greenpea does montana

greenpeagreenpea Registered Users Posts: 880 Major grins
edited October 11, 2007 in Journeys
I suppose I need to get a few of my pics posted so here goes.

On Monday September 24, Devbobo, mike and I took the 16 hour train trip from Seattle to East Glacier. I was really excited at the potential for taking pictures from the train, but as it turns out, its a lot harder to get good photographs from a moving train than I thought. However that didn't stop devbobo from trying...

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Although everyone else seems to have a similar version of this picture, I had to post mine because this was one of the last images captured with my Nikon D70 before it died shortly after getting back to the room from this Thursday morning shoot. There were no more picture taken by me on Thursday despite an encounter with a bear and its cub, a visit to Waterton Lakes park, countless mule deer and a great hike above the falls near the village in Waterton Lakes Park (so image images).

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On Friday morning, Christina saved my trip by loaning me her Nikon D50 which I used for the rest of the trip. After the morning shoot we joined a caravan of 5 or six cars all heading for the town of East Glacier. Everyone had a walkie talkie (no cell service in the area) and the rule was, if you saw something you wanted to take a picture of announce to the caravan and we'd all stop.

One of our first stops was at a pull off that had a little trail heading down the hill side. At the bottom of the trail was a little memorial to "Grandma". Yes, again there are plenty of pictures posted of the cross, but I like this one because it looks like Nikolai is visiting the memorial to pay his respects to "Grandma"...

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As we got closer to East Glacier the scenry seemed to get more and more interesting. We couldn't seem to get enough images of the leaves turning on the aspens (when we arrived on Tuesday the aspens were mostly green, by the time we left on Sunday had gone from green to yellow and some were turning red!)
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After a vist to the town of East Glacier and Twin Medicine Lake, the rest of the caravan headed East to the town of Browning but Mike and I headed back up North to St. Mary. On the way back I wanted to get a picture of a Montana road lined with aspens. Here are a couple of my Montana road & aspen pics.
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On the way from East Glacier to St. Mary, you cross over a pass through an area that had been hit hard by forrest fire earlier in the summer. From the top of the pass the road works its way back down to the valley where St. Mary lake. Here is a picture from that road looking down to the vally.
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On Saturday, David_S85, Bender, Mike and I hopped in the car with the goal of capturing some wildlife picture (I was still distraught about the fact I didn't have my camera when I had previously seen a bear). It had rained the night before but the snow line was only a few hundred feet above St. Mary. This made for some interesting landscape photo opportunities with the evergreens, yellow aspens, and snow line. But I wanted my wild life photos.
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After passing up too many landscape opportunities in the hunt for wildlife, David_S85 took off on his own. Bender, Mike and I continued on and we saw mountain goats (too far off for any of my lenses), lots of bald eagles (again too far off), and this one very well photographed coyote...

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The scenery was amazing, the wildlife was plentiful, but the highlight for me was just getting to meet and go out and shoot with so many other dgrinners!
Andrew
initialphotography.smugmug.com

"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera" - Dorothea Lange

Comments

  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited October 5, 2007
    Nice shots, Andrew! thumb.gif

    Still sorry about your D70. Was it still under the warranty? Any chances to get it fixed/replaced?
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
  • greenpeagreenpea Registered Users Posts: 880 Major grins
    edited October 5, 2007
    Nikolai wrote:
    Nice shots, Andrew! thumb.gif

    Still sorry about your D70. Was it still under the warranty? Any chances to get it fixed/replaced?

    Thanks Nikolai.

    The camera was way out of warranty (3-1/2 years old). Ultimately I'll get it fixed, someone told me that it will probably be a $300 fix. But after seeing all the cool Canon 40Ds I need an upgrade (Nikon D300) :D
    Andrew
    initialphotography.smugmug.com

    "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera" - Dorothea Lange
  • PhyxiusPhyxius Registered Users Posts: 1,396 Major grins
    edited October 5, 2007
    clap.gif
    Great shots Andrew!

