Tag Archives: Kardashians

Into Each Park Some Rain Must Fall

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RainMustFallPano

Many years ago when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was perhaps touring Yellowstone National Park he penned one of his famous poems titled “Rainy Day”. The last two lines of the poem are “Into each park some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary.” Well this was in 1842 and it is apparently still raining.

Later on the Inkspots were touring the park and covered the poem with their hit song “Into each Park Some Rain Must Fall”. This was back in the early 40’s and Ella Fitzgerald was so taken with it she joined them and together they brought out a jazz version of the song. It was raining that day too.

When we arrived at the park to conduct The Institutes semi-annual inspection it was raining and in fact it rained 15 days out of 17. The two days it didn’t rain we had some sunshine but it quickly turned to rain.

Upon questioning some of the park staff who refused to give us their names, we asked “Why is it freaking raining sooooo much?” We hated to sound like we were whining but enough with the rain already. They had several theories, the most plausible of which was that the animals after a hard winter, spent either hibernating, or standing around buttocks deep in snow, or laying in the dirt somewhere needed some sprucing up before the park officially sprang into high gear after Memorial day. We thought this theory had some merit after being downwind of the buffalo herd as it trudged up the Gibbon canyon. Three hours behind a buffalo herd will give you a new belief in the need for good animal hygiene.

But while some rain is good, great even, there might be too much of a good thing. These animals are now as clean as they are ever going to be. Sparkling, they look like they’ve had the best spa day ever. The Kardashians have never been as clean as these animals and we all know how long they spend at the spa. Weeks.

We thought that the animal washing theory was a little weak and conveyed that fact to the park representative we were speaking to but they adamantly defended this as a valid reason for the rain so, being as they are like official park officials we went along with it. After all if you can’t trust someone who works for the government, who you gonna trust?

So, comfortable with the reasons given for the seemingly endless rain we continued our inspection amongst the squeaky clean animals, enjoying the fresh fragrances of the buffalo and elk and even the grizzlies, although they had a slightly musty odor that went away later in the summer, we were told by the same knowledgeable official who had the rain theory. He said “Trust me, come back in August and smell one, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.” We gave that assignment to one of our newest interns.

We have provided you with an image of a high country valley being rained on as we toured up to Mt. Washburn, one of the highest peaks in the park, where it was raining. But with sweet-smelling ground squirrels and Stellar Jays accompanying us we hardly noticed. The rain. I think that was day nine. That was a particularly rainy day.

Note : To those of you tuning in late the following posts will catch you up on preceding events. There is no extra charge for this service it is included in the cost of admission. We know you don’t want to miss a minute of our fascinating but undocumented report.

http://www.bigshotsnow.com/the-words-out/

http://www.bigshotsnow.com/announcement-13/

http://www.bigshotsnow.com/yellowstone-passes-inspection/

http://www.bigshotsnow.com/ghosts-in-the-darkness/

http://www.bigshotsnow.com/you-dont-see-that-every-day/

http://www.bigshotsnow.com/now-are-the-foxes/

We Are Family

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2013-11-02WeAreFamily3929click to enlarge

Here they are the starlets of the river world, or perhaps I should say the otterlets of the river world. These are the showstoppers, rivaling wolves, grizzlies, combative bulls, any attraction you want to put up against them. I hesitate to say this only because I don’t want to tarnish the good name of otters but they’re the Kardashians of the river ways. Beautiful, arrogant, aware of every lens pointed at them, they’re Yellowstone’s answer to Hollywood’s glamour.

When the Otters appear everything else stops. They command your attention from the moment of their arrival to when the last gleaming flash of their glistening bodies disappear down stream. They are probably one of the most photogenic animals you can see in the park and one of the most elusive. I have been to Yellowstone more times than I can remember and I have only been fortunate enough to encounter them for an extended period, three times over a dozen years. It’s not that they’re rare, because they’re certainly not, they’re just one of those animals that you have to luck onto. Some people walk into the park, trip over an otter and say “Oh look at that” and head for the shops at Old Faithful. Others have never seen them in all their visits.

On this particular shoot I was following along the Madison river when I noticed a photographer friend I hadn’t seen in a couple of years standing near the river looking upstream. I stopped and talked to him and he told me that otters had been seen at 7 mile bridge and he thought they might show up again. No sooner had he said that when we heard their cries upriver as they talked to each other and traveled downstream towards us. I was lucky enough to have the correct lens on my camera as they came into view, playing, chasing each other, diving for fish, cavorting like kids just out of school. Above 7 mile bridge is an area we call the log jam for obvious reasons and if there are any otters around that’s where you’ll find them. That’s where this shot was taken and several hundred more in fact as they spent the better part of an hour swimming through the snags, climbing over them, resting, and generally showing us what otters do for a living.

When I stopped to talk to my friend I had only intended to be there a few moments so I had neglected to turn off my truck. However when you encounter an opportunity to spend quality time with the Kardashians, I mean otters you can not lose focus for a second. These are pictures that you’ll never be able to get again so it’s now or never. The cardinal rule for wildlife photographers is “Shoot it when you see it”, and that’s what we did. As the otters moved downstream we followed, shooting as we went until we had traveled a good mile or more from the initial meeting. When I had time to think I wondered if I would have a truck, not to mention all the rest of my gear when I got back, but in for a penny in for a pound.

Finally the otters had had enough of us and decided to ditch these otterarazzi’s and so they did, leaving us to trudge back to our starting point, two grown men giddy as school girls over the incredible experience we’d just had, carrying our gear, me wondering how I was going to explain to the insurance company that someone had stolen my truck with all my gear in it just because I left it unlocked and running, and it wasn’t my fault because there were these otters, see…. and my friend making comments like “Why didn’t you shut it off when you got out?” and “I always shut mine off”, etc. until I had visions of making him otter bait but I shouldn’t have worried, this was Yellowstone.

When we got back there it was just like I left it, still running but nearly out of gas, everything in place, and thanking the powers that be for not punishing me for the ecological catastrophe I had caused by allowing all the those hydrocarbons to escape, I stowed my gear. I did shut off my truck then because I needed a moment to settle down and reflect on what had just happened. I had just spent over two hours doing what I love most in the world and I had three, count ’em three, compact flash cards filled with otter pictures. My truck didn’t get stolen, my gear was safe, the EPA didn’t have a warrant working for my arrest, it had been a glorious day. To this day that experience remains at the very top of my Yellowstone memories. It is one of those times that can never be recreated.

Even though I have shot otters since then it was never the same, the time was too short, the light was wrong, they were too far off, there was always something to mar the opportunity, but not that day. That day was perfect.