Ox Bow Bend In The Fall...

This photograph was taken last fall at Ox Bow Bend, Grand Tetons. For me this is the most beautiful place in the world, I love everything about it from the Tetons Mountains to the moose, deer, river otters, eagles, beaver and many other wildlife species that call this home. The location is beautiful any time of the year but with the willows and aspen trees it is just amazing in the fall. Yes even with all the snow I could still live in this area. By the way that is a bull and three cow moose in the water.

It is Tuesday by now you know what that means, Shane has a new post.

What No One Wants To See In The Sky...

Today's sky watch Friday post comes from just North of Jackson Hole. I would like to tell you just where I was but since this was the first time I had ever been back this road I really don't know. We were in the Tetons for the rut last year and this prescribed burn had been going on for a couple of days, like all firemen it got the best of us and we had to take a drive to the area to check it out.

Prescribed burns are done for numerous reasons, sometimes to remove vegetation from areas in case a real fire breaks out. Other times to create a mosaic of burned fuels, resulting in a diverse wildlife habitat and vigorous plant regrowth. I do not know the reason for this one.

Don't forget to click the link to the left and visit the other sky watch Friday post from around the world.

Teton Bull Moose...

Hey it is moose Friday, not really I just didn't know what to say so I called it that. But it is Friday and that is a great thing. This bull was captured along with a few cows during the rut in the Tetons in 2006. Lets see if I can spell this correct, they were found on the Gross Ventre Highway in the camp grounds. If you have never been to the Tetons and you go this is one of the better places to find moose. That's all for know see you on Monday.

Teton Sunset...

Hello and welcome to another week of Sky Watch Friday, this is two weeks in a row for me so maybe I am getting back into the swing of things. This sunset photo was taken in the Grand Tetons in the fall of 2006. Every time I have been there I have had little to no luck with morning and evening colors. The cloud gods just never want to cooperate with me. Be sure and click the link for sky watch to view great photos from all over the world.

New Things For A New Year...

With every new year brings new things in a persons life, for me I don't really know what new things the coming year has in store for me. I do not make new years resolutions because I have never kept them in the past, so why try and fool myself now. I know I will be getting a new fire chief at work after working for the same chief my whole career, new apparatus will be placed into service this year and I may even leave the truck for a different job. Outside of work we hope to vacation in Hawaii this year and my son will become a teenager. I would like to work out more and change my eating habits and I would really like to quit saying I want to get out and shoot more and just do it. I hope to meet fellow wildlife bloggers and cyber mentors Ken, Willard and Salty this year. Whatever happens new this year I am sure it will fly past in a blur.

I would like to thank everyone that stopped by my site this year and a bigger thanks to those of you that took the time to comment. I am hoping for more constructive criticism this year, it is the only thing I have to tell me if I am doing the right things with the camera and Photoshop. With that said I would like to share my site statistics for 2008.
14,909 visits
33,071 pages viewed
Average pages viewed per visit 2.22
Average time on the site per visit 2:32
August was the most viewed month of the year
67% of visits were referrals (most from my Shippensburg Fire site)
20% were direct visits
13% searched onto the site (most by typing Bradley Myers)
I had visitors from 74 countries and every state in the U.S.

Again a big thanks for stopping by, Brad

Stupid Is As Stupid Does...

It is amazing the stupid things you see people do at National Parks. I guess they forget the first part of wild animal is WILD. These are some of the most unpredictable and dangerous animals you can run into and they just walk right up to him and spoiled photo opportunities for those of us that respect the wildlife and play by the rules. This incident was even worse than the photo shows, but I will not go into that right now. I am sure there are plenty of you out there that look at this site that have run into similar events.

This Could Be A Coors Add...

Teton Moose...

Shades Of Grey...

Welcome once again to Sky Watch Friday, for me this is my 13TH edition of sky watch. I would like to thank Klaus, Sandy, Ivar, Wren, Fishing Guy and Louise for the great site and wonderful time. Don't forget to click the sky watch link and visit many more great sky watch photographs from around the world.

Today's photo comes from the Grand Tetons, this was one of only a couple of days with clouds during my two plus weeks in the area. Funny thing is before I really got into photography I wanted sunny skies and no clouds when I was on vacation. Now I find myself begging for clouds or overcast weather. Don't forget to click on the photo to make it larger.