    Of course I think I like this one the best:
    204202435-S.jpg

    The clear line of snow vs no snow is quite neat!
    Christina Dale
    SmugMug Support Specialist - www.help.smugmug.com

    http://www.phyxiusphotos.com
    Equine Photography in Maryland - Dressage, Eventing, Hunters, Jumpers
  • schmooschmoo Registered Users Posts: 8,468 Major grins
    edited October 5, 2007
    Hey Andrew, it was good chatting with you about... hmm, was it something worth-related? Funny how all the camera stuff kind of pushes that information out of your mind so quickly. :D

    I'm so sorry still that your camera died, but at least you were around other photogs who had plenty of stuff to share! I think you captured beautiful shots here, especially the scenery as we saw it. I did notice the aspens were changing so fast and felt very lucky that we were there to witness it. You did an excellent job with the different color layers and textures here. I can sit back and enjoy seeing the snow since I'm home and not freezing my fingers off. :D

    I'm also envious of your train trip. It's been a lifelong dream of mine to travel a long distance via train but these days flying is cleaper. rolleyes1.gif

    Good to meet you and I hope to see you again this time next year!
  • greenpeagreenpea Registered Users Posts: 880 Major grins
    edited October 5, 2007
    Phyxius wrote:
    clap.gif
    Great shots Andrew!

    Thanks Christina, and thanks yet again for making it possible for me to get a lot of those shots. :D
    schmooo wrote:
    I think you captured beautiful shots here, especially the scenery as we saw it. I did notice the aspens were changing so fast and felt very lucky that we were there to witness it. You did an excellent job with the different color layers and textures here.
    Thanks shmooo!
    schmooo wrote:
    I'm also envious of your train trip. It's been a lifelong dream of mine to travel a long distance via train but these days flying is cleaper. rolleyes1.gif

    Good to meet you and I hope to see you again this time next year!
    For this trip the train was cheaper than the plane. About $80 one way (vs. $110). The price does go up quite a lot if you get a room though. We just had chairs. And devbobo was happy sleeping on the floor...
    202271751-S.jpg
    Andrew
    initialphotography.smugmug.com

    "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera" - Dorothea Lange
  • W.W. WebsterW.W. Webster Registered Users Posts: 3,204 Major grins
    edited October 5, 2007
  • ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,938 moderator
    edited October 5, 2007
    I think you guys had a great idea to take the train. What a great alternative
    to flying.

    Nice piccies too thumb.gif
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
  • Fred WFred W Registered Users Posts: 453 Major grins
    edited October 5, 2007
    Nice job Andrew. I especially like the S- road and the Coyote shots. thumb.gif
  • Ann McRaeAnn McRae Registered Users Posts: 4,584 Major grins
    edited October 5, 2007
    Nice work, Andrew! I really like the train shot, the S curve road shot(really marketable), the valley shot returning from East Glacier(really gorgeous!) and the snow/aspens shots.
    ann
  • devbobodevbobo Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 4,339 SmugMug Employee
    edited October 6, 2007
    Andrew,

    Great pics mate, even if you are shooting with Nikon lol3.gif

    It was great travelling over with you and Mike. Thanks for the invite thumb.gif

    David
    David Parry
    SmugMug API Developer
    My Photos
  • cwphotoscwphotos Registered Users Posts: 763 Major grins
    edited October 7, 2007
    Awesome shots Andrew.Pleasure to have met you on this trip. You make a good room mate !! :D
    ====My Gear=====
    Canon 5D Mk.2/Grip || Canon 7D Backup
    17-40 f/4L || 70-200 f/2.8L IS || 100mm f/2.8L Macro || 24-70mm f/2.8L
    Wedding Photographer
    www.cwphotos.net
  • grimacegrimace Registered Users Posts: 1,537 Major grins
    edited October 10, 2007
    Nice series of shots Andrew!!
  • greenpeagreenpea Registered Users Posts: 880 Major grins
    edited October 11, 2007
    Thanks everyone!

    I really enjoyed meeting you all, and getting to see all your photos! I look forward to seeing more of those images from Glacier, and getting to see you all again next year!
    Andrew
    initialphotography.smugmug.com

    "The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera" - Dorothea Lange
  • ehughesehughes Registered Users Posts: 1,675 Major grins
    edited October 11, 2007
    Excellent Work....
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