A Photographer's Adventures in Yellowstone
A Photographer's Adventures in Yellowstone
As an aspiring wildlife photographer, I’m always looking for natural areas teeming with wildlife. And while there’s no shortage of birds and other wildlife in the woods and parks surrounding my home in northern Virginia, I’ve been thrilled to aim my lens at more unusual animals who are further afield.
Four years ago, I branched out from landscape to wildlife photography. My husband, Mark Cohen, and I both purchased long lenses for our cameras and began learning how to take photos of animals, which is challenging because of their movement and unpredictability. After taking a lot of portrait-style shots of wildlife standing still or moving slowly, I was very pleased when I finally managed to catch some photos of birds in flight a few months ago at Merritt Island in Florida. So next my husband and I took it up a notch by participating in a winter photography workshop in Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone: Teeming with Wildlife
Yellowstone is certainly a photographer’s dream. Surprises are waiting around every corner. Yellowstone has been appropriately nicknamed “North America’s Serengeti” and it contains the largest concentration of free-roaming wildlife in the lower 48 states, including foxes, coyotes, gray wolves, bighorn sheep, pronghorn, elk, eagles, bison, moose, and more. I was eager to add photos of some of these animals to my growing portfolio.
Taking good wildlife photos in Yellowstone during the wintertime is not for the faint of heart, nor for someone who’s unfamiliar with the park and its animals. The conditions can be very challenging, to say the least. Also, it’s important to be in the right place at the right time, when the lighting is good and the animals are active. Therefore, I knew that the best way to achieve a successful trip was to find an experienced guide who knows the park intimately and understands where various animals are likely to be found.
And so it was that Mark (shown in the photo below) and I signed up for a week-long photography workshop offered by Action Photo Tours and led by Juan Pons and Kevin McNeal. Juan is a professional wildlife and nature photographer who has guided photographers in Yellowstone for 20 consecutive seasons. He understands the behavior of the animals and knows the best vantage points for capturing them with a camera. As a perfect complement to Juan, Kevin is a successful landscape photographer who was well equipped to help us find the most interesting and colorful landscape compositions in Yellowstone.
Getting Ready Was Half of the Fun
As the trip date approached, I spent several weeks somewhat nervously engaged in intense preparations for the workshop. I worried about warm clothing and supplemented my usual ski outfit with a hat that had a fake-fur lining and ear flaps, and the end effect of all the layers was that I looked like the Stay-Puft marshmallow man. I found special boots that had grippy Michelin soles and a high-tech lining that would reflect my body heat back. I bought some innovative, waterproof mittens that featured a magnetic seam across the top, which could be opened to liberate liner gloves that were touch-screen sensitive. I lubricated my tripod with graphite powder for smoother functioning. I obtained an external hard drive for my laptop and loaded it with Adobe Lightroom so that I could process my photos at the end of each day. And when it was finally time to fly to Montana, I packed my camera bag with my favorite Canon camera body (plus a spare), along with lenses that ranged from wide angle to long zoom.
Long, Exciting Days in the Field
Our tour group was small, with only six students and the two instructors. At Juan’s insistence, we learned to be perpetually prepared for wildlife sightings. Understanding the importance of keeping a respectful distance from all the animals that we saw, we used long lenses that would still enable us to capture the whiskers on coyotes and the textured antlers of moose. Every morning we mounted those long zoom lenses on our cameras before entering the van, and we kept our gear on our laps for rapid deployment all day long. We stashed spare camera batteries and memory cards in our coat pockets, and we tucked hand warmers into our gloves and our boots. We soon learned how to pile out of the van quickly when someone spotted an animal on the surrounding hills or plains.
Our week-long trip consisted of two segments. For several days we were based at the park’s northern entrance, and from there we explored Mammoth Hot Springs, with its picturesque travertine terraces, and the wildlife-filled Lamar Valley.
Then in the middle of the week we boarded a yellow snowcoach and entered the park’s interior, where the snow on the roads is groomed rather than plowed. Our base of operations for those days was the rustic-yet-comfortable Old Faithful Snow Lodge, located a stone’s throw away from that famous thermal feature.
As previously mentioned, surprises are around every corner in Yellowstone, and here are my top five highlights from that week.
