A day off = A day in the woods!

(Above: Mt. Sophie fire tower framed by Maple trees)

This time of year, if its my day off from work and its a beautiful day, it means that I'm probably going to be spending the whole day out in the woods. And that's exactly what I did today. I spent all day wandering around the local logging roads and looking for fall color and any other interesting things I might come across.



(Above: Maple leaf on fern)

(Below: Fall colors and sun)

(Below: Moon Trees, Woodcock frozen in the headlights from my car)

Turbulent Sunrise

I woke early this morning to shoot my first sunset on Lake Superior in over a month. There had been a good wind blowing all night long, which meant there would be some nice waves to shoot. I actually wasn't sure if the sun would even show or not. It was pretty cloudy when I left the house, but not long after arriving at this location the sun came out from behind the clouds and gave me some nice color and some great light.

The guys behind the lens

And here's a rare treat... a couple photos of the guy behind the lens :-)



(Above: Me at Grand Teton National Park - Photo by Gary "Jake" Jacobson)

(Below: Me at Swan Lake, Yellowstone National Park - Photo by Gary "Jake" Jacobson)



(Below: Stuart and I under the elk antler arch in Jackson, Wyoming - Photo by Stuart Dahne)



(Below: Jake and Stuart in Yellowstone National Park)



I had a blast with these guys photographing in Yellowstone and the Tetons. Thanks again guys for one heck of an awesome trip! Jake and Stuart are both fantastic photographers... do yourself a favor and check out their work:

Jake's website: http://www.frozenshutter.com/

Stuart's website: http://www.stuartdahnephotography.com/

Enjoy!

Sunset at Schwabacher's Landing

Just when I thought the entire trip was going to go by without having any decent clouds, the planets aligned and for my last sunset of the trip we had fantastic clouds and color over the Teton Mountains! Our decision on where to shoot sunset on this evening was kind of up in the air, so I suggested going back to Schwabacher's Landing and giving it a try. Normally known as a better spot for sunrise shooting, the other morning when we were there I couldn't help but think that this would be a good spot for sunset as well. I always like to have moving water in my shots when possible, and I thought the water just below the beaver dam would make for a great foreground for a sunset shot.



Another element which added some drama to the scene was some smoke and haze from a nearby prescribed burn that was going on elsewhere in the valley. The Tetons were sort of "trapping" this haze on the east side of the mountains, which really helped to catch some extra color from the setting sun. It was a phenomenal sunset to witness. I only hope I was able to catch at least some of that feeling in these images.

An interesting thing that happened is that as soon as the "best" of the light started to fade, all of the other photographers started packing up their gear and leaving. The last one to walk by me stopped and said "Well, the lights gone now." I replied: "Not at all! There's still at least half an hour of good light left!" "Well, if you say so....." the man replied. He wished me well then retreated to his car. I spent close to another hour shooting after than encounter. The image below was made almost 40 minutes after that other photographer proclaimed the "good" light to be gone.



After shooting the sunset I parted ways with Jake and Stuart, thanking them for an incredible time. We had loads of fun shooting together. They went back to the hotel, and I hit the road since I had to be back in time to work Saturday morning. It was a short trip, but a great trip nonetheless. I can't wait to go back!

Aerial Afternoon

It looks like fun, but I don't think I would ever do it :-) Heights don't really bother me, but the thought of hanging in mid-air with nothing under my feet makes me kinda woozy. The hotel we were staying at in Teton Village was right at the base of the ski hill, and the cable car that goes to the top of the mountain was right behind our hotel. These guys were taking the cable car up the mountain, then sailing down and landing in a small field right across from the parking lot of our hotel. I'm guessing it was an instructional course, as some of them were doubled up.

This afternoon Stuart and I decided to take a drive to the town of Jackson (Jake opted for some nap time back at the hotel), which was only a few miles away. One of the tail lights on my car had burned out, and since I was heading for home after shooting sunset I wanted to have that fixed. So, we drove into town to look for an auto parts store and on the way back we came across this Osprey nest which was just off the road. Stuart has an eye for spotting birds and he noticed it well before I did. We pulled over to watch the nest for awhile, and were lucky enough to see an Osprey carrying a fish in its claws.

