Big Lost River

lost river rainbowRainbow.  Big Lost River, Idaho

 

rainbow trout lost riverPost release rainbow on the Lost

 

lost river fly fishingA release...

Nikon D3s & Nikon 35 f2 lens

The Nikon f2 35mm lens has become my favorite lens to haul around while guiding or on the river.  First, the focal length--when mounted on a 35mm sensor or full frame sensor-- is generally exactly what I want and if it's not I can move around until it is. Yeah, it's not super wide but it does have a minimum focus distance of 9.84 inches which is great for non-macro close-up shots.  It is small and easy to carry around for a full day on the river.  And, finally, it has a pretty fast max aperture of f2 allowing for some more creative shots and the ability to really minimize depth of field.  This was the first Nikon lens I owned and I carried it around for over a year before purchasing any other lenses. 

On another note, while it is snowing here at the moment the forecast for later in the week is for unseasonably warm weather which should make for some great days on the river.  Here's a clip from the current NOAA forecast for Ketchum, Idaho:

Bald Eagle

bald eagleA Bald Eagle takes off near Silver Creek.

While Silver Creek is now closed to fishing it's still a great place to go walk around.  I took this image yesterday.  Trumpeter Swans, Harriers, Eagles, Elk....

Nikon D200 & Nikon f2.8 80-200 afs lens

Picabo Hills

picabo hills idahoPicabo Hills Winter Wheel Line Pano

Above is a 7 image pano taken this winter near Picabo.  I shot it at 200mm.  When using a longer lens for panos I highly recommend learning how to find the "nodal point".  Here is a good piece on how to find the nodal point on any given lens.

Nikon D3s & Nikon f2.8 afs 80-200 lens

Big Wood River, Idaho

big wood riverRelease.  Big Wood River

Nikon D3S & Nikon 35 f2 lens

Here's the opening paragraph from, Hole In The Sky, a memoir by William Kittredge, a college professor of mine at The University of Montana:

"Maybe children wake to a love affair every other morning or so; if given any chance, they seem to like the sight and smell and feel of things so much.  Falling for the world could be a thing that happens to them all the time.  I hope so, I hope it is purely commonplace.  I'm trying to imagine that it is, that our childhood love of things is perfectly justifiable.  Think of light and how far it falls, to us.  To fall, we say, naming a fundamental way of going to the world--falling."

Big Wood River

big wood winter rainbowBig Wood Winter Rainbow

big wood river

 

big wood river

 

big wood river

Great stuff on the Big Wood River right now.  Highs hovering around 32 and very few people on the river.   Good midge fishing on the surface mid-day with even better nymphing.  By mid-March, the dry fly fishing should be super good on the Big Wood and even better on the Lower Big Lost River if you can tolerate the longer drive.

Nikon D3S & Nikon 35 f2 lens

Yellowstone Winter Photography

lamar valley cotonwoodLamar Valley Cottonwood

While the snowpack was not super deep, the daytime temps were pretty cold and once the sun dropped the temps quickly plummeted below zero.  The cold overnight lows helped produce the great whoar frost on many trees in the Lamar Valley.

 

lamar valley cottonwoodWinter Cottonwood. Lamar Valley

 

yellowstone bighorn sheepLone Bighorn.  Upper Lamar Valley

Upper Lamar Valley and a bighorn. Moments after this shot one of the Mollies chased a wounded bull elk across Soda Butte a couple hundred yards from where I took this image. The wolf however did not cross the stream and the elk sauntered off a few miles toward the north facing hills of the Lamar Valley.

 

Winter Morning & The Gardner River

 

Long Exposure.  Gardner River

 

Long Exposure.  Gardner River

Note: The nearby town of Gardiner is spelled differently than the Gardner River.  The town and the river are named after the trapper, Johnson Gardner of the American Fur Company. The town of Gardiner is a misspelling.

 

River Of Tracks.  Lamar River

I could see doing an entire project on tracks in the snow...  Obviously, not all animals wander in a straight path.

 

Jeff Hull watching a lone wolf calling out to the 19 member Mollies.  Slough Creek, Yellowstone

 

leo beds n buns cooke cityLeo Gaertner, the co-owner of Buns "n" Beds in Cooke City, Montana gets the lunch time BBQ going.  His prime rib and pork ribs are fantastic.  Buns "n" Beds is a great lunch and dinner stop.  They also offer simple cabins for around $65 a night.  The drive from the Lamar Valley to Cooke City is less than a half an hour.

Yellowstone Tracks

yellowstone animal tracks in snowPredator & Prey.  Yellowstone National Park

 

lamar river and animal tracksTracks In The Snow.  Lamar River, Yellowstone

 

yellowstone winterMouse & Raptor.  Yellowstone

 

yellowstone winterSoda Butte Tributary & Tracks.  Yellowstone

 

yellowstone wolf tracksWolf Tracks.  These particular tracks belong to a member of the Mollies.  My friend Jeff Hull and I watched this particular wolf cross the road the night before and we went back to check out the tracks the next morning.  Yellowstone

 

yellowstone wolf tracksTwo sets of wolf tracks.

