Glimpses from Glacier

aktse

I must honestly admit that I didn’t come back from Glacier as the same photographer that left for the trip; the world is now a different place that consists of color, texture and most importantly, light.




I discovered that there are others like me who don’t think that I’m crazy for saving pennies to buy the best glass, and then immediately lusting after something else. Actually, even though I brought what I thought to be a massive amount of gear, which actually turned out to be on the low to middle of the pack, I felt that I was carrying a light load compare to others (ahem. Nick :-))

My days would begin dark and early at around 5:30 in the morning since I had to pack for sunrise shoot.




This was usually followed by a critter search during the drive back to the lodge. Even though we were sleepy due to the early morning wake-ups, frozen like popsicles due to the wind (yes, I'm a California wimp), and extremely hungry even for over priced foods, our needs had to wait since there were critters to be found! I learned that patience is a necessity for shooting wildlife and unless you have it, you'll never find any. In addition, it’s a smart idea to have your longest lenses on your body during the car ride because you’ll never know what you’ll find hiding in the bushes. Or, in my case, I was always franticly climbing over the back seat, performing mini-van gymnastics since all the lens/tripods/bags were in the truck area. Note to self: this is a very bad idea with a separated shoulder.


But I did get the shot that I wanted :-)





After a quick breakfast, it was time to repack and head out once again. We must have been a sight to see on the trails...





Before long, it was sunset time.




We would stop for a quick dinner, followed by a discussion panel with Mark, David, et. al.,and then if the weather held, another shoot via the moonlight. And who knew that moonscapes are so much fun! I think I found another love….
-- Glacier by moonlight




I usually went to bed around midnight. Rinse. Lather, Repeat. And again. And again. And again. I came back extremely tired from this journey, but I didn't want to miss out on anything. After all, this was my first shootout (and definitely not my last) .

aktse

Place of beauty
Sometimes, things were so beautiful that you had to take a minute to take it all in and figure out how to capture it.
-- Do I need a model release from Scott???




And you just had to take a moment just to bask in the light attempting to peak through the storm clouds.
-- On the way back from Lake Mary





And I realized that I love my IR modified camera. I’m still not quite sure how to process the shots, but I must say that I'm slowly training my eyes for it to find things that would be amazing in IR.

-- Sunrise at Chief Mountain. Shots like this makes me happy that I got up in the morning...





I think it's amazing that an IR photo can look completely different than ones taken from a standard camera. The crazy part is both photos are taken at 17mm with two difference lenses (coincidence) within minutes of each other. I don't have many shots taken by both bodies at the same spot, but this really illustrates what IR can really do. Even when I was reviewing these shots, it wasn't apparent to me that these were taken at the same time, same place until much later!

--On the way to the lake...




Growing up on the west coast, I have learned that we have two season – hot, and a slightly wet one; Glacier taught me that fall and winter does exist. Leaves do indeed change color!
--Aspens in Fall





And Skippy learned, snow is cold.




And I learned to duck from snowballs, but I think Nick was trying to miss me on purpose and wasn't throwing like a girl as others were claiming.





And that trees are beautiful, especially when they are golden, green and white.


And I learned the true definition of free range cattle. Moooooooooo!

aktse

Memories.... oh what wonderful memories
If you ask me what the my best memories of glaciers, I would have to tell everyone that my fondest memories are not that of chasing the light.



Or trying a shot that shouldn't have worked.





or why Montana is known a the big sky country




I will remember the moments stuck between chasing the light and hoping for calm winds
-- Shoreline on Lake Mary on a cold morning






My memories will forever be etched of people that shared their precious moments of their lives with me. I will cherish the exact moment when all the cars would pull over. In a burst of energy, every single door would fly/slide open and STAY OPEN during the duration of the shoot, either minutes to an hour! White Lighting ,the Big Brown Poo, Grey Goose and other vehicles were connected via talk-a-bouts and would stop for anything interesting. This scene was repeated time and time again.





I learned that I had an adequate eye for finding wildlife. My job was to look for objects that looked like bowling balls on the tops of trees. For the most part, I was seriously useless. Ann, Christina and Maxine, on the other hand, were true rockstars in this area. We had an infamous "Wild Elk Chase" in which caused the car caravan to make multiple U-turns (not a pretty sight to see). I couldn’t see it, but they swore that it was there even though the other cars couldn't see it. I could barely see Tony and Ann in the tall grass, but they tell me that the Elk was somewhere near the tree line.






Or, how we stood and waited a moose to show? Maybe it was an elk... Either way, I can't tell the difference, and we never found one in Glacier.



And of how people would crawl, stand, do anything to get the shot, even going after their fears of heights.





Or how people came up with "creative" ways to get the shot that they wanted.



And the laughter that we shared setting up the perfect whimsical shot.





And many, many moments that are too numerous to share. The dgrinners are truly special people. You picked up a perfect stranger from the airport, let me use your precious lenses, and offered helpful suggestions so that a sports shooter could learn the world of landscapes. Words can not express my gratitude...






I left Glaciers with memories that will never leave me. Thank you Ann, Christine, Maxine, Nick, Scott, Nik, Tony, David, Andrew, Mike, Dixie, Ryan, Terrence, Adam, Kendall, DaveV, Kate, Sharon,Jack, Brian, Ben, Travis, Steph, and everyone else who shot with me. You ARE my photographic family. I know that I'll see you again as my travels take me across the states. Thank you for the memories and the everlasting friendship. Until next time...

ian408

Yeah! Very nice shots April!

gluwater

April!!! Glad to see you finally post some shootout shots. These are awesome. I love the IR. Isn't it addicting? You're processing them fine BTW. It was great fun shoot shooting with you and hope to do it again some day. And just for the record I was trying to miss you with the snowball and give you a shot like the one in the dgrin banner. Try throwing a snowball with a 30D and 70-200 IS hanging from the same shoulder, not exactly elegant. Thanks for the memories and great words in this post.

