Back from Wyoming

Got back last Saturday 7/23 in the mid afternoon. Good trip back in Wyoming but lots of those damn mosquitoes and it drove me out a day or so early. That allowed me to actually go through Yellowstone park and visit my folks for a couple nights back in Cody.

Then headed back to Jackson, WY, to catch up with the rest of the crew and have night in Jackson checking things out and Friday AM on 7/22 headed home! I made it to John Day, OR, were I spent the night before pushing home last Saturday. After going through the Hwy 26 drive of Oregon, I saw some excellent mountain areas that I think will have to go back and hike and do some camping or something. Looks like excellent Elk territory and I have heard there are some Mt. goats up in some of those eastern Oregon ranges.

I'll post a shot or two of the Tetons hopefully by the end of this weekend.

Tim -

Getting Ready - Wyoming One Week away

As I type this on this Friday evening (7/8) I think that in one week I should be in Twin Falls, ID catching a nights rest before pushing into Wyoming in the Bridger-Teton Wilderness area to do some backpacking with my brothers and few friends. We'll be heading out of the Pacific Creek Drainage and do about 5 days in the back country.

I would like to get some good photos while there of any animals that want to come near our motley crew but will not mind keeping distance between us and any Grizzly Bears. I have had the wonderful experience of being within about 40 yards of a Sow/cub several years ago and was glad they took off to the trees. I have done some photos from the road in Yellowstone and that is good enough. Enjoy from a distance! I definitely should get some decent landscapes though.

I will have to make some serious lens choice as I want to minimize weight of my gear as I will be humping around my food, water, sleeping bag/pad, extra weather gear and either all of a tent or part of the tent if I can get a tent roomie to share the load.

I will try and post something a day or two prior to leaving. Will get some shots out as soon as I return from the trip.

Thanks for checking in! Tim

Humming Along....

Okay, so a lot of the time I would prefer to be taking photos of large, medium or even smaller landscapes or even larger animals to include people's pets. Then there are times when you have to just shoot what is there and most of the time I will take a camera in my bag to work with me. This way if there is anything to capture or maybe while taking a walk at lunch there will be something I can shoot it and see if I like it later.

Back in February some of the ladies in the office set up a humming bird feeder outside the Westerly windows in our building. Surprisingly the humming birds did visit considering this was next to an open ally which also was next to a large parking lot, mostly vacant that time of year. All of this was just on the Northerly border going into the greater downtown Salem area.

I was able to be within 10 feet of the feeder and using an Tamron 18-200 on my Pentax Kx (back up camera) I got a few shots. This is one with the hummer taking on some nice sugar water that was freshly prepared for them.

I am glad the little critter sat still long enough for a few shots. Enjoy. Tim -

Memorial Day & the end of May

Another month is wrapping up and had the day off in honor of Memorial Day! I thank my fellow veterans who have served, continue to serve and the ones who did not return from the service of their country.

Got in a couple nice bike rides this weekend and checked out some more lands in Polk county Oregon to think about doing some shooting. Didn't get out this long weekend and should have but will hope a few fields I saw a couple weekends ago will still be blooming with some reddish clover looking vegetation?

I have put in a shot of some Big Horn Sheep - Rams as they were grazing this past March just outside Yellowstone Park in Wyoming. I again was battling some shade on these and not using the fastest lens for the conditions but that is all experience and not carrying extra cameras with other lenses. I hope you will enjoy the shot. I will be looking to hit some of the local NWR areas in the area and get some new shots of animals and landscapes!

Tim -

A Younger Ewe

Sometime back in April I had the one shot of the Bison posted and mentioned that I may get some shots of the other game animals that we had an opportunity to photograph. Well, here we go with a tighter shot of a young ewe working on the grasses among the snow.

I carried with me my Sigma 70-200/f.28 as my main lens this day so everything is shot with that and it reacts pretty well in some of the shade conditions which this one was. As these animal's congregate in the drainage's for the water during the day then head back up in the evening I had to deal with some taller walls of stone on either side of the drainage. We actually will do quite a bit of shooting not to far off the Highway 20 that runs into Yellowstone from Cody, WY.

In March it would become quite a bit of work to heft gear back for a days shooting but would be nicer knowing that most of the bears are still in hibernation (hopefully!).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the shot and you can find more out at my website, there is a link over on the right column to lead you there!

Tim