 

yellowstone wolfA super high iso image of a Mollie crossing the road.  My friend Jeff and I watched many of the 19 Mollies cross the road to find 3 or so of their other members.  The Mollies are generally bison hunters and have apparently left their home turf, the Pelican Valley, due to a low snow pack and tough hunting conditions.  The Mollies are on average 15 pounds heavier than other wolves in Yellowstone.  At the time I took this image the Lamar pack was only about 5 miles to the east and the Blacktail and Agate packs 2 to 5 miles to the west.

 

lamar wolf pack yellowstoneMany of the 11 member Lamar pack in their home turf, the Lamar Valley, Yellowstone.  This is an 11 member pack.  Not long after I took this image I watched a helicopter come roaring into the Lamar Valley with a side door open and a gunner standing on the outside rail.  It was the Park Service and they darted two of the Lamar members.  They also apparently on the same day darted two Mollies out of my sight.  If the darted wolves were not already collared, collars were put on them and additionally blood and tissue samples were taken.

 

yellowstone bisonBison & Wolf Tracks.  Slough Creek

At the time I took this image a lone wolf, presumably a male, came within a hundred yards of the Mollies and called and called to the Mollies.  The Mollies occassionally called back, and my intrepretation of the mollies' calls was, get the hell out of here.  It's mating season and this wolf was likely looking for a mate.  I am sure by now something played out and I will likely never know if this wolf was killed by the Mollies or if it was able to successfully mate with a female and then sneak off.

 

slough creek bison yellowstoneBison & Slough Creek

 

North Hills & Moon.  Lamar Valley.

 

Silver Creek, Idaho

silver creek idahoEast Oxbow.  Silver Creek.  February 2012

Nikon D3s & Nikon 24 pce lens

There are only two more weeks to fish the section of Silver Creek downstream of Highway 20 before it closes for the season.  We have through the rest of February.  If you go, be armed with olive and black buggers and if you can go on a cloudy day even better.  Don't worry if the water is a bit off color as that will make the fish far less spooky and more likely to hold anywhere besides tight to the bank.

Depuy's Spring Creek

depuys spring creek An early-February morning on Depuy's Spring Creek in Montana's Paradise Valley.

 

depuys warming hutThe upstream most warming hut on Depuy's.

 

depuys warming hut

 

 

midge closeup A midge on the inside window of the warming hut.

 

flyfishermanClose enough.  A midge cluster and 6x tippet.

 

fly fisherman castingJeff Hull all grins.  Sometimes the photographer needs to employ potty talk to illicit the right expression...

 

depuys fly fishermanLooking upstream on Depuy's

 

montana black and white landscapeLandscape from Depuy's. Hill & Sky & Fence.

 

curvy pathPath

 

fly fishing montana

 

fly fishing montana

 

fly fishing montanaEnd of the day on the water.

 

Old Building on Depuy's.


historic building window montanaA fire after a February day on the water is pretty nice.

 

depuys warming hut

 

depuys warming hutThrough the warming hut window.

 

old window view montanaAll hyperbole at the end of a great day.

 

I just got back from a great trip over to Depuy's Spring Creek in the Paradise Valley, Montana and Yellowstone National Park.  Here's a slideshow of my recent February day on Depuy's.  We scored with the weather as it was well above freezing with almost no wind to speak of.  We even had a few baetis on the water around noon.  If you have never been over to Depuy's, it is certainly worth the trip.  In the winter the rod fee is only $40 and there is not very much pressure this time of year.  The winter rod fee remains in place all the way to mid-April.  One of the great aspects of Depuy's in the winter is the three warming huts on the property.  We used the upstream most hut and got the wood burning stove going at the end of the day.

Eucalyptus Grove

eucalyptus grove and wagonEucalyptus Grove.  El Granada, CA

Each time I visit this spot in El Granada, CA called, "the island," by those who live nearby, I have been struck by it.  I have many images of the island and this one is my favorite.  It's from a recent trip down there.  Two girls in a wagon and sunset light bouncing off the sides of the eucalyptus.

"Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual."   --Edward Weston

nikon D3s & nikon 24 pc-e lens

Two Portraits

nick price photography portrait

 

nick price photography portraitA couple portraits of my boys from the sled hill today.  Kids show such an excitement toward little simple things.  Their defense systems down.  Just sledding.  True present tense attitude at its best.  I love the bottom image simply for what it is, yet technically it is far from perfect.  So when I view the bottom image, taken today, despite the imperfections of sharpness and glare, I really am happy with it...

"All children are artists.  The problem is to remain one when you grow up." --Picasso

nikon D3s & nikon 50 f1.8 lens