Sunrise on Mormon Row

Another beautiful morning... and another crowd of photographers! This is certainly not something that I am used to... usually when I am out shooting back home its just me out there, by myself. Its kind of nice, though, on occasion, to shoot in places where other photographers gather. It certainly makes for interesting conversation and sometimes new friends are made.



Odds are, if you've seen images from Grand Teton National Park before, then you've probably seen pictures of this barn before. Its sort of a rite of passage for photographers visiting the Tetons... if you're in the area, even if you don't normally shoot old barns or buildings, you feel compelled to shoot this one. It definitely is a photogenic location, without a doubt.



This barn is located in an area of the park known as "Mormon Row", so named because the barns and cabins represent some historic Mormon settlements.

Night sky over the Teton Range

(Above: Deer at sunset near the Snake River)

We were pretty tired after our long day in Yellowstone and our early morning of shooting the Teton Mountains, so we decided to take it easy in the afternoon and just spend some time relaxing in our suite back at the hotel. Which, by the way, was really an incredible place. If you are planning on visiting the Tetons and looking for a REALLY NICE place to stay, check out Hotel Terra (http://www.hotelterrajacksonhole.com/). Its pricey, but if you have a couple of friends to split the cost with, its not so bad.



After getting some rest, we headed back out for sunset. We decided to try Oxbow Bend, another popular place... a bit too popular, as it turns out. When we arrived at Oxbow Bend the parking area was full and the cars were lined up on the sides of the road for quite a ways in both directions. The area was crawling with people, so we just drove past and turned on the next road we came to, which was a gravel road on the left. This road went for a little over a mile and ended up at the Snake River, just upstream from Oxbow Bend. We walked around a little bit, and just decided to head back to Oxbow Bend after the crowds were gone. Our focus this evening was going to be shooting the night sky and the stars. Thinking ahead, I was looking for nice foreground subjects for the star shooting to come later, and thought that the tree in the image above might fit the bill.




We waited until about half an hour after sunset then headed back to Oxbow Bend. Almost all of the cars were gone; only a few remained. We had enough light to make some really nice exposures of the river with Mt. Moran in the distance. An added bonus was the moon, which provided some extra drama to some of the shots:

I know Stuart and Jake were excited to do some night shooting with me... and me, well... I'm always game for staying up late and shooting the night sky :-) We had a perfect night for it, clear skies and no wind! And to top it off, while we were making our long exposures of the sky we could hear bull elk bugling in the distance!!! It was pretty incredible to be sitting under this awesome sky and hearing the mating calls of elk in the distance. Without a doubt, one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

Above and below: 30 second exposures at an aperture of f 4.0, ISO 6400 using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera and Canon EF 17-40mm L lens.

Below: This one was a 29 minute exposure, aperture f 4.0, ISO 100 using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera and Canon EF 17-40mm L lens.

Sunrise at Schwabacher's Landing

After spending a full day, sunrise to sunset, in Yellowstone yesterday, we drove to Teton Village just outside of Jackson, Wyoming where we would be spending the next couple of nights. We got in pretty late, but that didn't stop us from getting up early and heading out to shoot the sunrise. Today's plan was to shoot sunrise at Schwabacher's Landing, one of the iconic photo locations in Grand Teton National Park. Schwabacher's Landing overlooks the Teton Range, with a very photogenic beaver pond in the foreground.



Upon our arrival at Schwabacher's Landing, we saw right away that we certainly weren't going to have the place to ourselves (if that's even possible!). The parking area was already full of vehicles, and we saw what looked to be about 30 photographers already set up along the first couple of bends in the trail. We squeezed our way in between the other photographers and waited for the sun to hit the peaks. After only a few more minutes the tops of the peaks started to glow as the sunlight washed down them from top to bottom. All of a sudden the silence was broken by the sound of dozens of camera shutters clicking one after the other.



Once the sunlight had worked its way to the base of the mountains I started working my way upstream, finding myself stopping again after only traveling a few steps, having seen another composition catch my eye. The going was slow in this special place, as each bend in the trail presented a whole new batch of photo opportunities.

