The photo above of Lake Hotel in Yellowstone National Park is a photo that I've had in the works for about two years.

This is an image I've wanted to take for a while now due to a couple of factors; the historic nature and importantce of the building, and I sell photos here so I hoped it would be a good seller.  But I didn't want just a stagnant photo of the hotel without any uninteresting elements, such as a boring sky or foreground.  I knew I wanted this shot to be at sunset so I could have a colorful sky and I knew I wanted to take the shot in July as that's when there are nice wildflowers growing around the hotel.

Sounds easy enought, right?  Well, for a colorful sunset, I need clouds.  The problem I've had is that clouds in July usually meant thunderstorms and high winds.  This meant the flowers were blowing around and wouldn't be sharp during a long exposure.  Also, if the thunderstorm didn't break right at sunset, then there would be no color.  Last week, a fire about seven miles away put up some smoke that I thought might be colorful at sunset.  This incentive had me out to try the shot, but it wasn't the smoke that worked.  As sunset neared, the smoke disippated but some clouds moved in.  As I moved around finding interesting compositions, I located the lupines seen in the foreground.  I immediately knew this was the composition I wanted.  So after about two years of waiting for a good wildflower bloom in the right place, and for a colorful sunset to coincide with those blooms, I have the image I've been after.  The photo was debuted in a number of sizes in the Lake Hotel gift shop and was an immediate success.  The image was shot with a Canon 5D Mk II and a 17-40mm lens.  Lens was stopped down to about f16 and a shutterspeed of 1/10.

Well, here's another report that is unfortunate.  A bear attacked three campers near Cooke City last night, killing one person and injuring two others.  Details are still sketchy.  The attack occurred sometime between midnight and 4 am at the Soda Butte Campground just outside Cooke City, Montana, on National Forest lands.  A link to the story can be found here   and here.  As more information is released, I'll post an update.

I haven't really updated my entry here as there's been a lot of exposure to this unfortunate incident.  Q2 in Billings has been updating their website often and I have linked to them.   A sow grizzly was captured in a trap set up at the campground and if DNA testing confirms she made the attacks, then she will be euthanized.  Her one year old cubs may be sent to zoos.  Three people were attacked in three different tents at the Soda Butte Campground near Cooke City, Montana.  One victim was killed the other two were treated at a hospital in Cody.

I will be signed prints in the Lobby of the Old Faithful Inn this week, on July 22nd from 5 pm to 9 pm.  So if anyone is in Yellowstone, stop by and say hi.  I'll be doing the same at Lake Hotel on July 29th.  I'd also like to once again thank everyone who has purchased prints this summer at any of the four gift shops in Yellowstone where they can be purchased.

On a side note, I finally traded in my Nissan Pathfinder, which I've owned for over ten years.  It had over 200,000 miles on it and had served me well, making trips to Washington state, South Dakota, Utah, along with plenty of trips through Montana and Wyoming.  Below is a photo I took of it on the last road trip I made in this vehicle, a trip to Badlands National Park back in March.  It was undoubtedly the best car I've owned.

One one last side note, that's way off topic from photography, Yellowstone, or anything I usually write about.  The other night I had an opportunity to watch a Polish movie called "Katyn".  Americans may know this name as the Polish President, along with over 100 Polish dignitaries were killed in a plane crash this year as they  were flying to Katyn Forest for a memorial service honoring the Polish officers murdered there.  The movie illustrates what happened at Katyn in a very moving way.  It's a part of history from World War 2 that is largely ignored by most western countries, though over 20,000 Polish military officers were murdered.  The Soviets denied any involvement in the murders until 1990, blaming it on the Germans.  In 1990, the Soviets took responsibility for the murders, though citing much lower the number of victims.  The Allies, Great Britian and the US, both officially stated they believed the Germans committed the crimes despite having evidence to the contrary.  They most likely took this stance as they didn't want a prolonged war against the Soviets.  The movie doesn't portray the politic aspects just mentioned, rather it focuses more on the human element of the people affected.  It is a very moving telling of the crimes and one that should be seen by everyone as it details this one aspect from the tragic and difficult history of Poland.   More on Katyn can be found here.

