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Posts Tagged ‘Yellowstone’

Sponge Geyser – this is about it most of the time over the past few years. It simply cycles between low and high water – ‘a cyclic geyser.’ When at high water, it boils – ‘a boiling eruption.’ When I took these two photos I had a gentleman ask me what it does and upon learning this was it, he was visibly disappointed. The size of the cone does suggest maybe it does something more.

But then when I walked up to Sponge Geyser this year, it was different. Still not big, but different, and those differences capture me. There’s a bench to sit on at Sponge Geyser, and I sat for an hour or so – it’s really a great spot to watch much of the action on Geyser Hill. This time, at high water it bubbled and overflowed. Then as the water level dropped, the boiling began AND water spurted out some side vents I had not seen before. Some eruptions spurted water out these back or side vents fairly high, while others just splashed up a few drops. There might be a pattern to it – or there might not be any pattern. But a change definitely happened. And this change is the reason for the clicks.

Happy (photo) Friday!

Since I’m often found for Scrapbooking Yellowstone, I’ve pulled together my layouts in a gallery at my Photoshelter account and embedded a slideshow here. I’ll be organizing and working to include credit for kits, templates and such over the next few days, but most come from DSP.  Hope you find some inspiration in there! If you have photos you would like help pinpointing a location or identifying a thermal feature or animal or whatever,  I’m happy to take a stab at it – either post in the comments or email me.

And if you’ve got layouts of Yellowstone, I’d love to see those! Post links in the comments so I can take a peek and find inspiration as well.

While in The Illustrated Journal class taught by Susan Zwinger, she mentioned doing postcard poetry – finding something that captures your heart each day and writing a few sentences about it and perhaps add in a sketch. Being a photographer and scrapbooker, I took this basic idea and saw the potential in it for me. I love the concept and have continued to create a few more ‘postcards’ to add to the album. A few simply document this trip, but others fall more into the poetry/prose category.  Just another way to document. These will be printed as 4×6 photos and the panoramics as 4x9s – some of the same sizes I do offer as actual postcards.

There are so many things I picked up from the class I took at the Yellowstone Association. I’m still working to organize all of my thoughts on it, but I’ve started on a few quick layouts (in random order for now) to include in the Yellowstone 2010 album I’m working on. They’ll be ordered as 4×6 prints and added in somehow.

This first one was a bit blurry, so I altered it until it made me smile.

The mix of people in this class was perfect. Lots of backgrounds, lots chatting and sharing and lots of giggles and laughter.

Used to getting up early, I was out wandering around with the camera. Sorry about the watermark covering the lone bison – it’s the dot in the top of the n.

By the third day…

More to come…

I cannot believe what designer Kim Liddiard has done for me today. She asked if I would mind doing a test run on a new product of hers. It’s life changing – well, life saving – TIME SAVING. And that, especially in summer is life changing.

Summer is always jammed with busy-ness. My life is no different than anyone else’s – so much to do, so much more I want to get done – and gorgeous days beckoning me to step outside, just for a bit. I always want to keep up with basic documentation of life – the stuff to create layouts with. But how do I get the pages that reside in my mind and in my notes actually DONE?

I did THREE pages today – between laundry, and cooking ahead for an upcoming trip I’m taking, and processing photos for those who are waiting for them, and working to make sure the 365 blog can continue while I’m on this upcoming trip.

If you’re a photographer looking for a simple way to present photos to clients – or create storyboards or albums quickly…

If you use Photoshop – if you want to try digital scrapbooking, but even the layered template/quick clicks seem too much to learn or just do…

THIS. IS. THE. ANSWER.

REALLY.

The secret: Actions

Yep, actions – lovely one click actions – to get the basic page done in literally a minute! I had the idea in my mind for this first layout, but had put off creating it – and while Kim has these as square layouts, I created it as she designed, flattened and then dropped it onto an 8.5×11 layout. Added in journaling and a bit of extras to tie things together and voila:

IDEAS TO FINISHED LAYOUTS (and posting this) in LESS THAN AN HOUR for all of it!

Click on them to see them larger.

Action Used: It’s a Snap 9 Square 12×12

(for the 9 square, I cropped and sized the photo and uploaded it all 9 times)

You can find them now in the DSP Store! AND – Kim has a freebie for you to try on her blog!

Action Used: It’s a Snap 4 Gifted

Happy Friday!

