Yellowstone trip -- Part I

[priller]

Cindy and I went on a short trip to Montana, including two days in Yellowstone. I'm a Louisiana native, but somehow two of my brothers have migrated to Montana. I went up there to visit them and spend a few days in the park, which I dearly love. It was my third trip there, yet I've still not seen the whole park. It's big! These are just some random photos from the park.

Here's a female elk in Yellowstone river, in the morning light.
Nikon D70s, Sigma 100-300mm f/4, set at 300mm, 1/2000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 500.




Steamy view of some of the hot springs. It was very hot in the park this time, temperature in the mid-90's. But there was till plenty of steam from the hot springs.
Nikon D70s, Sigma 100-300mm f/4, set at 100mm, 1/2000 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 200.




No, I'm not crazy enough to get this close to a buffalo. This was from the car (Cindy took it, actually) as we drove by this fellow sitting by the road. I discovered it's really hard to take good photos of buffalo, since their faces are so dark, it's hard to get detail. But we were lucky to see this one so close by, with the late-day sun at a good angle to see his face clearly.
Nikon D70s, Sigma 100-300mm f/4, set at 195mm, 1/100 sec @ f/4, ISO 500.




Castle geyser, with the colorful bacterial mat in the foreground.
Nikon D70s, Sigma 10-20mm, set at 16mm, 1/2500 sec @ f/8, ISO 400.




My girlfriend, Cindy. The look on her face says, "Why on earth are you taking my picture when we've been walking in the hot sun all day?" I'm taking it because she still looks great.
Nikon D70s, Sigma 100-300mm f/4, set at 185mm, 1/500 sec @ f/4, ISO 250.




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More photos to come, including the obligatory Old Faithful shots.

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Wonderful, Priller...

These are really beautiful. The picture of the geyser is surreal.

[priller]

2. Some parts of Yellowstone are surreal

Around Old Faithful, where there are a lot of geysers and hot springs in one place, seems like an alien landscape. I remember being out there one cold morning, with the steam rising everywhere, the geysers and springs bubbling and gurgling, the awful sulfur smell, and thinking that it had to be the one weirdest places on earth!

[Touchdown]

3. My friend and I plan on going there in Sep.

...if work ever lets him off for anything, but that's another story.:eyes:

He's in Florida and it's his turn to fly up to Denver to visit me. This is only a day's drive from Den so I think it'll be beautiful. Can't wait (to get out of work as well:puke: ).

[Immad2]

4. Great pictures, priller! I love that Buffalo!

:bounce: :thumbsup: :hi: :applause:

[priller]

5. Thanks!

Like I mentioned earlier, I was getting frustrated taking buffalo shots, as most of the time they turned out as dark blobs against a bright background (it was very sunny at the park). We were lucky this guy was in a good location.

Another time I did get unintentionally very close to a buffalo. It was the first one we saw. It was out about 30 yards from the road. I stopped the car and got my camera and Sigma 100-300 out to take a few shots. There was another guy there with a little digicam doing the same thing. The buffalo was just strolling along, not seeming to move too fast. But he kept coming closer, and the other guy noticed that the path the buffalo was on came right up to where we were standing. Sure enough, it just kept on coming closer and closer. At about 20 feet away I thought, okay, I'm getting in the car, and I quickly slipped inside. Cindy looked at me and said, "What are you... Oh my god!!!" as the buffalo passed within about a foot of the car.

All that after we had just been handed the big yellow flyer at the gate, saying that "Buffalo are very dangerous!"

[Lefty48197]

6. All great photos, especially the last one

Love the elk and buffalo too.

[Maestro]

7. I really like the buffalo shot!

And that last one is not bad either. :)