Happy Thanksgiving
Here at Franzfoto we’d like to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
Riding the Storm
On Monday afternoon this week we had a major storm blow into northwest Wyoming. A strong north wind with falling snow made conditions pretty miserable. It was perfect conditions for large numbers of snow geese to finish their migration south to their winter range. All evening long I could hear and in some cases see flock after flock of snow geese flying over. The snow geese passing over western Wyoming are in the Central Flyway. These snow geese breed in the Mackenzie River Delta, within a few miles of the Arctic Ocean, in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. In early autumn they move south into Montana to stage, feeding on harvested crops for a few weeks to gain strength and weight for the final push south. A strong storm with north winds is ideal conditions to save energy on the final leg of their migration. Flying along the Absaroka Front the birds pass right over Cody, Wyoming on their way to the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico. It was amazing to hear the nonstop parade of birds flying over that night. Unfortunately I doubt if very many folks knew it was happening or would recognize what birds were making all the noise that night. In the early 1900’s snow geese numbers were down to 2000-3000 due to unregulated market hunting. They were protected in 1916 and have made a remarkable recovery with 7-9 million birds filling the skies today. They are now one of the most common waterfowl in the world.
Article Published
An article I wrote titled “Wildlife Photography Beyond the Perfect Portrait” was just published on the wonderful nature photography site Naturescapes. Go HERE to view the piece.
Terrible Loss
It’s been a difficult week, I lost my father Henry this pastTuesday night. He was 80 years old. My parents had been visiting us here in Wyoming for the past 5 weeks so we had a chance to spend some quality time together. My parents were just 1 month shy of their 60th anniversary. We still talked nearly every day and he was my best friend. I miss him terribly.
South Texas Private Ranch Safari
Kiskadee chasing Harris Hawk
I’ve just announced dates for my 2016 “Texas Private Ranch” photo tour. The 2106 dates will be May 1-4th at the fabulous Santa Clara Ranch near Edinburgh Texas in the Rio Grande Valley. Less than ideal conditions prevailed during the 2015 tour. Record rains had filled all the water holes providing abundant food and water for the birds and resident wildlife. This caused the water and food attractants to be less effective than during more normal conditions, yet we managed to still enjoy great photography. All of the images in this post were provided to me by a 2015 tour participant Mike Robinson. Thank you Mike!
I will take six participants on the 2106 tour. For more information and to sign up go HERE.
Bald Eagles of Alaska Trip Report
Canon Eos 1DX, Lens: EF500mm f/4L IS USM, manual exposure 1/2500 @ F4 ISO 400
I’ve just returned home from another amazing and very successful “Bald Eagles of Alaska” photo tour. This was my fifth year running this tour and it just seems to keep getting better. Weather in Alaska is always a concern and for the most part we had great light to work with. The temperature was cold but the great light made up for it. On the next to the last day a strong storm moved in making the conditions unsafe to be in the boat and we had to cancel the last 2 shoots. Everyone was fine with that since the first 5 days were just great with everyone on the tour shooting 2000-4000 images or more per day.
Canon Eos 1DX, EF 300mm F2.8L IS, Manual exposure 1/4000 @ F4 ISO 800
We again found large numbers of wintering bald eagles in the beautiful coves and bays in the area and had non-stop action photography. You can dramatically increase your skill of capturing birds in flight and create an amazing eagle image portfolio on this tour that would take a lifetime to achieve in other locations.
Canon Eos 7DmkII, EF70-200mm F4L IS, manual exposure 1/4000 @ F5.6 ISO 800
Canon Eos 7DmkII EF 70-200mm F4L IS, manual exposure 1/4000 @ F5.6, ISO 800
Canon Eos 7DmkII, EF 70-200mm F4IS, manual exposure, 1/4000 @ F4, ISO 400
Canon Eos 7DmkII, EF EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM, manual exposure 1/4000 @ F5.6, ISO 800
Canon Eos 7D Mark II, EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM, manual exposure, 1/2500 @ F4, ISO 400
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2015 “Winter Yellowstone” photo tour
My annual “Winter in Yellowstone” photo tour ran from February 1st through the the 7th. Again this year I had a wonderful group.. I was joined by Cindi, Rachel, Bill, Gordon, Harry, and Mae who came all the way from Taiwan for the tour. They were an enthusiastic and energetic group that brought way to many clothes for this years conditions. Of course you can never predict the weather. This was probably the warmest winter tour that I’ve had in Yellowstone while the previous year was the coldest. On virtually the same day last year was -54 degrees F and this year was 50 degrees above zero. An amazing 104 degree temperature difference.. Of course I’m comparing the days lowest temperature in 2014 to the high temperature in 2015 but still it’s a striking comparison.
