Bison in Yellowstone's Lamar Valley - Summer 2009
I‘ll be in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks this week. The primary focuses of this trip are on the fall colors at Grand Teton National Park, and on the wildlife of the Lamar Valley in the northeast corner of Yellowstone National Park.
In Grand Teton National Park, I’ll be hitting all of the usual photographer’s spots: Schwabacher Landing, Oxbow Bend, Snake River Overlook, Mormon Row, etc… In addition, I’ll also be visiting some new locations – locations that I did not visit during my last trip to the Tetons, and some locations where groves of aspen trees and cottonwood trees are predominantly present. The peak of the fall colors traditionally occurs around the middle to end of September, and attracts all sorts of photographers. Based on what I’ve been told about previous years, I expect it to be a zoo of photographers (particularly at dawn in many of the key locations).
In Yellowstone National Park, my focus will be on the Lamar Valley’s extraordinary wildlife. The beautiful, expansive, and remote valley is considered by many the prime wildlife viewing location in the United States, outside of Alaska. It is my hope that the cooler autumn temperatures see many of the park’s wildlife move to lower elevations where they can be more easily seen as they prepare for the upcoming harsh winter in Yellowstone. I will be staying a lot closer to the Lamar Valley on this trip, so it will be much easier for me to gain access to the Valley at dawn and stay late for the best wildlife viewing opportunities. To take advantage of photographing wildlife, I will be taking a rented Canon EF 500mm f/4.0 L IS USM Lens up with me. In addition, I may catch whatever is remaining of the fall elk rut (mating season), or the wildlife in the Hayden Valley.
Another miscellaneous focus of my trip will be on landscape photography, and in particular, testing my new graduated neutral density filters.
Blogging during my trip will be very minimal (if any at all). I’ll be posting Twitter updates as cell phone reception permits. As always, all photos shared during this time will be ones taken with my iPhone. Upon my return, I will begin processing the photos that I took and posting them on Flickr gradually.
Grand Teton Autumn Links:
http://www.kapplemultimedia.com/tetons-flash.htm
http://www.nps.gov/grte/planyourvisit/fallcolor.htm
Yellowstone Lamar Valley Wildlife Links:
