Aaron, Author at Teton Photography Club

July 4, 2015

Red, White & Blue ~

Patriotic Colors on Display at the 4th of July Parade.

Streets were lined with flags and spectators long before the 10:30 am parade. The weather was clear, sunny, and unseasonably warm…perfect for a mountain parade!

Click to view slideshow.

The 4th of July Parade is much larger than the Memorial Day parade. Many tourists and locals spend the middle of the day at the numerous music venues, then gather for the fireworks show at Snow King Mountain. If you are ever in the area, JH is a great place to spend this holiday.

Photography Notes: I headed to the parade about 45 minutes before the first color guard came by and just watched for anything colorful and interesting. I took my Nikon D4 and the Tamron 150-600mm lens today and concentrated mainly on smaller scenes. I shot in Manual Mode: F8 at 1/800th second with Auto ISO.

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July 1, 2015

July 2015 Daily Updates & Photos for Grand Teton National Park & JH:

A monthly journal of wildlife reports, scenic opportunities, and tidbits for both photographers and Teton visitors!

Recent Daily Updates Archives:
2015: July: | June: | May: | Apr: | Mar: | Feb: | Jan:
2014: Dec: | Nov: | Oct: | Sept: | Aug: | July: | June: | May: | Apr: | Mar: | Feb: | Jan:
2013: Dec: | Nov: | Oct: | Sept: | Aug:

Check out the July Overview!

Monthly Overviews for JH / GTNP . Get a quick look at 12 months side by side.

July 1, 2015 :

The year is now half over! Wow!

Morning Shots:

Flat Creek: Nikon D800 and Nikon 24-70mm

The Grand With No Clouds:

Flat Creek was ablaze this morning as I passed by. I stopped to shoot it, following my own advice. Actually, Dave Ryan gave me the advice in a class I took at the JH Art Center long ago…no telling who told him? The advice…When something worthwhile catches your eye, stop then and there and snap the shot! It paid off today. The small photo to the left was taken at the Gros Ventre Junction only a few minutes after the shots at Flat Creek. I was expecting similar clouds and color, but instead, it was devoid of clouds and lacked any kind of color.

Gros Ventre: Nikon D800 and Nikon 24-70mm

Tall Summer Grasses: Taken along Mormon Row Road. Nikon D4 and Tamron 150-600mm

One Flowers: Taken along Antelope Flats Road. Nikon D800 and Nikon 24-70mm

Morning Photographers: Nikon D4 and Tamron 150-600mm

For more recent shots, click the June Daily Updates and Photos Page. July was active and busy last year, and I expect it to be again this year, so please check back regularly! The image above was taken on July 1st of 2014.

Upcoming Plans? If you are planning a trip to the region, here are a couple of suggestions:

Jackson, WY: 4th of July Parade & Fireworks: Saturday, 4th of July

Driggs, ID: Celebrate America, large fireworks display: Saturday 4th of July

Driggs, ID: Hot Air Balloon Festival, early mornings July 02 – July 05

West Yellowstone, MT: Smoking Waters Mtn. Man Rendezvous: July 31-August 9

Pinedale, WY: Green River Rendezvous Days: July 9-12, 2015 : Parade, Trader’s Row, Mountain Man Museum, Pageant

Jackson, WY: Farmer’s Markets begin on Saturday, July 11 downtown.

Fireworks 2014

Photographing Fireworks : Tips and Suggestions.

If you have been paying attention to the most recent set of Feature Posts, you might notice a wide variety of subjects. GTNP, with its wide array of landscapes and wildlife possibilities, is always at my doorstep, but there are plenty of other regional events and subjects. Back in January, I created this Feature Post: An Upcoming Year of Wishes. I have been systematically going through the list. We are planning on going over to the Fireworks display in Driggs next Saturday and I’d like to experience one of the days at the Hot Air Balloon Festival. There are a few upcoming Mountain Man Rendezvous and I’d like to go photograph the Wild Mustangs again soon. The rivers are clearing, so it is also time to begin photographing fishermen on the rivers and streams.

I can always use your help if you have a chance to spread the word about this site. It is constantly growing, but your help would be greatly appreciated!