Part-way up the trail I actually ran into someone I know from back home... Don, who owns the camera store in Duluth. He and his wife were there with some friends. I snuck up alongside Don and exhaled rather heavily, then said "Well.... its not Lake Superior, but I guess it'll do!" Don started to mutter a reply, then turned and saw that it was me. "Hey! How are you?" It was a priceless moment :-)

A day in Yellowstone, Part One

Tuesday morning greeted us with bitter cold temperatures... I'm not sure what the temp actually was, but it felt like it was around 20 to 25 degrees. There wasn't a lick of wind, though, and its always good NOT to have wind when its cold! Jake and Stuart already had our sunrise location picked out, which was on a lovely little body of water known as Swan Lake. As we made the drive to Swan Lake, we passed several geothermal areas that were throwing up quite a bit of steam in the cold morning air. It was rather surreal to see all this steam drifting skyward as we passed the geothermal areas... it felt like we were on a different planet.

After shooting sunrise at Swan Lake we made a quick stop at "Roaring Mountain", so named because of the sounds emitted as steam escapes from the many vents along the hillside. Next we drove for a little while and stopped at this small river alongside the road, where we had fun shooting the running water.

One of my favorite things to do when shooting rapidly moving water is to use my telephoto zoom lens to move in tight on sections of the water and create abstract-type images, like the ones seen below:

Once we had our fill of the small river, we headed to a big river... actually THE big river... the Yellowstone River, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Easily one of the most popular places in Yellowstone, we had to take turns with lots of other photographers in order to get the images seen below. It was such a beautiful spot... and such an amazing, powerful waterfall! Lower Falls is 308 feet high, almost twice the height of Niagara Falls.

A day in Yellowstone, Part Two

Well... you can't go to Yellowstone and NOT see Old Faithful, right? Without really knowing the eruption schedule, we got lucky and arrived only 10 minutes before it was supposed to erupt. Sure enough, about 10 minutes after our arrival, the geyser started to spurt a little bit. Everyone got excited, then it stopped spurting. Apparently it has a few false starts :-) After a couple more of these false starts, the real deal started and the geyser was soon shooting quite a ways into the sky. There were easily at least a few hundred people in attendance, which I'm sure is the norm. I found myself wondering what it would be like to shoot the geyser in the moonlight... hmmmm ideas for another trip :-) If you'd like to see a short video clip that I shot of Old Faithful erupting, click here:

http://www.travisnovitsky.com/Video-Clips/Misc-Videos/4207197_KrddQ/1/662766905_EnBbL/Medium

Following the spectacle that is Old Faithful, we took a hike along the boardwalk trail that goes to Morning Glory Pool, passing several geysers and steaming pools along the way. This really is a fantastic hike, one that every visitor to Yellowstone should make. The round-trip hike to Morning Glory Pool really showcases the unique geothermal features of Yellowstone.

(Above and below: Steam from Grotto Geyser rises into the surrounding trees)

(Below: Riverside Geyser and Morning Glory Pool)

(Below: Grotto Geyser at sunset)

Entering Yellowstone

Well, I left work yesterday afternoon at about 2:30, and a little over 24 hours later (including nap times at rest areas along the way), I found myself entering Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming via the northeast entrance. I was invited by my photographer friend Jake from the Twin Cities to partake in this fall trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons. Also joining the journey was our friend Stuart from Maryland. Jake and Stuart left on Saturday right from the Minneapolis airport after Stuart's flight arrived. Our plan was to meet up in Canyon Village in Yellowstone, where we would be staying Monday night.



It turns out that I timed my driving just right to be entering Yellowstone in the early evening. I had beautiful weather for the drive over Beartooth Pass (almost 11,000 feet), and when I came down the other side of the pass I was treated to some nice fall Aspen color along the roadway. I found a nice spot where I could pull over and take a short walk, and was able to frame the trees with the mountains in the background. After shooting the golden Aspens I continued driving and was soon passing through the small town of Cooke City, Montana which is right on the edge of Yellowstone. As I left Cooke City I passed this nice mountain just as the peak was catching the last bit of sunlight of the day. I had just enough time to compose the shot above before the light was gone.



From a previous visit to Yellowstone in 2006, I knew that there was a spot on the Lamar River that was a great spot for sunset... although as I left Cooke City I was doubting whether or not I would get there in time. As it turns out, I arrived at the river just in time to shoot my favorite light, which is the dusk light that occurs shortly after the sun has set.