I’ve been up to my elbows in processing images this week from our vacation. Since my mom always wonders just how many I take, I took 5118 photos while wandering. Many are comparison photos of the thermal features (geysers and hot springs) – not all are stunning, but they work for my ongoing collection. Others are like the one I shared last week – of people out in the geyser basins. I think the more I visit, and the more I learn about the geysers and hot springs and such, the more I start to really see them. And the more I see them, the more I work to find different shots to take of them. In fact, I find enjoy the small geysers just as much as the large ones – sometimes more when looking at them through the lens.

This week’s photo is of Grotto Geyser. My husband took a shot last year with basically this view, and gave me the inspiration to try this if the conditions were right. His photo was my calendar/desktop background photo on my computer for June – keeping that inspiration in front of me. I sat on the boardwalk that gives you a view of the “back side” – or at least the opposite side from where the typical photos are taken of it – waiting in hopes of a photo of a Rocket Major – that’s Rocket Geyser behind it in the photo.

While Rocket splashes a lot during a Grotto eruption, an hour or two (or a bit more) into Grotto’s eruption, if Grotto seems to slow a bit,the energy may shift to Rocket and Rocket might give a tremendous burst – a major eruption. As time passed this day, the clouds moved in and the light for the shot I want of Rocket disappeared. But as the temps cooled slightly, the steam from Grotto increased and I started to see the shot I hoped for of the splashes from the backside of Grotto. In the end, I have about a hundred shots of Grotto from this short time there. A few slight tweaks to curves and a small increase in vibrance and this photo reached what I had hoped to capture. It’s now my current favorite from this trip – but I’m not done processing yet.

I hope you enjoy it, too. It’s also the photo of the day over on my P365 blog – I have one I like of Chinese Spring up there as well.

Have a great day!

When I arrived in Cody at the end of May, I was thrilled to see that the Cody Craft & Scrapbooking Company was open for the summer. They closed a couple of years ago much to my disappointment, but they’re back for the summer season! So, naturally, I had to pay them a visit.  They’re easy to find as they’re located on the beginning of the west strip – on the way to Yellowstone (or Walmart or the rodeo grounds) from the center of town.  They’re not online at this point, even though they were in the past. Time will tell if they’ll find someone to take on that large task or not.

Walking in, I have to admit I had that same thrill I get walking into any office supply store – only better.  But this time, unlike so many other times I’ve headed to the paper scrapping stores, I actually made a purchase.  It’s hard for me to figure out what to buy – so many of the papers I look at and see how I can create something similar digitally, or already have something similar in my digital stash, but this time I had a specific project in mind…a mini-album for this trip, the size of rack cards, tri-fold flyers or panoramic postcards: 4″ x 9″ – just right.

Despite not having everything set up, Danel LaRose, the owner, welcomed me in and helped answer some of this digi scrapper’s very basic paper questions such as, ‘How do you attach this?’ or  ‘Glue – what glue do I use?’ or ‘How do you use distressing ink?’  She made me feel comfortable enough to really chuckle over my lack of paper scrapping knowledge. Even though I’ve been scrapping for years now, I know I’m a complete beginner when it comes to paper. I appreciate the help and encouragement!

All of a sudden, those papers started to look incredibly inviting!

This store has lots of unique items. Some of them are only available here – papers and embellishments specific to the area. With so  many scrapbook stores closing, I’m thrilled to see this one open again!

Laid out on the floor were some of her Page Packs she was assembling – kits full of goodies to make shopping there quick if you have family members who would really prefer not losing you for hours in a scrapbook store (my husband dreads me going into office supply stores, scrapbook stores and book stores).

I left with a few items and confidence that I could make this album happen.  THANKS, Danel, for the time, advice and encouragement! And THANKS for opening up again this summer!   I’ll be posting my progress and finds surrounding this album soon.  If you find yourself in Cody this summer, stop by – it’s well worth it!

Our pace on this trip has been a bit slower – in part due to rain and cold weather and in part due to just deciding to relax and not push much at all.  So, the number of photos taken is considerably down from last year, but the processing of photos is up.  I also made the decision to hold off and register all of my photos as unpublished rather than doing two sets of registration.  This is ASMP’s best practice suggestion and really, they are right.  It keeps everything cleaner.  This means I need to wait to share a lot of the photos I’ve taken, but it should help in the long run.  So, I thank you for your patience with this.

