We spent several minutes tracking up this meadow. We pretty much had the mountain to ourselves - didn't see another soul until we were heading out at the end of the day. Taken with an Olympus E500, 1/1000sec. at f.56.
Here's another shot from our day of snowmobiling on Christmas Eve. Taken with an Olympus E500, 1/800 sec. at f4.5.
Here's the first of a series of snowmobiling shots I took yesterday - Christmas Eve. Nothing like some fresh pow pow the day before Christmas!
I took this shot during the failing light of evening this past summer in Bannack, MT. There's so much to shoot in Bannack, and late in the summer you may just find the entire town to yourself during the best light of the day. I can see myself heading back to Bannack each summer, comparing shots from year to year as I continue to grow and improve as a photographer (at least, I hope I improve!).
Faced with a beautiful fall day in Bozeman, I had a decision to make: try to get in one more round of golf, or slip out for some fall photography. Given that I'm still limping around a bit on a bum leg, I decided it might be better to skip walking nine holes and go on a photo drive instead. It doesn't hurt that great photo shooting days have been hard to come by this fall, what with the sub-freezing weather we had in early October. We really didn't have any fall color thanks to the early freeze, but the crisp blue sky on display today was enough to entice me out with my camera.
I decided to drive the Axtell Anceney Road, which connects US 191 (the road to Big Sky) with SR 84 (the road to Norris). This road is impassable when wet, but we haven't had any moisture in the past week so I was good to go. One of the things I love about Montana is how easy it is to find relative solitude so quickly. After driving Axtell Anceney only 4 miles, I had the road to myself for the next two hours - with the exception of two vehicles, two dirt bikes, and a guy driving a tractor. I shot only 88 frames today - several bracketed exposures for HDR (which I decided were unnecessary after getting the photos into LightRoom) and several of the same composition using different lenses just to play. Here are my favorite shots from the day.Along with @craigdugas and @mteric, I attended the 2009 Montana Cup as a volunteer photographer. The course was hilly and challenging, made even more so by the muddy conditions thanks to snow earlier in the week. The temperature was comfortable, however - especially for Halloween in Bozeman. I was impressed by the good turnout from across Montana, and momentarily regretted my decision to skip the race this year. After watching the competitors make their way around the course, however, I decided it may have been for the best.
Shooting conditions were challenging - with the overcast skies, I found it difficult to shoot at the shutter speed and ISO I preferred. Consequently, several shots were not as sharp as I wanted and I wound up with some noise even at ISO200. Nevertheless, I came up with a handful of shots that captured the conditions and competition - here are a few of my favorites.
I took a photo drive tonight to capture one of the great sunsets we've been having in the Gallatin Valley lately. When you're scouting for a good location, sometimes you just have to take the best spot you can find when the light starts to prime. Tonight, I was driving the Little Bear Road southeast of Gallatin Gateway when I saw this vantage point. I drove another 1/2 mile or so up the road just to ensure nothing better was around the next corner, then returned to this spot. After double-checking the composition, I set up my tripod and waited for the light.
I took several exposures (just short of 100) as the sunset changed over the course of 40 minutes or so. I also walked back up the road to look north toward the Bridgers for the small pano shot you see here. Pano shot with my 14-54mm; sunset shot with my 50mm prime. Source shots post-processed in Lightroom, then merged in CS4 using the Pano function and layer mask, respectively.
I love shooting in Bannack, one of the best-preserved ghost towns in Montana. This August marked my second visit in as many summers - I hope to get back often.
Here, I let the post-processing run wild: an aged photo treatment and subtle vignette raise echoes of the past that you most certainly feel when visiting this special place. Shot with my 14-45mm lens at 14mm; 1/80 sec. at f3.5.
Here are several more shots taken last week during a photo walk in downtown Bozeman. I took these shots at the Farmer's Market in Bogert Park and near the Bozeman Public Library and Lindley Park. All shots taken hand-held with my Olympus e500 and 14-45mm lens. Raw files post-processed in LightRoom.
Here's a close-up of an old metal ladder attached to a grain elevator or seed facility that has since been converted to offices near downtown Bozeman. I was taken with the rust on the ladder, along with the graffiti on the corrugated steel siding. Shot with my 14-45mm at 18mm; 1/60sec at f3.8.
I'm a Software Product Manager living and working in Bozeman, Montana. I started this blog as a place to discuss/display anything that comes to mind: work, photography, golf, software development, requirements, project management, x-country skiing, religion - anything's fair game!
You can check out my other blog at www.freemyfotos.com and view a larger collection of my photos on my flickr photostream (http://tinyurl.com/49cys3) . I also have several prints available for purchase at ImageKind (http://images.timleonhardt.com).
