Photo Tour - Day 2

On Day 2, we headed to Tom's favorite part of Yellowstone, the Lamar Valley. This stunning valley is situated in the northeast quadrant of the park and is nothing short of spectacular. It has everything - grizzly bears, wolves, pronghorn antelope, bison, elk, coyotes, and on and on. The vistas are amazing and you always have the possibility of a surprise wildlife sighting around every corner.

Bitterroot

Today, we were looking for any or all of the above but our initial focus was the wildflowers that were at their peak near Soda Butte Creek. Tom's visited the park for 35 years (I think) and he says that this may be the greatest display of flowers he's ever seen. The variety of colors and species blanketing the valley was unreal. I guess our timing for visiting the park was just right for this too.

Wild Blue Flax

One of the great luxuries of this trip was that we could really spend the time to improve our photographic technique. We were learning from the best too. Tom has a great way of telling stories and giving photographic tips at the same time. He made the experience very enjoyable and relaxing and not intimidating. This was especially good for Colin and me since we are relative beginners at some of the technical stuff. This trip allowed us ample time to experiment with aperture settings and shutter speeds. I needed a lot of help with these basics and Tom was very patient with me.

And Colin. Colin has looked up to Tom for a while now. He has seen his photographs in his books but he has also spent hours looking at Tom's photos on his website: ( http://www.tmurphywild.com/ ) I highly recommend that you check out Tom's website to see the stunning images he has taken. Colin has been excited about meeting Tom for a long time now and here he was, finally getting a chance to learn photography from him. Here are two photos taken in the Lamar Valley showing Tom giving Colin some instruction:

Colin gets some helpful advice from Tom (note the pinkish field of Prairie Smoke in full bloom)

Tom looks at Colin's composition through the viewfinder

After a morning of practicing photography in the Upper Lamar Valley, listening to and watching two coyotes howl and yip back and forth to each other, basking in the warm dry air, watching birds soar overhead, listening to Soda Butte Creek power its way through the valley, marveling at the incredible array of wildflowers, watching Uinta ground squirrels pop up and down on the sage brush, it was finally time to have a picnic lunch. Tom drove east to a picnic site beyond Pebble Creek campground. There, we ate bagel sandwiches with cream cheese and salmon. Yum! We also had some melon and baked goods from Tom's wife. The antelope toes (similar to milano cookies but way better) were to die for!!!

So it was finally time to head back to the hotel for a quick nap. As we drove westward back through Lamar Valley, we passed by Druid Peak and the den site for the Druid wolf pack. All of a sudden, Colin saw something running toward the road from the creek. At first it was not clear what it was and Colin was slow to speak up for fear it might be a pronghorn maybe. I looked in the direction he was looking and immediately shouted, "that's a wolf!!!" He was going to cross the road right in front of us, heading back toward the den area. It all happened so quickly. Colin, Bill (the other photo tour client) and I scrambled to grab our cameras and snap a quick photo. All that we learned in the morning about manual focusing and apertures and shutter speeds went out the window. There was no time for that! I quickly switched to autofocus and managed to take 4 or 5 poor photos.

Tom knew to look for other wolves at the same time and quickly spotted a black wolf who had already crossed the road. I estimate that the wolves were 25 to 30 yards away or so. You could visit the park countless days and never see a wolf that close.

Druid Wolf

Colin and I had been fortunate enough to see wolves in Alaska two years ago but not this close. Everyone was thrilled by this wildlife sighting. It was over in about a minute or so. The wolves disappeared over the ridge and were gone. It's all about timing and we were extremely fortunate to have been there at that exact minute of the day.