Yellowstone National Park

I'm going to begin this blog by saying that Yellowstone National Park is one of the most amazing places I've ever been and if you ever get a chance to go, please do.

Now I guess I should explain the circumstances that lead me to Yellowstone...

On January 24th, I got a call from my Grandpa. My father had passed away. I flew back home to Windsor, Ontario on monday the 25th and began planning the funeral and all that other stuff associated with a death...not fun. Being that I'm the executor of my fathers estate, I've had a lot of responsibilities thrown my way. In order to deal with all this stuff properly, I have to be in Windsor.

I now had to figure out a way to move home, and already being home made that kind of tricky. Flying back to Vancouver would be expensive and I would have to either rent a U-Haul truck or ship my stuff home, which is also very expensive. It turned out the cheapest way for me to get back to Vancouver and get my stuff home was to drive. My stepdad was generous enough to let me use his truck and that was it...now time to plan my route.

It would have been nice to check out all the provinces since I have never made that drive before but I decided to drive through the U.S.A. instead. It's a more direct route and the gas is cheaper. As I was mapping out my journey, I noticed my route would take me fairly close to Yellowstone National Park. If the Discovery Channel has taught me anything, it's that Yellowstone is a place you just can't pass up.

So that's how I ended up in Yellowstone. Ready to hear what it was like???

Ready or not, here it goes...

If the Discovery Channel has taught me anything about Yellowstone, I was in for a day of watching Bison grazing in roadside meadows, Bighorn Sheep head-butting on rocky slopes, and packs of wolves hunting down weak Elk. Now I may not have seen the above mentioned animals doing what the DC depicts them doing, but I did see all of those species, and then some. In the winter there's only one road open to wheeled vehicles. It's the road at the north end of the park that goes from Mammoth to Cooke City. There's no loop so you basically drive to Cooke City and back. That drive took about 6hrs in total including stopping to take photos...in that 6 hrs, I saw the following animals:

Elk

American Bison

Pronghorn Antelope

River Otters

Bald Eagles

Wolves(2)

Coyotes(3)

Bighorn Sheep(1)

I guess it's time for the photos.....so here ya go

Coyote with a mouse

1/3000 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm, -0.5ev

American Bison

1/2000 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 400mm, -0.5ev

1/1500 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 400mm

1/4000 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 100mm, -0.5ev

Elk

1/350 @ f/8, ISO 400, 350mm, +0.5ev

Bald Eagle

1/1000 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm, -0.5ev

Bighorn Sheep

1/3000 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm

1/1500 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm

River Otters

1/1500 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm

1/1500 @ f/8, ISO 400, 400mm

Wolf....from really far away. Not a great photo by any means but it was the first one I've ever seen so I had to capture it.

1/8000 @ f/5.6, ISO 400, 400mm

Thanks for reading!

www.brandonbroderick.com

Rainy Day Eagles

Rain, rain, rain. Lately, that's all it's been doing here in Vancouver. And on the days that it's not raining, I'm at work, so I haven't done much shooting this month. Today I gave in and decided to brave the elements to hopefully get some photos of Bald Eagles.

A co-worker/photographer/writer, Ryan Frawley (http://www.ryanfrawley.com/) has been talking lately of a place near Harrison where there are tons of eagles and today we headed out there to try and find some to photograph.

Neither of us knew if the eagles would be very active due to the constant downpour but with optimism leading the way, we headed to Harrison.

As soon as we pulled up to the spot we knew immediately that we would get a few photos. This photo below is unedited and merely to show the amount of eagles we came across. Anybody care to count 'em up??

1/1000 @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 105 mm

So once the "evidence" photo was out of the way, it was time to get serious and photograph some eagles. The first eagle we spotted was hanging out atop a post in the river.

1/750 @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 400mm

Shortly after that, there were a few eagles flying around and we were able to snap a few quick shots of them. They were out further than I normally like to shoot, but distant shots are good too because they place the eagle in its natural setting.

1/750 @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 400mm

1/1000 @ f/5.6, ISO 1250, 400mm

After those 2 flight shots, the action died down a bit so I took one more shot of a few on posts and it was time to hit the road.

1/125 @ f/11, ISO 800, 300mm, +1.0ev

With photo gear and rain gear packed up, it was time to head home... or was it? As we rounded a turn in the road, we saw one last photo opportunity, and it ended up being one of my favorite eagle photos I've taken. The rain may complicate many things when it comes to photography. It can damage your gear, it can make for an uncomfortable time, and it also means that it's cloudy out, and therefore lighting isn't the greatest. And since lighting isn't the greatest, settings need to be set in a way that is normally not ideal such as high ISO and a slower shutter speed. The rain also cuts down on visibility and the further away the subject is, the more rain between it and your camera, and the photo loses detail. But in this photo below the rain actually ends up having a positive effect on the photo by giving it a certain mood and despite all the negative things I've just mentioned about shooting in the rain, I'm definitely going to do it more often.

1/180 @ f/5.6, ISO 800, 400mm

www.brandonbroderick.com