Fall Skywatch...

This weeks skywatch photograph comes from my recent trip out west. It was one of those trips that you just couldn't buy a cloud on. Skies were nothing but blue without a spot of white.

While leaving the Grand Tetons and heading back to Yellowstone rain started moving into the area. We just happened to notice the sun coming through the clouds striking this group of Aspen trees with the dark clouds overhead.

I hope you enjoy this and every other sky watch Friday post today, to find more just click the sky watch link on the lower left of my site.

Oxbow Bend Beavers...

As I said before the wildlife wasn't what it was in the past, but for the first time in my life I got to see some beaver (he, he, he, I can just imagine what some of you were thinking) and photograph them. We failed on our attempts to shoot the river otters and after trying multiple locations for the beaver I felt we would fail there also. But just when I didn't expect it they were right out in the open. There was three at this den but we only got to see two of them. I chose this one today because I liked the reflections of the aspens on the water. As usual the stupid people were around making there equally as stupid comments, this one lady said oh! look what does he have, it must be a shoe. I just didn't want to spoil her day and tell her it was the beavers tail.

Morning Moose...

We had very little luck this year seeing the moose, those we did see were to far away to photograph properly. During the trip we seen one cow in Yellowstone, a bull with two cows and a calf at Oxbow Bend, this bull and one other cow at Oxbow along with the few you see in the fields far away before day light.

When we seen this bull we were out looking for beaver to photograph. We had traveled back Pacific Creek Road on a tip but found no beavers. We did see two dens and a few dams. Bored with the lack of wildlife we were shooting trees and landscapes until we came upon Two Ocean Lake. There we decided to take a short walk, expecting to shoot more landscapes. It is amazing how quiet these large animals are and how easily they cam remain hidden. While walking the shore line of the lake he just appeared out of no where from the Willows. He was a ways off on this chilly morning and wanted to stay that way. We continued to try and approach him but he would just counter by walking further away. He did finally decide to run away telling us it was time to leave. Not the best shots because of the time of the morning and focal length, but still a moose shot and I was just happy to see some.

Check out the Pa Wildlife Photographer's site from a couple of days ago for moose photographs from Yellowstone.

The Drama Begins...

For those of you that have never had a chance to watch the elk during rut you are missing a real treat. First the bugling by the bulls is like music to the ears. Then they begin the exciting show.

This photograph was taken Tuesday September 30Th in the evening after the sun had set behind the mountains. It was shot at 2500 ISO with a slow shutter speed and the aperture opened to leave in as much light as I could. I used a lens that with the conversion made it 600 mm and cropped it in, noise is to be expected, but I really wanted to share the excitement.

This was the second scuffle for the bull closest to you in a matter of minutes. He won the first and then had to take off after this guy when he realized he moved in on his herd of cows while he was busy defending them. It begins with them running towards each other, neck down, head up carrying the rack with pride. Then they begin what I like to call the dance, they run side by side for some time before stopping and facing each other. They put their heads down and sometimes dig up dirt and grass before locking antlers, you can just see the power in their rear legs when they begin pushing. More on this fight later along with who came out as the winner. I will also post some sparring from Yellowstone elks later also. Only here can you see beautiful scenery, a bear eating an elk and elks fighting withing 30 minutes.

Teton Black Bear...

By the time you are seeing this photograph we have left the Tetons and returned to Yellowstone. With any luck the skies found a few clouds to make shooting better, the temperatures have gone down and we see some snow and the wildlife got better. But then again if I didn't have bad luck I would have no luck. This photo was taken the evening of September 30 along the Jenny Lake road in the Tetons. Rumor has it the elk was killed Sunday possibly by another bull. Later that night when the bear was not around the rangers removed the antlers to prevent poaching. We found out about it Monday and spent the evening on the carcass, the bear was their but did not come out. On Tuesday we spent about five hours on it in the morning. The bear did come out by I was in a bad position and when I did have a shot, well lets just say I didn't nail it. We went back later in the evening, I took a different position and out she came. The bear has a collar and an ear tag so we know she is a five year old female. The carcass is smelling pretty bad with the high temperatures we are having out here so I am surprised no grizzly bears have shown up to run her off. Sorry for the long paragraphs but I am putting these up as scheduled post and when I make multiple paragraphs it always leaves numerous spaces between them.