Top Five Highlights
1. A wolf attack. As we drove around Yellowstone, our workshop leaders shared “intell” about wildlife sightings with other people at the park’s turnouts and roadside toilets. And that is how we heard about a pack of gray wolves on a roadside floodplain in the Lamar Valley. Wolves can be hard to spot in Yellowstone, often appearing as tiny specks on the surrounding hills, so we were excited to have the chance to see them somewhat closer.
We drove to where they’d been seen, and soon we found wolf biologists standing in the snow on the side of the road with spotting scopes. Using our long lenses, we could see several wolves in the floodplain below, along with a lone, female elk who was standing in a nearby field of sagebrush. We could also see that there was a sentry wolf located a short distance away from the elk, watching her closely. We learned from the wolf spotters that the elk had already been injured by a couple of the wolves, and that her demise was almost certain. Eventually, we were joined by other photographers and wolf watchers, and thus there was a small crowd of us watching from a safe distance on the hillside above the floodplain.
I had mixed feelings about it at the time, as I felt both sadness for the elk, who was presumably frightened, confused, and in pain -- and fascination at watching the strategy of the wolves. After what seemed like a long time, the sentry wolf made his move, running swiftly through the sagebrush and across the snow. He approached the wary elk and circled her repeatedly, while she did her best to elude him and fight back. But in the end, she was exhausted and weakened, and the wolf prevailed. At that moment, all of us who were watching the pursuit let out a simultaneous groan of dismay for the unfortunate elk, even though we had all known that this was how the drama would end.
While I was saddened for the elk, I felt no anger toward the wolves. I know that the wolves need to eat, and they only kill to feed themselves. They don't kill for sport, as some humans do. I also understood that the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone has restored the ecological balance and has improved conditions for many other species. Predation is a reality in nature, and as an aspiring wildlife photographer, I now understand that I might sometimes witness these kinds of dramatic, emotionally-charged incidents.
2. Frosty trees and bison. Photographers who are willing to get up before sunrise on a very cold day in Yellowstone can be rewarded by frosty trees and bison. With temperatures in the range of -10 degrees Fahrenheit on some of the mornings while we were in Yellowstone, conditions were perfect for finding frosty trees and bison (although we paid the uncomfortable price when it came time to use the unheated pit toilets). Formation of hoar frost requires very cold nights, during which the moisture from Yellowstone’s thermal features can condense and freeze on the trees and on the bison. The result is truly magical, producing a sparkling coat of beautifully-textured frost. The magic is transitory, because it’s gone as soon as the bison stand up and shake, or as soon as the rising sun hits the trees. And it’s challenging to work the camera controls with frozen fingers when the temperatures are so bitterly cold. Yet while it’s tempting to stay in bed until the weather warms up a bit, the resulting photos are well worth giving up some extra time under the covers.
3. America’s national bird. It’s no wonder that the bald eagle was chosen as America’s national bird, although apparently the wild turkey was a strong contender. And with a 7-foot wingspan, eagles are majestic and powerful. One day we were lucky enough to see an adult eagle perched on a dead tree alongside a river, surveying the area for potential prey. The snowy conditions on that day provided a perfect backdrop for the beautiful bird.
4. Who’s watching who? Despite the respectful distances that we maintained whenever animals were nearby, there were several times when they apparently noticed us. Some of my favorite shots from the trip show animals looking back over their shoulders to see what we might be doing.
5. Sunrises and sunsets. All photographers know that the lighting is softer and more golden at the beginning and end of each day. Accordingly, our long days in the park were bookended by opportunities for dramatic sunrises and sunsets. On several occasions, the skies lit up with color, and Yellowstone offered dramatic features that reflected those beautiful tones or provided foreground interest.
I hope that these highlights convey at least some of the adventure and beauty that awaits photographers in Yellowstone. Our first national park is truly one of America’s best ideas.
If this trip sounds interesting to you, Action Photo Tours is now taking signups for the Winter in Yellowstone workshop in 2024. Sign up soon, as the available spaces will fill up quickly.
~Leigh Scott
All photos by Leigh Scott except:
1) Photo of me that was taken by my husband, Mark Cohen;
2) The group shot that was taken by Doug, our snowcoach driver.