Category Archives: Nature & Wildlife
Finding the moment: A Day at the Bison Range
I have neglected one of the great natural resources of our area. For too long I have not visited what was once one of my favorite haunts: the National Bison Range at Moiese, MT. It takes only 90 minutes to drive there and if it’s done early in the morning, as I did yesterday, there is little traffic to contend with along the west shore of Flathead Lake, although I did run into school traffic at Pablo and Ronan.
As I approached the main gate from the East I found low-lying fog hugging the potholes and river bottoms around the Ninepipes area, although by the time I arrived at the entrance most evidence of the ethereal wisps were gone except for the shroud above the Flathead River.
The road which runs as a loop (open from May-October) is called the Red Sleep Mountain Drive is a 20 mile stretch of gravel road and takes one to such places as: Headquarters Ridge, Pauline Creek, Elk Park, Bitterroot Trail and Antelope Flats.
Yesterday was a perfect day! I drove the loop twice and was transported to a place I rarely find: solitude in the moment.
105 in dog years
At least once a year, my wife and I take pictures of us as a couple…usually around our anniversary in October. For many years, as I suspect is true for a lot of people, we didn’t have our pictures taken, for many reasons. We were too busy, we were too broke, the kids were never around, and blah, blah, blah. This has changed and I regret not having more images of just Ann and I. There will be a large gap in the pictures taken of us after our wedding until the kids were born. Now they are gone and it’s just us and the dog, Yojii.
What you can’t tell from this image is there is a man on a bicycle on the bridge. He’s talking on his cell phone as he probably couldn’t get cell reception anywhere else. Here is an un-retouched image:
Getting a decent image is always an exercise in gymnastics, track and field (pole vault and broad jump), and dog-whispering. I set the timer on the camera for ten seconds, sprint to where I’ve predetermined my place to be, move the dog to face the camera, smile pretty and wait for the shutter to activate…which at times isn’t very long and we have some very interesting poses! The reason for the massive smiles is because of all that activity.
There are times when we are able to get the dog ‘posed’ and at one time he would pose himself because he could hear the beeping timer on the camera. Those days are gone now because his hearing is gone. On his next birthday he will be 15 years old! That’s 105 in dog years. We’ll miss him when he’s gone…he’s a part of our family.
Blessings, D.
Petite
Leigh Ann DiDomenico, if she were soaking wet, might tip the scales at 95 lbs! However, don’t let this fool you into thinking she’s a lightweight. She’s anything but. This woman is a “commercial print, beauty and petite fashion model”, a psychologist, counselor, nationally ranked slam poet, actress, author, youth mentor, licensed minister and an artist. Not only that, she’s gorgeous, inside and out. Add her to the impressive scenery in Glacier National Park in the rain and her true work ethic comes to the front. In short (no pun intended), she is an Angel.
River Dance
The middle fork of the Flathead River is one of Montana’s premier whitewater rivers and the landscape is world class with the deep emerald greens and sapphire blues of the water. Because of scheduling conflicts the only time we (Keiko and I) could arrange for this shoot was in the evening. My major concern with this location is that it is a very popular ‘swimmin hole’ for locals and park employees…not to mention fisherman, rafters and kayakers. We got all of that and then some. As I had expected Keiko was the consummate professional that I saw in all the dancers from Northwest Ballet Company. The rocky shoreline was trickier than I had expected for footing, but Keiko persevered. Keiko is a two year veteran of the Digitalmontana Ballerina Project.
When we started, the sun was still higher in the sky than I wanted.
But as the shoot progresss the lighting became more even and softer:
The gracefully arched bridge gave us an added architechtural element that reflected the grace and movement of Keiko as she danced along this beautiful stream.
During our shoot, not only did we have many obstacles to work around, like people jumping off the bridge in the background, we also had a special visitor inspect the set:
As the sun dropped below the horizon the light became magical and we shot until it was nearly black:
Thanks, Keiko, for your amazing performance and thanks, also to Megan (from the Avalanche Gorgeous shoot) for providing her help on the set and technical advice to Keiko.
A slideshow with more images can be found here: River Dance. If you do not have the Photodex plug-in you will be asked to install it on your computer. It’s small, easy and safe. It’s a great way of sharing your important slideshows with friends and family. Go see Keiko’s River Dance images!
Blessings! D.
