Decay
The unstoppable march toward winter has begun.
I can't count the number of times I've driven past the Mallard's Rest fishing access on the Yellowstone River south of Livingston. Every time, I've imagined how great these cottonwoods by the Yellowstone would look in the fall. So today, I decided to take a photo drive to see if I could get a shot. The weather didn't exactly cooperate (rainy and overcast), but this image should nonetheless help you understand why they call this the Paradise Valley. Shot handheld with my Olympus E30 and Zuiko 50-200mm lens at f8.0 for 1/30 sec.
I took a photo drive with Eric Barnes this evening. Although we were a little behind the light, I did manage to get a few worthwhile frames before we lost it. This is the first shot to come out of post-processing, showing early fall colors with the Spanish Peaks rising in the background. We're having a glorious fall here in the Gallatin Valley, with daytime temps rising into the 70s and 80s for the past several days. After a cooler than normal summer, it's a welcome change! Shot with my Olympus E30 and Zuiko 50-200mm lens, 1/50 sec at f8.
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.
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.
To create this panoramic, I stitched together seven separate shots taken at the Headwaters State Park in Montana. I sometimes marvel how blessed we are to live in a place like this.
This evening, my friend Brant Nyberg and I trekked out to the Headwaters State Park near Three Forks, Montana for some golden hour photography. Headwaters State Park marks a special spot in Montana where three rivers - The Madison, Jefferson, and Gallatin - join to form the Missouri. We had actually packed up and were driving back to Bozeman when we saw this crane standing in reflective water by the roadside. I nearly racked out my 70-300mm Zuiko lens to capture this image (on a tripod, of course). A great end to an enjoyable evening.
Spring has arrived in the high country! With our friends who were in town from Minnesota, we took the kids sledding yesterday in the hills just outside Cooke City, Montana. Here are a few pics from the afternoon's fun.
I live and work in beautiful Bozeman, Montana.This blog is primarily a photo blog, but I also use it as a venue to discuss/display anything that seems appropriate: software development, requirements, project management, golf, fly-fishing, running, religion - anything's fair game!
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