Skippy

Awesome April beautiful work.
Your Landscapes look great, and your IR shots too.

The only person who was gonna catch that Moose if it ever showed up,
was young Nick, see how everyone else is distracted, but not him

Your Sunrise at Chief Mountains shot is the pick of the bunch April
Look at that sky ....... gawwwwd !

What a awesome trip it was, next year will be incrediable too

Thanks for sharing ... excellent series April .... Skippy
.

GREAPER

Beautiful shots April, and wonderful commentary.

jasonstone

I'm gobsmacked - I LOVE the 1st and 2nd photos - for some reason they really do just go wow to me.

Just the scenery is beautiful - I wish I was there with you

Great shots!

Cheers
Jase

schmoo

Your photos and words were worth the wait!!!!!

Phyxius

aktse wrote:

I must honestly admit that I didn’t come back from Glacier as the same photographer that left for the trip; the world is now a different place that consists of color, texture and most importantly, light.

Gifs can't quite hold the detail, but I thought you might like this one April. :



It was great meeting you (and the rest of the gang!) You got some excellent shots!!!

Ann McRae

Thank you for sharing these, April. Your dialogue is brilliant, and has started my day with a wonderful, wamr heart remembering the shootout!

I also think the IR sunrise at Chief is a stunner, but they are all brilliant. It was great meeting and hanging out with you.


ann

eenusa

Thanks for a great virtual journey.

Tango

great thread, thanks for sharing. i love your shots!

denisegoldberg

I loved the photos; they bring back memories of my last trip to Glacier way back in 1998. I need to go back again.

But even more - your writing, your memories of the time you spent there and shared with other dgrinners, absolutely wonderful. Your memories have painted a beautiful picture both in photos and in words.

Thanks!

--- Denise

greenpea

Amazing pictures and a great write up! You really captured the feel of the trip with that write up. Thank you!

...granted it took a while for those pictures to get posted, but hey Freeman Patterson believes you should wait at least 3 or 4 months before even looking at your pictures.

schmoo

greenpea wrote:

Amazing pictures and a great write up! You really captured the feel of the trip with that write up. Thank you!

...granted it took a while for those pictures to get posted, but hey Freeman Patterson believes you should wait at least 3 or 4 months before even looking at your pictures.

I know Marc says the same, but what's Patterson's reason?

Personally I find that if I don't go through my shots right away, I'll never actually do it.

Nikolai

April,
wonderful story, great pictures and you're a ball (or bowl?:-) of fun to be(gin) with!
See you at the "paartay" :-)

Andy

awesome story, post, and photos. April, it was great to see you and be with you on this trip!

gluwater

schmoo wrote:

I know Marc says the same, but what's his reason?

Personally I find that if I don't go through my shots right away, I'll never actually do it.

I think his reasoning was that after a couple months you can look at the images more objectively. If you go through them right away the actual scenes and emotions you associate with them are still fresh in your mind and cloud your judgment as to which photos are actually good images and which you prefer because of sentimental value. I think this batch has both, sentimental and artistic value.

greenpea

gluwater wrote:

schmoo wrote:

I know Marc says the same, but what's Patterson's reason?

Personally I find that if I don't go through my shots right away, I'll never actually do it.

I think his reasoning was that after a couple months you can look at the images more objectively. If you go through them right away the actual scenes and emotions you associate with them are still fresh in your mind and cloud your judgment as to which photos are actually good images and which you prefer because of sentimental value. I think this batch has both, sentimental and artistic value.

Nick is correct, but I would add to that Freeman Patterson made a point of saying that the images that you capture are not *just images* but they are your life so you need to have some distance and time before you can objectively decide to delete peices of your life.

Although he said he only shoots film, I think if he did shoot digital, Freeman Patterson would even be against any kind of chimping. Just don't even look at the image for several months.

Personally, I don't have the self discipline or harddrive space to follow this philosophy.

Nikolai

greenpea wrote:

Although he said he only shoots film, I think if he did shoot digital, Freeman Patterson would even be against any kind of chimping. Just don't even look at the image for several months.

Chimping is a whole separate issue. It's simply a "wiki-wiki" way to ensure you are not doing anything stupid, like shooting ISO3200 during the hot California/Utah/Arizona midday, or that you're not shooting MF thinking your AF is up and running. Not chimping - when the situation and time allows - is akin to driving without a seatbelt on. In 95.5% of cases you'll be fine, but there will be that one day when it could save your a.. life.:-)

greenpea

I think I just found a new signature or avatar title...

"chimping may save your life"

Nikolai

greenpea wrote:

I think I just found a new signature or avatar title...

"chimping may save your life"

Yeah, why not? It's just like checking your ISO, you don't do it ALL the time, but occasionally it's a lifesaver...

jasonstone

What is chimping?

ian408

jasonstone wrote:

What is chimping?

The process of reviewing images on the LCD between shots.

A classic video clip.

tsk1979

bowbow
Thats all I can say.
A couple of questions through.
I see that your night shots are at ISO 800 with 30 seconds exposure. How did they come out so clean. I have the camera with the same sensor(350D) and I am scared to go above 200 if I am shooting for minutes.
ISO 800 for 30 sec exposure to avoid getting trails is a good idea.

jasonstone

ian408 wrote:

The process of reviewing images on the LCD between shots.

A classic video clip.

ok...

oooh oooh eeeeeeeekkkk

thx for the link

davev

Great shots April.

We enjoyed seeing and talking with you.
Next year Nick will have to try to keep up with you.:D

tonichelle

I am so jealous of your talent... I just can seem to capture landscapes like that (or really at all lol)