We had great bison, bighorn sheep, elk, moose and pronghorn photographic opportunities. Coyote, red fox and wolf sightings were down. Wolf numbers are way down in the park. Many wolf packs have moved out of the park boundaries in search of their primary food source, elk. During low snow pack years I’ve noticed that red fox sightings are scarce. Red fox being primarily nocturnal do most of theire hunting at night so with good hunting conditions provided by the low snow pack they are not seen much during daylight hours. Coyotes may react the same way. We again were able to photograph a bobcat along the Madison River. I know of 3 bobcats working the river. Most likely it’s a mother with two of her offspring living on their own. The bobcat we photographed is a 2 year old female, the same one as last year. The bobcats hunt waterfowl in the Madison River which doesn’t freeze because of warm thermal inflows.
Of course Yellowstone is always a fantastic place for landscape photography with the unique thermal areas and dramatic lighting conditions they create. We were able to create lots of interesting landscape images during the tour. Below is an example of some of the images captured during the week. Thanks Rachel, Cindi and Bill. I’ll show some more images from others from the tour as they come in.
Off to Yellowstone
I’ll be heading off tomorrow for the first “Winter in Yellowstone” tour this year. I’ll have a couple more tours coming up later in February. If there is one thing you can count on in Yellowstone National Park is that it’s never the same year to year. Last year we had wonderful photo opportunities with bobcats in the interior. I’m really hoping for more of the same this year. So far this year it’s been fairly warm and dry. It will be interesting to see how these conditions will affect the wildlife viewing.
During the tour we’ll spend plenty of time exploring the northern range of the park where most of the wildlife will be seen since it’s the primary winter range for many on the parks animals. This is also the best area to view wolves. We also visit the interior of the park via a chartered snowcoach. The interior is desolate, quiet and beautiful with it’s thermal features adding mood.
I’ll post a report on the trip when I return.
Merry Christmas
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year!
“Coastal Brown Bears of Alaska” trip report (part 1)
Alaskan brown bear chasing salmon
2014 marks the 6th year that I’ve leading this exciting photo tour to Lake Clark National Park in Alaska to photograph the coastal brown bears. I always very much look forward to this trip and it’s become like going to see family when I visit the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge. Their hospitality is second to none. I had a great group accompanying me this year. Michael, Christine, Norm, Mike, John and Jeannie. I timed the tour to coincide with the peak of the silver salmon run and the most favorable tides for fishing bears and shooting light.
Brown bear with a silver salmon
Having 2 low tides a day, during shooting times, gave us many great photo opportunities to photograph the bears fishing. My group was enthusiastic and definitely put in the time required to capture great images. As usual in Alaska we had a variety on weather conditions and you nearly always have some rain to deal with during the week. We lost a good portion of one day to some very heavy rain. When the rain is light we always go out to photograph. I like the look of the bears when they’re wet and the soft light is excellent.
Brown bear
The 2014 salmon run seemed stronger than the past few years. We had lots of salmon running upstream and some very large silvers were captured by the bears. Bear numbers were not real high but we had plenty to choose from and lots of great action.
Alaskan brown bear sow
We had a sow with a 2nd year cub and 2 sows with twin cubs of the year. No boars were seen as they usually disappear after the mating season in May and June. Having some cubs around always delights the photographers since the provide many wonderful photos.
2nd year cub
The bears were protective of their fishing holes and we had several confrontations when a bear trespassed on another bears favorite spot.
Confrontation
Successful fisherman
This bear caught this nice silver salmon right in front of us. I was to close to fit the bear into my frame with my 500mm lens so I turned my camera vertical to capture this composition
Still chasing salmon
Salmon eye view
This bear would chase salmon while keeping its meal in her mouth. They bears seem to catch the salmon with their front paws before grabbing it with their mouth. So when she would catch the salmon she’d drop the one she was carrying. An interested cub looks on trying to learn moms fishing techniques. Much more to come in part 2 of this trip report including an incredible fight between 2 bears.
Yellowstone Nature Photography by D. Robert Franz & Franzfoto Tours 