One-On-One Excursions Openings: I have a couple of openings for mid/late July. The trips are designed to help people learn to use their DSLR cameras and help photographers find some of GTNP’s nice shooting locations. Click the link for more information. (Golden Era Studios / Mike R. Jackson is an Authorized Permittee of the National Park Service and the National Elk Refuge.) The Snake River is starting to clear. If you are a fisherman/photographer, you might enjoy this trip: Hybrid Photography & Fly Fishing Trips in GTNP

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July 1, 2015

Why Yellowstone National Park Needs a Shuttle System

Tourist too close to bison

Yellowstone National Park is exhausted and over-stressed. It’s so heavily visited and trampled in the summers that I believe it’s currently left with only two options. The first option is to completely revamp all the parking lots, consuming and overtaking more natural resources from fragile ground, as well as adding in four-lane highways to account for ever-increasing traffic to an already stressed park. The other option is to close all roads to the majority of motorized traffic from Memorial Day to Labor Day. I don’t doubt that many people would find this preposterous, impossible, and unrealistic, but I argue that the park is currently left either with embracing this option, or continuing to devour its own natural resources in an attempt to scale to meet increasing demand, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down.

Before getting defensive, there would of course be exceptions, ensuring that Yellowstone’s most frequent and active visitors aren’t affected at all, but first, step back and look at the National Park Service as a continually evolving entity. The National Parks are, and have always been, an ongoing experiment. The finality and completion of a park like Yellowstone is about as stable as the volcano and fault lines that it rests on. This completely moots any argument about “breaking tradition”, an argument that never carries any weight in any circumstance.

Tourist crawling into thermal feature

The argument for a shuttle system is very simple. During my experience guiding throughout Yellowstone National Park for the past four summers, I observed a very consistent pattern among the vast majority of Yellowstone National Park’s visitors:

Drive to and park at roadside feature.
Get out.
Observe.
Check it off the list.
Repeat.

This population of people enter the park around mid-morning and are out before dinner, unless camping or lodging inside the park itself. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of tourists would not be inconvenienced in any way by the use of a shuttle system, and many of them might even prefer it so they can admire the scenery instead of looking for an opportune time to pass the car ahead of them. Likewise, it would eliminate unnecessary traffic and subsequently all road rage resulting from hurried drivers that underestimated the time from Point A to Point B, making Yellowstone road rage a thing of the past, helping to preserve the wildlife there. Both Zion National Park and Bandelier National Monument use shuttle services with great success, among others, leaving the roads safer and more open for hikers and bicyclists.

As mentioned, there would be some exceptions. Many businesses rely on wildlife safaris in Yellowstone for a significant portion of their revenue. They would be permitted to continue operating as normal, resulting in increased traffic for them plus better viewing opportunities. This would also significantly reduce the stress for rangers controlling crowds near wildlife. Likewise, for avid photographers and opportunists, a system similar to Bandelier National Monument would be incorporated, making use of a flexibility in time. For example, if you arrived to Yellowstone before 8am, for example, you could drive in undisturbed. Gates would close at that time for the day, but reopen again in the late afternoon, around 5pm or so. For those wanting optimal light and wildlife opportunities, this wouldn’t affect them at all since most of them are already doing just that. Also, the road closures and shuttle system would only be in effect during the busiest time of the year, when Yellowstone is overrun with visitation and pushing the park beyond what its budget can handle.

Tourist hanging from a car for a photo

Lastly, and most importantly, this would encourage people to get out and onto their feet, the way a national park is supposed to be seen. Edward Abbey made a similar recommendation decades ago solely for that purpose. Yet now, with park visitation putting unprecedented stress on the natural resources, the park seems to be caught without an alternative.

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June 28, 2015

Eastern Shoshone Indian Days: 2015 Pow-Wow and Events.

54th Annual Event Held at Ft. Washakie in NW Wyoming.

The sounds of the drums, singers, bells, and jingles, combined with the movement of the dancers and their regalia will likely leave a lasting impression on any viewer. During a Grand Entrance, hundreds of colorfully clad dancers of all ages spiral their way into the large pavilion. Words, and even photos simply can’t do justice to the actual experience. Gatherings like the 56th Annual Eastern Shoshone Indian Days celebrate Native American’s heritage and culture.

The Powwow, & Indian Rodeo & Relay Races were held at Ft. Washakie, WY over the three days and nights of June 26-28, 2015. Click Here for a Google Map of the area.

The Pow-Wow at Ft. Washakie is roughly 140 miles from downtown Jackson. A similar Pow-Wow is held each year at Ft. Hall in eastern Idaho—also roughly 140 miles from Jackson. That event will be held August 6-9 in 2015. It is even larger than the Ft. Washakie event. Crow Fair 2015 – will be held August 12-17 at Crow Agency, MT.

