the powerfully symbolic burst of clouds high over the scene. The mighty falls and the river that flows from it are minimized here, becoming mere context for the cloudscape, instead of the subject itself. A closer look reveals spots of melting snow, and a screen of foliage frames the scene in the foreground. The image works as a metaphor for the coming of spring to Yellowstone, and this scene offers a perfect context for it.