However, I have registered all the photos taken and worth keeping for one reason or another from last month, so can share a layout I did and belatedly post The Story Behind the Click(s) in this layout.

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The Story Behind the Clicks

There was a brisk wind blowing in off the lake when I was driving back from West Thumb Geyser Basin.  I had gone into Yellowstone, and specifically, to West Thumb becasue the weather forecast said this was the best day of the week, even though snow showers were likely.  And they were.  I was tired from walking around a few times, making sure I had captured all the pools I follow and track changes on, and from the long drive I had taken just a couple days prior from home to Cody.  My plan was to simply drive back – only stopping if I saw a grizzly.  But as I drove along the shore of the lake, the ice starting to break, I was enchanted by the piles of ice that had washed up on shore.  Then the sun came out and shone on Mt. Sheridan in the distance – OK, I knew I could process the difference to make for the photos I saw in my mind.  So, I started to look for a good batch to photograph, and soon found them at Pumice Point. 

An oriental couple had pulled off  before me and were busy taking photos of each other shivering at the end of the parking lot with the ice covered lake behind them.  I bundled up and headed down the shore to the ice I saw before the pullout and started to work the scene.  I knew photos were in there, but the only way I really find them is to keep shooting, keep looking, keep walking up and down until I saw the scene that I knew would work.  I could have stayed another half hour easily, but my fingers had started to stiffen and my fairly fresh camera battery had already lost a bar.  It was time to keep moving. 

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Upon processing, I realized the things that had captured me.  Many photographers talk about deliberately paying attention to the rules of composition and deliberately breaking them.  I’ve tried that, but then my photos don’t capture what I ‘see’ in a scene.  So, I keep adjusting until I see something in the view finder that just ‘looks right’ or catches my breath.  Later I can analyze why it works or why I missed it. Overall, though, I had plenty of photos to work with for this double page layout.

And one thrown in from Steamboat Point which I may swap out with a Pumice Point one for consistency. The journaling went from a long explanation to a few simple sentences – condensing it to the essence of all the writing, but I see now I didn’t change the photo out…

 

CREDITS:

• Suzanne Walker’s BeYOUtiful Page Kit & BeYOUtiful 2 Page Kit
• Cathy Zielske’s Layered Page Template – part of her Design Your Life class

We slept in this morning – which is always a great way to kick off a vacation. We took the dogs for a walk, made the bed, got coffee going and swept out the motorhome. After feeding the dogs, we took our time savoring the coffee, visiting and watching the birds. A huge splash surprised me right in front of our motorhome. I hadn’t been looking up. An osprey caught a fish, but it was too large. It sat for a good amount of time with its wings stretched out to float and rearrange its grasp a couple of times, but in the end, the fish was too heavy to lift out of the water and he gave up.  This is one of the great things about Yellowstone Holiday – a motorhome makes a mighty comfortable blind.

This is a great birding location and over the winter I pulled together a list of birds I had photographed and entered them into my observations over at eBird.  I brought along my bird and plant reference books this year.  I hadn’t brought all of them along last year and I regretted it.

Bird list for this morning:

• A pair of American Wigeons (the same couple from last year?)
• American Pelicans patrolling the waters back and forth
• Osprey
• Grebes (probably Western Grebes, but they were too far out to tell for certain)
• 3 female Yellow-headed blackbirds who walked through the grass in front of us, searching for breakfast
• Cliff Swallows busily flying back and forth between a patch of mud that must be just the right consistency and the nests they’re building across the road under the eves of some houses.  They also swooped constantly over the water, I assume dining on the mayflies which have hatched.

Time for a second cup of coffee.

At about 8:00 the clouds began to lift and by 8:15, blue sky began to show, inviting us to end our leisurely morning and get ready to head outside for what promises to be a glorious day. Even if it rains later on, any day on vacation is a good day.  Lakeside at Hebgen Lake – even better.

We plan to take it easy today, finishing getting the motorhome in order, visiting with friends we’ve made here, sitting by the lake and just soaking in the fact that we’re on vacation.  The time here will fly by, but were already sliding into the mode where clocks fade away to let the sun and the sky dictate the rhythm of the day. 

Happy Friday, dear readers!  Time for the story behind a few clicks. And since I mentioned I would do a West Thumb Report, here it is:

On May 30, 2010, I visited West Thumb Geyser Basin with my collection of comparison photos taken over the last five years.  I’ve tried notes and working on memory, but I’m a photographer, so photos work.  This type of documentation could work for any place you visit repeatedly.  Documenting changes over the years is a delight.

