Yellowstone/Teton Wildlife

I spent the last 4 days up in Yellowstone and Grand Teton having a blast. The weather was actually much better there from what people have told me. I only got rained on for about 2 hours Sunday evening. Here is a little of the wildlife I saw. Unfortunately, I couldn't get very close to any of the Grizzlies (about 150 - 200 yards) so didn't want to go any larger with the crops to loose any detail I had. The Great Gray Owl had an injured wing and found him on the forest floor. I felt badly for him, but couldn't do much for him. (looked for a Ranger and no one around yet, was about 5:45 am). The Osprey was a couple of miles outside of the eat side Teton entrance and decided to preen himself for about 2 hours on a tree before finally deciding to fly away. Hope you enjoy.

Departing Osrey

Grizzly Searching for Food in Teton

Grizzly on top of Roaring Mt in Yellowstone

What's Yellowstone without the Bison?

The Great Gray Owl

Nice set of images Kurt. Really like the Grizzly on Roaring Mountain and the Great Gray profile. Sounds like you had a great time.

Man, what a nice collection! Those grizz shots are amazing.

Wow what a collection of birds, bears and bison you have here! I feel sorry for the owl too. At least you got a good closeup, hopefully it won't be his last. 140-200 yards is probably close enough for me to a grizzly.

Very nice set of creature captures you have here. The griz shots will be an easy favorite with the general public. Especially #2 where is it looking and moving towards the camera.

What a great collection! I don't have a favorite, but the Grizzly and Owl shots really stand out for me.

Greater Yellowstone diversity on full display, eh Kurt? The amazing Roaring Mt. Grizz and GGO are real standout images. And the owl, damn, the poor owl! You did what you could. The bison shot is too busy and too close - maybe crop it even closer? The grizzly searching is a bit bottom heavy and would benefit from a crop. Nice work!

Thanks for the comments...Dave I agree totally about the last Grizz being bottom heavy, but not sure the shot would hold up to more cropping. It is already about a 50% and think the remaining detail would be lost. I always get stuck on what to do in those situations...any thoughts? Still think it would be best to loose the bottom? Or should I add more to the top and cut out the bottom?

Even at 30% you have a publishable image - not a lead-in for a mag, but complimentary to your other work. But the Roaring Fork grizz is much, much stronger - award-winning potential here. The elements of a grizzly bear looking right at you, moving towards the photographer in a rugged landscape that screams Yellowstone! and with his claws in full view, man that is nice! You may just lighten a bit both bear and surrounding landscape to bring out detail. If I had that shot I wouldn't even worry about the other one unless I was submitting to a mag.

Kurt, I was there June 4-11, 2010 with 8 other photographers and the wildlife viewing was amazing. We also spent a day the GTNP. I put together a slideshow/music of 48 images to date here:

http://galloimages.zenfolio.com/

I will be adding more over the next week.

We didnt want to leave....

Mark

Great images Kurt. I really need to get up there soon.

Wonderful set of images - grizz on top of the roaring mt is the one I liked best. The owl one is great too ..

Great shots Kurt! Like the eyes in the owl image. Looks like a great time!

I like them all, but the bear photos are amazing. Did the bears know you were there and just ignore you? Thanks for sharing.

Bison and birds and bears...oh, my!
Wonderful work, Kurt. I enjoyed each and every one of these. Glad you scored so very well during your trip.
Did you get any landscape images?

Wow, that's quite a haul, Kurt! Fantastic set.

Great set! My faves are the grizzly shots and the owl.

What great finds, looks like you had a successful trip.