Moose News Blog

Snow all gone, green grass a plenty and newborn Bison are just showing up. This one is going for an afternoon snack. I’m not sure mom was so keen on the idea.

what a cute face! It just goes downhill from here. And the color, that’s the real McCoy!

Hard light, I get what I deserve for shooting in it. But a nice buck at point blank range, how can you not shoot?

But there’s nothing like getting close! Ewe get the point.

We’re in South Dakota and today we were shooting in old haunts, Custer State Park. It was a great day of shooting, critters everywhere! We start our SD Base Camp tomorrow night so I’ll post what I can when i can but if today is any indication, I’ll be spending what time I have just looking at my images at night. Wish you were here!

Photos captured by D3, 200-400VR (handheld) on Lexar UDMA digital film

As you can see, the “blizzard” has blown through and while the roads are a mess, the light was out and so were we. With the end of bad weather typically comes a feeding frenzy by critters so we headed out where I thought the wind would have blown off the new snow. We saw lots of Mule Deer but we were hoping for better (yeah, I love Bambie).

A herd of Mtn Goats were introduced to the Mt Rushmore area early last century. Sometimes you can find them and sometimes you can’t. We lucked into this nanny who was taking advantage of the wind blown area to eat in the last rays of sunshine.

You’ll probably notice the ear tag and telemetry collar on the goat. Many would either not photograph them or if they do, remove them in post. Did I ever tell you about my first Audubon cover (their last wrap around), they specifically wanted a photograph of a California Gnatcatcher with bands on its leg. In reality, finding Mtn Goats with a collar is a whole lot more difficult than finding ones without. So strictly from a business point of view, I don’t mind the jewelry. Since I’m often involved in projects where that jewelry is being put on, I understand its purpose and need so often make a point of photographing it when I can.

How do I know it’s a nanny? The horns.

Photo captured by D3, 70-300VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

The “blizzard” settled in over our heads during the night. We can’t get out (to pick up Josh) and he can’t get in (flights canceled until tomorrow). So naturally, I took a drive and found some subjects which seemed to just get better and better.

And then I drove up memory lane to a line shack I’ve always liked but never got a good photo of until this morning.

The photography side was pretty simple. I underexposed -1/2 stop knowing what would happen when I dropped a black point / white point in NX. Then just to punch them up a tad, I used Nik Color Efex 3.0 Tonal Contrast. Now, we’re heading back out again to give the road crews more panic seeing us driving on the roads.

Photos captured by D3, 24-70AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film

We left home this morning and it was gorgeous, sunny and the daffodils were all in bloom. We arrive in Denver and it’s snowing and we’re stuck on the tarmac for hours, just like I was in February on my way to FL. We land in Rapid City to hear of 7″ of snow in The Hills and blizzard warnings up for the next 24hrs.

A happy May Day to you too!

Photo captured by D3, 70-300VR on Lexar UDMA digital film

Lenscoat has some cool new protection for our gear just in time for summer travels with TSA. Their new BodyBag Pro is cool because it really takes up no room yet provides a barrier between your camera body and the outside world (the body is faded in above so you can see how easily and custom the BodyBag Pro fits a D3). You can even use this with the body attached to a neckstrap. The FlashKeeper does the same thing for your flash unit while providing an extra compartment for batteries or gels. It easily holds the SB-800 with the 5th battery chamber attached. And the BeamerKeeper is super for holding the Better Beamer. I rely on all of these products to protect my gear when I’m flying and when it’s being shipped in the Pelican to locations. It’s never let me down!