Avalanche Gorgeous
Megan had emailed me last year and wanted to be a part of the first Ballerina Project shoot. Unfortunately, I had already selected four girls to be part of it and, eventually, between Marisa (owner of Northwest Ballet Company) and myself we’d decided we would make this a ‘plum’ for soloists and principals or seniors.
The area for this shoot had been scouted by my wife and myself a few days prior and I contacted Marisa for the schedule and logistics…costuming etc. I wanted to arrive at Avalanche Gorge before the sun came streaming down into the forest bottom and messed with the gorgeous cathedral-like lighting I wanted. Poor Marisa is a night person and my early morning hours have caused her much consternation…with her own shoot in the canola field and now with Megan’s shoot. I’m sure she considered not going, but I’m certainly glad she DID come. Her assistance and technical support was invaluable and besides…she’s a good friend!
I was more than a bit concerned shooting in this area as it is one of the most popular hikes in Glacier National Park and at times seems more like a mall than a mountain trail. What I didn’t want was a crowd of gawkers or someone who would interfere with our shoot. I’m sure they were astounded to find that Glacier Park has the most unusual ‘wildlife’. Marisa, Megan and I felt like an exhibition, but only a few tourists stopped to ask questions; all comments were favorable however, most kept hiking.
I can hardly imagine a more picturesque place in the world, let alone a stage for one of the most beautiful art-forms known to mankind around the world. That day it provided us another visual example of combining two forms of beauty and creating a third…a synergy was created.
Megan added style, grace, athleticism and beauty that I have come to expect from the Northwest Ballet Company members, but this shoot was hers alone. Welcome to the Ballerina Project, Megan.
To view a simple, slideshow of more images from this shoot, click this link: Avalanche Gorgeous If this is the first time you have seen a Photodex slide show, you will be asked to download a plug-in in order to view the show. The plug-in doesn’t take long and doesn’t take up a lot of space and is very safe. It’s a great way to share slideshows.
At the Zoo
One of the must-do’s in Boise is a trip to the zoo; located in the Julia Davis park near downtown. Our summer visit to Boise took us to the zoo early to avoid the heat and to see my favorites, the Siberian tigers. Since their enclosure is located near the back of the compound we strolled through the birds:
<
Giraffes:
Since our last visit they’ve added a lion exhibit:
However, with all the exotic animals for us to experience, the most exciting one was Calvin the Badger (at least for my wife…but I have to admit it was pretty cool too). Calvin was on a stroll with the handlers and loves people…so they were having a problem getting Calvin back to her (yes, it’s a HER…but that’s another story) home. She wanted to visit EVERYBODY! One thing you do NOT want to do to a Badger is make it angry, so the handlers were gently coaxing her back to her place:
Another interesting animal is the Komodo Dragon:
Beautiful animals when you can take the time to actually look at them and not have to RUN from them.
Our final stop before the heat became too oppressive…the Siberian pair:
Blessings,
D.
McKenzie’s Midsummer Daydream
McKenzie, Keiko and I left Kalispell last Friday at 4:00 AM in order to reach the summit of Logan Pass in Glacier National Park before sunrise. As soon as we arrived we set about girding our loins for the battle ahead…swarms of mosquitoes defended the wooden walkway above the visitors center. We sprayed each other down and Kenzie and Keiko went to change and I ascended the stairway which took us to the trail. I waited at the top, and had a staring contest with a Bighorn sheep who was grazing at the corner of the building…it was obvious he was in no hurry to leave on my account. The girls were prompt and we headed up the boardwalk to find the right spot which would allow us to photograph Kenz and Mt. Oberlin at the same time. We found it, but the lighting was not as good as expected so after a few exposures we moved off to the side and that was when the repellent began to wear off for Keiko and I. McKenzie was fine …she was standing on a rock knoll that must have been getting just enough of a breeze to keep the dreaded insects at bay. I decided that we’d had enough fun and we retreated outnumbered by a billion to one!
As soon as we left the hill, it started to rain. And it rained…and rained. We all sat in the vehicle staring in silence at the rain bouncing off the windshield…we were bummed. Our next site was to be the Highline Trail, but there is no way I wanted to put Kenzie out on a rain-slickened rock ledge above the Going-to-the-Sun highway. We drove down off the summit to the east and hoped that our third site wasn’t getting rained out. The rain slackened and then quit and we could see the sun shining on St. Mary’s, a small town at the east entrance of the park. It was looking good. We back-tracked a bit to a restroom for a change of costume and by the time we were ready to go it had started raining again.
