Take Two

First a little bit of an aside of some thoughts I had today. Blogging is great for feeling better about your photography. I'm constantly looking at my photos and trying to figure out how I could have shot each picture better. Every photo I've taken has at least one answer to this. When you see all your photos at the end of the day it can be easy to get lost in all the flaws. But when you put them together in a blog, you can see the improvement over time. Just as importantly, you are left with some of your better shots. Best of all you are left with the memory of what you experienced when you created an image.

(July 26th) I made a quick sojourn in the morning to some of the higher elevations of the park in search for bears and vistas. I did see a very large black bear, but it was in the shade and walked across the road into dense cover so quickly that there was no chance. I saw a really cool bog with killer mist, but yet again I failed at the mist shot. There is definitely something here that I am missing (I suspect it is in post) and need to learn. There was some great light for some spectacular views. Can't go wrong in Japser.

After the landscape, I had a mission. I was going to go back to the Columbian Ground Squirrels and approach them with all the stealth in the world. This time I was going to work them slowly and patiently without any mistakes. My patience was rewarded this time. This one was calling, but soon was put at complete ease.

These squirrels are great to watch. They have so many behaviors and with a whole colony of individuals close in front of you, you get many opportunities to see it all. This one was feeding some. Sometimes they feed standing up, sometimes low to the ground. The squirrel is standing in front of its burrow.

The coloration on this ground squirrel is quite intricate the close you look at it. They have a combination of gray and orange tones. Their back also has small spots. Such a fascinating creature when you spend some time with them. In the end, the patience and proper approach technique paid off.