Summer finally seems to have arrived in Yellowstone.  Warmer temperatures and sunny days are bringing out wildflowers.  As the mountain snows melt, rivers run high and wildlife moves into the higher elevations to escape the biting insects and to find fresh graze.  Summer crowds come and the roads are busy, especially when a bison or elk is nearby.  All of things can make photography a little more difficult.  Here's a few images and some information on how they were made.

The above photo is of Yellowstone Lake.  The sky promised some nice color at sunset, so I headed off to find an interesting place to shoot.  The nice thing about Yellowstone Lake is that there are many places to access it from and rarely will you have to share the spot with anyone else.  The reflecting color was really nice in the still waters.  I used two lenses to shoot on this evening, a Canon 17-40 and then a Sigma 50-500.  These two lenses gave me a lot of shooting options and allowed me to frame my shots in many ways.  The scene was shot using an evaluative metering of the whole scene.

This next photo of two elk calves at play was a bit more tricky.  The light was harsh as it was closer to midday and the calves are also slightly backlit.  I used the Sigma 50-500, shooting from my car window.  This opportunity lasted only a few minutes.  The elk were in Mammoth and I had to pull over into a parking spot and shot out of my car window.  I set my aperture so that the shutterspeed would be fast enough to stop the action but still have enough depth of field to keep both elk in focus.

Finally, this little guy was photographed near Norris Campground.  Again, I was shooting out of my car window with a 500mm lens.  When shooting from a car window, I use a bean bag designed for photography and brace my lens on it.  This is very effective for getting sharp shots.  The calf moved in closer than I anticipated and I didn't have time to switch to a shorter lens, so I tried to frame this in a pleasing way while not losing the face.  Again, I used a fast shutterspeed to stop the motion.

The real trick to getting nice photos in Yellowstone, even in summer, is just to be out.  Early and late in the day provides nice light and also helps to escape the crowds a little.  Light can be harsh in the middle of the day, unless there's some cloud cover, so this is a good time to scout out areas for wildlife or interesting scenics.  When traveling through the park, I always keep a camera with a telephoto lens ready.

It still doesn't seem like July in Yellowstone.  Flowers are just starting to bloom throughout the lower elevations and also on the slopes of Mount Washburn.  Meanwhile, management issues and people speeding on park roads have accounted for five bear fatalities this summer already.  Bears are still being seen regularly.  Their typical food sources haven't sprouted much yet, so they seem to still be in late spring habitat rather than their summer ranges.  I am noticing more clover and biscuit root however, so this should take bears into their summer ranges soon.  A carcass in Alum Creek on the north edge of Hayden Valley has drawn large crowds for a few days now.  The wolf kill was taken over by the sow with three cubs I mentioned earlier.  Viewing distance is several hundred yards or more and many park visitors are getting a glimpse of these creatures.  I passed up this sight and headed up Dunraven again last night, where the sow with two cubs continues to be seen regularly.  Rangers were hazing her away from the road with cracker rounds, but I still was able to get a few photos of her and the little ones.  The photo below was taken last week, I haven't processed the shots from yesterday yet.  But it's the same bear family. 

The NPS did euthanize a cinnamon black bear that had been hanging around the Lake Area.  Reportedly it trashed a tent at Bridge Bay Campground and was following hikers on the Elephant Back Trail.  Information on this bad news can be found here Habituated Yellowstone Black Bear Euthanized.  This is the third bear killed as a result of management issues this season, including the bear euthanized as a result of the fatal mauling outside the park mentioned in another post.

Other bear news on the NPS website includes a second bear that was killed in a hit and run automoble incident.  This one involved a black bear that was killed when stuck by a car in the northern part of Yellowstone.  Information can be found here Black Bear Victim Of Hit And Run Accident.  Finally, Norris campground is being limited to hardsided camping only, due to bear activity.  Information can be found here Bears Active Around Norris Campground.  Hopefully the bears mentioned in this article can be safely relocated without any further incident.  The Norris to Mammoth corridor has been a hot bed of grizzly activity the last couple of years, hopefully people and bears can coexist in this part of the park without incident.