Grand Teton's Elk Herd...

Today's photograph comes from the Grand Tetons in Wyoming. It was taken Monday night after the sun set and darkness was setting in. This large bull was trying to keep his herd of cows in line with two other bulls approaching. One did come close and the bluff charged each other before this large bull ran him off. The photo was shot at a high ISO to let enough light in to capture it, hence the noise in the photo. We did see many elk today along with a couple of moose, numerous bison and some mule deer. We spent the evening sitting on an elk kill while a black bear slept behind it never gracing us with its present. The rangers believe the bull was killed by another bull a day or so ago. The night before they removed the dead bulls antlers to keep poachers from getting them. We will spend Tuesday back on the kill in hopes of photographing the black bear feeding. I know that sound out of place since this post is showing up on Wednesday but I am putting them up as scheduled post when I have time, as I type this it is 10:00 p.m. Monday night.

Wyoming Aspens

Hello everyone and sorry for the late post. We left sunny Florida later than expected because we could not get out of the ocean and off the beach, 85 and sunny and we get home today and it is 36 with sleet and snow flurries. Aaaggggggggghhhhhhhhh I want to go back, but I have to wait 5 years one month and 19 days.

This photograph is a little different than I am used to posting. Occasionally you need to get a little artsy and deviate from the plan. Now I don’t want to get to artsy for fear of what people in Shippensburg might say about me or even what BGC might say. But you know I have to take chances and record other types of images to grow as a person and photographer. Are you all really buying that stuff? After all that crap I just laid down even I lost my line of thought, so just enjoy the photograph.

Sunrise On Morman Row

Okay at this time of the day finally getting electric back anything I had planned to say has long since left my brain. This is Mormon row in the Grand Teton National Park. It may be one of the most photographed barns anywhere. On this morning many photographers were lined up before sunrise waiting for the perfect shot. Sad part is the sun rose without much color. That didn't stop me I need all the practice I can get.


For those that look at my sites expecting to see post made in the morning you can thank mother nature for the late entry. We have been without power since yesterday morning and just got it back a couple of hours ago. We relocated to the Embers last night, and their wireless this morning was so slow that I was not going to attempt to make a post. Shane and I headed to Borders for coffee and wireless only to find out you have to pay for the wireless there, being cheap and all I said no way. Things are looking up, 5 years, two months and one day and I can retire and leave the cold behind.

Aaahh What...

This is Shane at the Cunningham cabin in the Grand Teton National Park. I posted a black and white photo of him a couple of days ago at the same location but could not remember the name of the cabin. Cunningham Cabin was built in 1888 on 160 acres owned by Pierce and Margaret Cunningham. It's built of lodge pole pine, with a sod roof. The style is a "dog-trot" home, with two separate box units separated by an open veranda area. The ranch has an interesting story of death that is referred to as “The Affair at Cunningham's Ranch” If you would like to read more check out this link for a good story http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/grte/chap5.htm The title just seemed to fit my little cave man.

Moon Over Wyoming

I really don't know the location of this photograph but I think it is near the Tetons on the back road at the lakes. Maybe Brian will recognize it, I was only ever in this area once. I really don't know what to say either, this is harder than I thought it would be to come up with photos and comments. This is post number 89 for me so I have now used over 100 photographs. I have plenty but like some I have used already I am not very proud of them. I really need to get out shooting to come up with more images. I have plenty of things in mind like, water fowl, Amish, Williams Grove and fires of course if I had any luck. I guess for now you will just have to listen to me ramble on and look at what ever I have ready.

My Best Friend

Today's photograph was taken in July 2005 at an old cabin by the Tetons. For those that do not know me this is my best friend Shane. Yes that is the same Shane that is also my son. Shane is a very bright young man being on the honor roll at Eagle View Middle School this marking period. Shane has a great sence of humor and can dish it out as well as he can take it. Shane plays hockey, flag football, rugby and the drums. He is also a boy scout and just received the rank of tenderfoot. He is hoping to become the third member of his family to achieve eagle scout. I think he can do and am pulling for him. When you get home from school and read this tonight, Love you buddy.