For the past few weeks I’ve sifted through photo files in my collection and pulled ones to print as photo references. I remember a few more, so there are some hiding in some folder somewhere. Getting them together simply got me itching to get into the Park and see what had changed over the winter at West Thumb Geyser Basin.

I drove through numerous snow showers and pulled in with another not far off. Bundling up and adding the final decoration of camera and lenses, I headed toward the building with the Yellowstone Association Store that sits at the edge of the parking lot (and has a toasty warm wood stove inside). One guy looking like he lost his way to the beach he intended to find (that left turn in Albuquerque, I guess)  stood there in shorts, t-shirt and flip flops with a puzzled look on his face as he studied – not looked at or noticed, but s.t.u.d.i.e.d. the sign posted:

As I passed by, bundled in four layers (turtleneck, fleece vest, sweatshirt and coat) and wearing boots (with wool socks, of course), he stared – unabashedly. Maybe he was just in shock from seeing snow when it was almost June. I didn’t see him on the boardwalks – at least not dressed as he was, so maybe it finally sunk in for him – spring in Yellowstone or in the mountains has a much different meaning than spring in other areas of the country. Showers = snow showers, or maybe sleet or freezing rain. It’s normal. Summer just sort of arrives one day…pretending to have been there all along and hoping nobody noticed her late arrival to the party.  And, of course, due to the sudden and welcome warmth, we always forgive the tardiness. Summer’s not here yet, but I imagine she’s just delayed for another week (or two).

I pulled up the hood of my coat and tucked in my camera to get ready for the brief snow shower that hit when I reached Paint Pots. I smiled, though, as I saw things had indeed changed here. While the main pool remained milky white, a few mud cones were forming this year close to the center (overlook areas). The photos in my last post shows the changes – the one now orange boiled continuously – never shooting up water, but stayed at a steady, rolling boil.

Near it, though, a new feature seems to have broken out. Another boiling pool also appeared closer to the lower overlook. Both boil water up at least a few inches if not a full foot on occasion. Two boys with their parents excitedly noticed these and the colors. I had to agree with them, this was “so cool!”

Next was Surging Spring – The water level had risen enough to now overflow and the color had changed from a brilliant opaque green to a clear blue. Heavy boiling from the center did seem to increase intermittently. And that pool there to the left in the photo, near the boardwalk. Was THAT there last fall? None of the photos I have with me here show the answer to that conclusively.

The water level in Collapsing Pool is back down again, but still clear and blue.

A few steps down the boardwalk later, I had to hold my camera up above my head and aim it at the vent in Percolating Spring to verify we could still even see any water (the photo didn’t come out well, so I’m including the photo below that did). Still a bit there but a far cry from how it looked a few years ago. Change is the only constant here.

Approaching Blue Funnel I realized I’d finally have a different photo of it.  The water is opaque this spring.

Turning to look the other way, I noticed the pool across the boardwalk from Blue Funnel has started to slough off sections of the microbial mat that lined it for years. Related to the change in Blue Funnel? Possibly – or possibly not. Just something to continue to watch. Just because thermal features are neighbors doesn’t automatically mean they interact with each other, but then again they might.

Twin Geyser – Last fall the water level sat high enough to let the water from both vents join. Only the ‘left’ vent boiled. This spring, however, the water level is quite low in both vents – and both are now boiling quite vigorously. Does it indicate anything more might occur? Probably not. But I wouldn’t mind being wrong in saying that!

Abyss was next to show a change and bring a smile to my face – large areas where the microbes lining the sides have sloughed off. In 2005, my photos showed it an amazing deep teal blue color with a touch of satin elegance to it. Then it cooled off  enough for microbes to thrive, turning it an amazing deep green.  Only time will tell if Abyss is tired of wearing that shade of deep green.

There were other changes as well, but these were some of the most interesting ones to me.  I hope you’ve enjoyed joining me on my stroll around West Thumb.

I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to post trip reports like this, but I  know I have journaling and photos all prepped now for this scrapbook page as well as an entry in my ongoing photo nature journal record of Yellowstone.  Grab a photo – one from a trip or from childhood or one you took today and jot down a few words about the story behind that click.  Take others into that world.  Give yourself the gift of heading back to visit a place in time when someone clicked the camera.