Hand Drums and Singers: Shooting Data: NIKON D4, 150.0-600.0 mm f/5.0-6.3 at 150 mm, 1/160 at f/7.1, Aperture priority Mode, -1 2/3 EV, ISO 900, SB 910 Strobe, ©2015 Mike R. Jackson, All Rights Reserved

Besides the Grand Entrances and dance competitions, the Ft. Washakie event included an Indian Rodeo and Relay Races. I didn’t make it to those events, however the announcer at the pavilion made it sound like the events were action packed and memorable. Saturday morning was filled with foot races for all ages, stick ball games, arrow toss, and a tug of war in numerous age groups. While some participants were from the Fort Washakie area, others traveled from long distances to be part of the event. The “hand drum” competition, shown in the photo above, was spread out over several days.

This shot should give a reasonable idea of the size and scale of pavilion or arbor. I asked how many dancers there were and about the only response I could get was “over 200″. I’d guess considerably more than that. It took roughly 30 minutes to stream everyone into the grassy pavilion. I was standing in the shade of the pavilion, with an occasional light breeze to keep me somewhat cool. The participants in the afternoon Grand Entrance were actively dancing in the 93°F baking sun with their full regalia. (Click this image to see it larger).

“Indian Time”: That’s a term I heard the announcer use. He was referring to the fact the Saturday afternoon Grand Entrance was scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM, but it didn’t actually begin until 1:35 PM. The 7:00 PM evening Grand Entrance began at roughly 7:30 PM, too.

This a great, great grandson of Chief Washakie. The original Chief Washakie was famous on many levels. Here’s a quote from Wikipedia:

“Nearby Crowheart Butte was the site of a battle between the Crow and Shoshone American Indian tribes in 1866. According to legend, following a five-day battle for rights to the hunting grounds in the Wind River Range, Chief Washakie of the Shoshone and Chief Big Robber of the Crow agreed to a duel, with the winner gaining the rights to the Wind River hunting grounds. Chief Washakie eventually prevailed, but he was so impressed with the courage of his opponent, that rather than scalp him, he instead cut out his heart and placed it on the end of his lance.”

Two Dancers:

Comments about the Fancy Dancers: There aren’t many square inches left on these dancer’s regalia not covered with some sort of motion generating element. The biggest challenge is to get even a small portion of their face in the shot. Their actions are fast and unpredictable, so I shot a lot on each subject. I also slowed the shutter down to 1/30th or 1/40th second. 1/10th was way too slow! I chose to include a few with a hint of a face, but I also came home with hundreds of very interesting abstract motion shots with just swirls of colors, ribbons and feathers. There were lots of possibilities.

All Ages: I couldn’t help notice the age groups—from barely walking to the elderly—and a good showing of every age in between.

Traditional Women’s Competition: Shooting Data: NIKON D800, 150.0-600.0 mm f/5.0-6.3 at 450 mm, 1/125 at f/6, Aperture priority Mode, -2/3 EV, ISO 1600, ©2015 Mike R. Jackson, All Rights Reserved

Detail Shot of Back of a Traditional Women’s Dress: Shooting Data: NIKON D800, 150.0-600.0 mm f/5.0-6.3 at 350 mm, 1/320 at f/6, Manual Mode, -2/3 EV, ISO 3200, ©2015 Mike R. Jackson, All Rights Reserved

Photography Notes: This Pow-Wow seemed more “forgiving” to photographers than the Fort Hall Pow-Wow I’ve attended a few times in prior years. As long as cameras are pointed to the inside of the pavilion or arbor, no one seemed to be concerned. A couple of photographers were actually allowed to be inside the dance area. I don’t believe that would be allowed at Fort Hall. Images on this page were picked from roughly 2100 I took that day. I ran them through a few quick adjustment steps in Lightroom before posting them here. Light was harsh and constrasty during the afternoon Grand Entrance. The evening Grand Entrance was held at about the exact time the sun was trying to set behind a dark storm cloud. The pavilion lights came on at some point, so getting consistent, accurate color was a challenge left to Lightroom. I could probably tweak some of these a little more. I used an on camera Nikon SB 910 strobe for most of the late evening shots. For all shots, I used a heavy duty tripod. I chose to use the Tamron 150-600mm lens to get the extra reach for the close-ups. I shot almost all of the images “wide open” to attempt to blur out as much of the clutter as possible.

I didn’t get model releases on any of the images, so they are essentially suited only for images for this blog. Beware: besides my copyrights, if you were to use (steal) any of these images for a painting or any other purpose, you might also get a letter from a tribal lawyer. They are rumored to aggressively police images like this.

If you like what you see, please click on any of the Social Media Icons below and share the page with your friends and associates! MJ

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