After about 20 minutes of shooting on the Lamar River the best of the light was gone, and it was time to drive the last few miles to Canyon Village. Along the way, I ran into a couple of "Bison Roadblocks", as seen in the image below.

A few images from the past week...

I haven't been shooting much in the past week, but I have managed to get out and grab a few shots here and there. I am taking a trip to Wyoming next week with a couple of fellow photographer friends, to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, so most of my time in the past week has been spent planning for the trip. The image above is a shot of Partridge Falls at sunset, FINALLY with some nice clouds! I have been trying off and on for the past month to get a nice sunset with clouds above Partridge Falls, and it just hasn't happened... until now! I had to use both of my graduated ND filters (a 3-stop "normal" grad, and a 3-stop reverse grad) to hold back the sky, since the falls and the river gorge are VERY dark in comparison to the sky at this time of day. I was quite happy with the result! One of my favorite images of Partridge Falls thus far.



This image of the fox is one of the same foxes that you may remember from some of my older journal entries. This particular image was taken less than a mile from my house, in the late afternoon light. I was just driving home from work when I spotted this fox at the edge of the woods, so of course I had to stop and take a picture or two. I only took about a half-dozen images, this one being my favorite by far.

Above image: "Tenacious". I chose this title for this clump of grass on the Lake Superior shoreline because I am amazed at how life can find ways to survive in the unlikeliest of places. In a location where there is seemingly nothing but solid rock, this grass still manages to gain a foothold in the thin layer of soil that is wedged in between the rock.

Hollow Rock via kayak

The past week has been soooooooooo nice, weather-wise, and today was no exception. The lake was very calm today, which means that I couldn't resist taking my kayak out for a short trip. I decided to put in at my parents place and paddle over to Hollow Rock. Not a very long distance, but nonetheless a nice stretch of shoreline.

Moonlit Campfire

After shooting along the shoreline of Grand Portage Bay last night, Roger and I headed over to my parents place to have a campfire with them on their beach. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect night for a fire! The lake was incredibly calm, the moon was shining, and the fog was coming in and out of the small cove in front of the house. A good time was had by all!

Moonlight Dreams

This image was made at 9:24 p.m. just as some thick cloud cover was moving in, and also marks the first time that I used my 3-stop SINGH-RAY reverse grad ND filter on a night-time image! The first few images that I made at this location were without the use of any filters, and I just wasn't getting the definition that I wanted along the lower 1/2 of the frame. Everything was just a little too dark, so I decided to try my reverse ND filter. With the use of the filter I got much more definition in the details of the weeds. It also helped to get them to stand out more from the water rather than getting lost in the dark, so to speak.

Another little trick I employed to get the color you see in this image was to experiment with the white balance setting. On auto white balance the colors weren’t coming out the way that I was seeing them, so I started trying different white balance settings. Fluorescent turned out to be the setting that gave me colors closest to what we were actually seeing. Roger Nordstrom was visiting again on this weekend, and as Roger and I were creating images of this piece of shoreline (which is part of Grand Portage National Monument), the soundtrack for our shooting was music from the Bayou Boogie, 1/2 mile down the shore at the casino. As I made this image the performers were doing a rendition of "Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis (which was actually quite good!). I would much rather listen to the music where we were than under the tent. While everybody else was drinkin' and partyin', this image is a sample of what Roger and I were experiencing. I'd much rather be doing this, I must say!

September Moonrise

Another wonderful moonrise over Lake Superior...

What more can I say?

North Lake Minnows

I had a lot of fun with my Canon G10 and Aquapac underwater bag today... I spent about an hour at the edge of North Lake photographing minnows that were in some shallow water. This combination of camera and underwater bag is making for some fun and unique images. Its usage is tricky, however... for about every 10 images that I take I'm lucky if I get one good one. In order to get this image I had to put the camera in macro mode as the minnows were swimming just inches away from the camera. You can also click here to see a short video clip of the minnows: http://www.travisnovitsky.com/Video-Clips/Misc-Videos/4207197_KrddQ/1/637127120_BbS4j/Medium