Surprise AwakeningSunrise over Dead Tree Glacier National Park, Montana I normally try not to get too excited for things in the future that have a high probability of changing but as Willie, Alan, and I checked the weather forecast for our upcoming trip to Glacier National Park I couldn't help but let the excitement build up. The weather looked perfect! Things didn't go quite as planned. We would watch beautiful clouds fizzle away right before our eyes, thunderstorms roll in, rain pour for hours and the fog get so thick you could barely see your feet. For a day and a half we sat around doing nothing because the weather was so bad. On the 3rd morning we woke up at 4am and saw a few stars peaking out. "Maybe the storm will break" we thought. Dragging ourselves out of bed we made our way into the park and started to get excited! It looked like the clouds might be thinning! You know what happened next, right? Mama Nature was right on queue and within a blink of an eye made those clouds disappear completely. At this point we felt pretty defeated - even almost to the point of anger. It's a good thing we're not quitters because just as quickly as the clouds disappeared they came back and positioned themselves perfectly in the mountains. They say the best photos come from patient photographers and in this case it's true. When the sun rose above the horizon it lit the entire scene in a beautiful orange glow. The word "dynamic" continuously came up whenever we talk about this scene. Everything came together perfectly: the glow in the branches, the S-curve in the river, and the illuminated mountains all made for the perfect scene to wake up to. And let me tell you -- we had quite the "wake your tuchas up" moment ... Earlier in the morning, I asked Willie and Alan: "What do we do if we see a bear while we're there?" Willie replied "it's too steep for a bear to be up there. We should be fine." I didn't really believe his answer but it was too early in the morning to argue. While snapping away I noticed something move in the background. "Oh hey, look… Bear" I thought to myself. About 2 seconds later I realized what I just said in my head: BEAR!!!!!!!! GRIZZLY BEAR! About 40 feet away! The first thing out of my mouth was "holy sh!t!". Willie and Alan looked at me like I was crazy. "BEAR!!!!" I scream as I run for the bear spray. Willie backed up. Alan picked up a rock. When the bear realized who we were it too freaked out and galloped off. My previous 2 photos had picked up the bear! Can you find the bear here? Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/16, 1/4 sec, ISO 100
Perfectly AutumnOld Barn Amongst Autumn Trees Glen Arbor, Michigan Every year I travel to Michigan to spend a long weekend with my favorite college buddies. We call it "Tundig" and it's a sort of mini-reunion. We spend the weekend in Northern Michigan eating, drinking, cooking, hiking, photographing, swimming, sleeping and just having a great time. Traditionally it occurred during the University of Michigan autumn break and that means that I get to see the amazing fall colors in full bloom. On this particular day my friends and I decided to go wine tasting. Yes, Michigan does actually have wineries, specializing in mostly white or exotic type wines (like cherry wine). While driving to the wineries we passed by this beautiful barn hidden amongst the trees. I immediately asked my friend to pull over so I could snap a few photos. I loved the way the barn, the beautiful autumn colors, and the blue sky all came together here. Nikon D80 w/Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5: 50mm, f/10, 1/60 sec, ISO 800
Glacier MilkMilky Way over Mt. Reynolds Logan Pass, Glacier National Park, Montana When Willie, Alan, and I set out to spend a week in Glacier National Park we prepared for all kinds of weather. I purchased new rain gear, rented a 24mm f/1.4 lens in the event of clear skies or auroras, and kept my hopes up that the partially cloudy skies in the forecast would lead to beautiful sunrises and sunsets. While doing research for the trip it quickly became evident that most of our time would be spent in Logan Pass. On this particular evening our hopes at an epic sunset faded quickly and not a cloud could be seen in the skies. We gave up on sunset and switched gears .. it was time to use those rented lenses to photograph the Milky Way. A copious number of streams, rivers, waterfalls, and small patches of wildflowers awaited my every turn and provided countless possibilities for compositions. Using the StarWalk app on my iPhone I was able to roughly predict the path of the Milky Way. I quickly saw that the Milky Way would line up almost parallel to the right side of Mt. Reynolds with the core of the Milky Way in between the mountain and the trees. Perfect! I experimented with a variety of compositions but ultimately settled on 2 waterfalls that I liked. I loved the way the waterfall cascaded down from Mt. Reynolds and provided an interesting foreground. It's almost like there's steps leading us right into the sky! I then waited ... and waited ... and waited ... the sky never seemed to get dark enough for the Milky Way to come out. It had not dawned on us that being so far north would leave the sky so bright for so long into the night. Slightly before 11pm the Milky Way first made its appearance on the back of my camera. By 11:30pm the Milky Way finally moved into position. Just as I had predicted the Milky Way lined up perfectly with Mt. Reynolds and the core filled the right side of the sky! Another photo in my "Milk" series! It was then a race to pack up, get to the car, and try to catch the 2am opening in the road closure so we could catch a couple hours of sleep before waking up and starting all over again. As you'll notice the sky doesn't entirely look as sharp as it could. I rented the lens from BorrowLenses and it quickly became clear that this particular copy of the lens had some serious coma flare issues. I did my best to get rid of some of it but eventually removing it became tedious and I gave up. BorrowLenses customer service was awesome and I was given a coupon for the price of the rental to use another time! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED: Sky: 24mm, f/1.6, 13 seconds, ISO 3200 Foreground: 24mm, f/10, ISO 100
