Grand Prismatic Spring – Mist
Hot water from the Prismatic Spring shelf flowed into a “holding” pond before it entered the stream below. Hot water entering a cooler pool of water generated a steady mist. When I took this image, I was thinking black and white to express the eerie feeling of the mist.
Grand Prismatic Spring Pastel
Mist periodically gently flowed across the springs. The bight sun shining through left a warm feeling of pastels. This time patience paid off as I waited for the mist to clear then re-enter.
Grand Prismatic Springs
Slow flowing water from the springs also left small rivulets. These colorful ones were a sharp contrast to the grey mineral flats in my prior post.
Grand Prismatic Spring -Mineral Flats
As the hot mineral water flows out of the spring, it creates a series of mineral flats. This perspective was a flat grey. I decided to convert it to black and white, add contrast, and apply a slight gradient across the image..
Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park
A boardwalk runs along the edge of the spring. The reflection of people walking along the walk caught my eye when the mist periodically lifted. I did not have the foresight to be patient and take an image with a light mist to create the mystic feeling I felt. Lesson learned; Be ready to capture a “feeling” and not just a “picture”.
Grand Prismatic Hot Spring
The Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park is the largest hot spring in the United States and the third largest in the world. The immensity of the spring is very difficult to capture from the ground level. I had my 24-105mm lens and only could capture a portion of the spring. I could not change to my 14mm wide angle because of the extreme harsh mist generated by the hot spring. On my next visit I will make two trips to photograph from the ground level. The first will be with my wide aperture lens to try to capture as much of the overall grandness of the spring. The second will be with my mid-range zoom to capture the details. To get a full photo of the spring, one needs to hike up the trail on the hill above the spring. The trail is currently (June 2017) in construction and not accessible..
I found the details of the water and mud beds below fascinating. Lines, colors, and reflections intrigued me. I will display images of some of those images in future posts.
Yellowstone Red Fox
I saw a few cars parked along the roadside, so I stopped. This little guy was walking right along the road. The prior day I saw him on the other side of the road at about the same time of day.
Wild Grizzly and Stupid Man
This is a wild Grizzly! Notice the head of a man in the lower right corner of the photo. This stupid man was out of his car blocking the way between the grizzly and his intended direction across the road. Notice how the grizzly is looking at him. A few leaps from the grizzly and the man was a “goner”! Note: I had a 960mm equivalent lens/camera combination. I was at a safe distance!
It is unbelievable how many people disregard nature. The poor grizzly was running along the hillside trying to cross the road. A string of cars with people hopping out of them was prohibiting the animal from going where he wanted to go. The animals have the right of way in the park, not visitors!!!
Yellowstone Grizzly
I traveled to Yellowstone to practice my wildlife photography. I was not disappointed. We first saw this grizzly running along the Lamar River at a distance. He ran across the road about a mile from where we first saw him. We drove down the road and saw him on the hill side above us. There was a big traffic jam, so I pulled off and watched him running away toward a ridge. Just before he got to the top, he turned around and looked straight at me. Click … I got him. What a sight !!!
Salt Collecting Rocks at Lapakahi Historical Park
I was walking along a path in a historic Hawaiian Village when I saw this face looking back up at me. I couldn’t resist stopping and capturing an image. See the eyes, nose and mouth.
These small hollowed-out stones were used by the Hawaiians to collect salt. Sea water was poured into hollowed-out stones like these. Sun evaporated the water leaving pa’akai (salt crystals. Salt was used to preserve fish and season food.