Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Every year I have the opportunity to photograph with clients that travel from all around the country to Yellowstone National Park. Weddings, elopements, Yellowstone surprise proposals and even photographic mini tours with the Yogatography workshop in the fall that I collaborate and teach with my dear friend Margaret Burns Vap of Big Sky Yoga Retreats.

Yesterday my wife Heather and I took sometime for ourselves to investigate, hike a little and take in the immensity of this super natural place. Most of the park is still closed for the winter, but soon the snow plows will be at work clearing the way for the spring opening and summer visitors!

Enjoy this brief glimpse into the northern tip of Yellowstone National Park. From the plains below Mt Everts, to The Forces of the Northern Range area and finally the other worldly, supernatural Mammoth Hot Springs Terraces … it is a magical place!

Enjoy the view!

Heather’s elation pretty much sums it up!

Yellowstone Park proposal

Harsh Vedant Kumar contacted me on short notice to see if I could meet he and his ‘wife to be’ unbeknownst to her, in the Lamar Valley. They were traveling here from Atlanta to see Yellowstone Park in the winter and Harsh was planning a GRAND SURPRISE! So I made a plan and pinpointed some scenic places we could potentially meet, then spoke with Harsh upon his arrival in Bozeman to coordinate our location and timing.

At this time of year many of the visitors to the park are photographers that are hoping to capture images of the wolfs and other wildlife. That made me a fairly normal person to see hanging around with cameras around my neck, and etc.

When I arrived they had gotten to the designated location a bit earlier than planned. So I grabbed my cameras and wondered out onto the snow covered boardwalk taking in the view and made some friendly ‘stranger’ small talk. Then Harsh pull the ring box out of his heavy coat and knelt before his lovely companion. Niru was overcome with tears of joy and then quick and repetitive “Yes, yes, yes, yes!!!” filled the air. ANOTHER GREAT SURPRISE IN YELLOWSONE PARK!

As the sun appeared and disappeared from behind the low lying clouds we drove to a few scenic places and captured some magical memories.

And one more detail, Harsh was so thoughtful that he secreted a few dresses from Niru’s bag at the hotel knowing that she might want some images in other than winter coats and snow pants. Good work Harsh!!!

Enjoy the view!

And then I pulled some well chilled bubbly out of my trunk and toasted to their long and happy life together. In Mason jars… of course!

Back country wedding Yellowstone National Park

Take your elopement wedding to the next level!  Yellowstone National Park has some of the most powerful scenic views on earth. What better place to exchange vows and promise a life time commitment to your soul mate. I’m surprised more couples don’t choose this place to marry. Shar and Jessica did just that and it was spectacular! Jessica’s father presided and I was photographer and witness. Our small group was guided by two very competent back country outfitters. They coached us in climbing rocky hills, crossing streams and descend down narrow trails on horseback. At one point, we came upon a fallen tree across the trail and we dismounted and climbed over the tree while the ranglers navigated the steep hill side with all of the horses and mules. It was a tricky situation getting the team up and down through the obstacles.

After riding for a couple of hours we came to an overlook above the second mountain meadow in Slough Creek. In a word… breathtaking!. Then preparations were made, a location was chosen and the couple dresses by a nearby tree. Quietly, thoughtfully and with reverence these two were married by Vernon in a very holy place. The moments arose, one by one with the powerful forces of nature impacting thought and feeling. BREATHTAKING

If you are interested in a wedding like this, just me know. I would love help you put this together and capture every magical moment.

enjoy the view!

Yellowstone National Park Wedding

There is nothing like photographing a Yellowstone National Park Wedding during the celebration of the National Park Service Centennial! The traffic was wild! The sky was painted with plumes of smoke from a few nearby fires and Emily, Sean, their immediate family and a few close friends were wonderful!

We drove around for a few hours making images in just a few of the scenic wonders of Yellowstone National Park. Everywhere we went dozens of people form all over the world were stopping to take a picture of the couple and conveying their congratulations and well wishes.  It was very cool!

The Ceremony took place at one of the colorful pools for an intimate and moving ceremony officiated by the brides father. And then after Old Faithful performed on time, Emily and Sean slipped into their sleek Tesla Model S for some photos!
Enjoy the view!

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Oh, by the way, I had some unexpected competition, this is the officiant and Father of the Bride putting his camera to work.

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This year brings different challenges. However I’m hopeful and I’m excited to see what the future holds.

Yellowstone Proposal – sweet!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks and once again I found myself driving early in the morning into our nations Yellowstone National Park. Hunter and I planned the logistics so as to meet at Artists Point for the proposal and this was the historic day for Hunter and Emilie.

Cruising through Paradise Valley at 5:45 am, the sunrise was radiating pink light over the entire valley. Whoa! I had to stop and grab the visual treat.

In a word… SWEET! I so enjoyed capturing the proposal and running around making adventurous photos with them. Enjoy the view!

Yellowstone Proposal – dramatic

Yesterday was a dramatic day in Yellowstone National Park. As I entered from the north and as I ascended in altitude I could see the dark cloud bank building in the west. A raincoat and umbrella were included in my gear bag today along with multiple cameras. Off the road and down the hillside I walked and hovered in an area beside the massive Yellowstone River. Clouds gathered and soon lightening was dancing above my head in the dark clouds. Then the rain came, the lightening struck across the river from me and it was close enough that I ran up the hill and took cover in my car! As soon as the weather lightened up a bit, I hiked back down to my position and hoped that my client was not put off by the weather. Then, as planned Nishaad and Alexa came walking down the hill toward the general vicinity. Occupying myself with photographing the sky, and whatever else I could find, I tried to look like any other YNP photog! Then Nishaad made his move.

After the surprise, the tears of joy and happy hearts… we planned our next location and took to the very busy road only to be stopped dead in our tracks by a buffalo traffic jam. A herd of Bison decided to mover across the road and we were stuck for 20 minutes and things were not moving. This made it impossible to reach the Yellowstone Lake before sunset as planned.

So we turned back and opted to shoot briefly along side the road and made plans to continue our shoot on another day in the scenic Paradise Valley.

This story will be continued in about a week. Cheers to my newly engaged friends!

So, I packed up my gear and made plans with these two beautiful souls to meet with them in another place for more engagement photo fun.

The drive home toward the north was covered with a sky that was threatening a STORM. Then the visual drama kept building and I just had to stop and watch and photograph this supernatural looking display! Wow.. this one is going on a wall somewhere!