We drove back to the summit where it was raining even harder, we sat in gloomy silence. Finally it quit. Simultaneously, Keiko and Kenzie said, “Let’s do this!” and I agreed. I dropped them off at the trailhead near the parking lot and drove to the observation deck below the trail and across the highway…about 100 yards away.
They walked to the rocky ledge of the area where we had discussed would be our shoot area and I was ready at nearly the same time. We had walkie-talkies to communicate with each other and we commenced with the shoot. At the same instant we started the shoot, the wind picked up and the rain started to drizzle. I asked Kenzie if she wanted to quit and she told me that it wasn’t that bad, so we continued. What a trooper!
Now, when you hike or visit Glacier National Park, the last very last thing you expect to see on the trail is a ballerina in a pink tutu! People stopped in amazement (or possibly confusion…thinking they’d taken the wrong turn somewhere along the trail) to ask what was going on and it was explained that it was a photo shoot…then they wanted to know where the photographer was (as it was pretty obvious there was none standing nearby) and when the girls pointed out my location (which was shrouded by the shrubby alpine vegetation) they couldn’t see a thing and probably thought the girls were on drugs! My side was equally as hilarious. At one point I was using my 500mm lens, which is quite an attention getter…it’s big and white and about three feet long. Of course people, mainly men, would ask what I was taking a picture of…a goat? I told them, “A dancer.” They asked, “What kind of goat is that?” I replied, “It’s not…it’s a dancer.” “Well, what kind of sheep is a dancer?” still not getting it. I said, “It’s a girl in a tutu standing on the ledge across the highway.” Silence.
To view a slideshow of more images from this shoot click on this link: Kenzie’s Midsummer Daydream
If you have never watched a Photodex slideshow you will be asked to install their plug-in, which is necessary to view this show. It’s harmless and doesn’t take up much space and it loads quickly. This is a great program for watching slideshows of images! Try it.
Finally we were able to finish shooting and I called them off the rock face and we met at the summit parking lot and we exchanged our respective stories of the disbelief and confusion we’d spread among the tourists of Glacier National park that day. We laughed long and hard.
We’d triumphed over ravenous mosquitoes, wind and rain, disappointment and weird looks from the visitors…and we’d gotten most of the shots we came to get. We would have to return and reshoot “The Ledge” portion of the shoot and also the Sunrift Gorge scenes, but our day at the park was a success and we had a good laugh doing it.
Stanley to Boise
Before leaving StanleyI slipped out of the room in the wee hours of the morning, shortly after O’dark-thirty, and drove back to the same spot I’d shot the stormy skies over the Sawtooth. Early morning smells, to me, are normally heightened by the fresh air and higher relative humidity, however the skies had cleared and the rain from the previous evening had made the sagebrush smells more intense than the reed diffusers I use in my home. And the views? Incredible!
After checking out of the motel we went back to the same restaurant we’d dined at the previous evening, called ‘The Stanley Baking Company’ located at 14 Wall Street. I highly recommend it for it’s rustic / outdoorsy atmospher AND the amazing food! The waitstaff are friendly and the patrons are equally so and easy to speak with. The natural surroundings seem to allay any stress or anger a person may be carrying around. It is as if the splendor had spoken to the soul as much as the their sight. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to capture a ‘family’ portrait at our newly appointed favorite spot in the world, so we returned to the same vantage point and posed:
The road we traveled took us south and at the edge of town is the road to Redfish Lake, a beautiful high mountain body of water. As we crossed the stream outlet I pulled over and hiked down to the rushing whitewater and found a pair of American Water Dippers (also known as a Water Ouzel) doing their mating thing.
These birds actually walk on the bottom of fast moving streams to feed!
Once out of the Sawtooth National Forest the scenery changed tremendously and the skies around us gave signs of impending storms. The clouds, however were an awesome sight to behold:
Keiko: Water Ballet
Session three and four was with Keiko S. another exquisite ballerina who dances for Marisa at Northwest School of Ballet. In “A Night of Classics”, their spring recital I saw Keiko dance a selection from “Don Quixote” in a red tutu that was absolutely stunning! Here is one of those images to show you what I mean:
Several of Marisa’s dancers answered my call for models and Keiko was one of them. She shared with me her vision of the Ballerina project and I checked it out. One idea was a barn on her property but I told her I had a better barn, but her water park selection was amazing! We spent an evening together capturing images all around the park and even in the water! Here are some of her images:
Thanks, Keiko!