Yellowstone Photo Tour Winter

Yellowstone Photo Tours – 2023

Semi-private Winter in Yellowstone Photography tour- 2 people with David C. Schultz as your guide and instructor.

**Please, when comparing the cost of this tour with others, keep in mind that our Winter in Yellowstone Photo Tours is limited to just 2 guests. Therefore we are very flexible in allowing you to spend more time with your subject and with David than on larger group tours. Also with our vehicle, you’ll have the opportunity when needed to roll windows down, unlike vans, to see and photograph wildlife when it is up close without disturbing it while keeping Park regulations in mind. These Yellowstone tours are not just wildlife-specific. We’ll always be looking for wildlife to photograph but please keep in mind the incredible landscape photo opportunities we’ll encounter.
Location: West Yellowstone and Yellowstone National Park, WY
Skill Level: enthusiast and advanced photographers. All welcome!

♦This, as with any other tour offered, may also be booked as a private tour. Contact us for details.

Overview-Yellowstone Winter Photography Tour:

Join us this coming winter for a photo tour of a lifetime. I limit my Yellowstone photography tours to 2 clients. These are semi-private and a great option for couples, even if only one of you is the “Photographer”!  Your excursion into Yellowstone truly begins when we board our private, specially designed, snowcoach and enter the spectacular region of the National Park. Even though Yellowstone is an amazing place to experience and photograph at any time, winter is an especially magical season to capture the peace and tranquility of this jewel of the American West. At times everything appears cloaked in a heavy blanket of snow, frost, and mist, a landscape seemingly frozen in time and wildlife often concentrated around the numerous geothermal features we’ll explore.

Along with the probable wildlife sightings, such as bison, elk, coyotes, and fox to name a few, we’ll have plenty of time to explore several geyser basins as well as photograph the towering waterfalls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. This is as much a landscape photography excursion as it is a wildlife tour as Mother Nature always has the last word regarding what we’ll see day-to-day.

We’ll depart from our lodging in West Yellowstone, MT early each day in the warmth and comfort of the snow coach, heading to different destinations within the Park. Because of the winter conditions wildlife is more consolidated making for many photo opportunities without the summertime crowds.  Since much of the wildlife tend to migrate around the thermal areas you’ll have the added benefits of capturing images of bison coated in a blanket of frost or with the steam rising from the geysers and streams which make for a spectacular backdrop. A few of our destinations include the Upper Geyser Basin famous for Old Faithful, The Firehole River Basin, Midway, and Lower Geyser Basins, Hayden Valley, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

Each day the weather conditions will be considered before confirming the exact location we’ll head to. You MUST understand that weather plays a major role in nature photography so you’ll need to be flexible with the changing conditions. “Poor weather” can sometimes yield the most interesting photo opportunities so please keep this in mind during this Winter in Yellowstone Photography Tour.

This price includes your tour guide and photographer Nikon spokesman David C. Schultz. Lodging is included at the Kelly Inn at West Yellowstone which we’ll use as our base. The price is for a private room. Please note that we can adjust the price if you are traveling as a couple or have a friend you wish to share a room with. You will have to provide your own transportation to West Yellowstone. If you’re flying to Bozeman, MT there is a shuttle service to the Inn at an additional cost. Contact us for details. Once you arrive in West Yellowstone you will not need any transportation as everything is within walking distance.

Day By Day Itinerary

Day 1
We’ll meet in West Yellowstone, MT at The Kelly Inn. It is advised that you arrive by 4 pm to check in but if you’re flying to Bozeman and taking the shuttle to the Inn you will arrive either later in the day or perhaps the previous day. After checking in we’ll gather in the lobby before heading out for dinner and a discussion of the plans for the coming days. * Karst Transportation in Bozeman offers a shuttle service, but you may find it cheaper and more convenient to rent a 4 wheel drive vehicle even though you will not need it once in West Yellowstone.

Day 2
After a 6:30 am breakfast at the Inn we’ll board our snowcoach which will take us along the Madison River to our destination of the Fountain Paint Pot area and the Lower Geyser Basin. Since this is a private photo tour we’ll stop whenever we see wildlife or other photo opportunities. Once in the geyser basins, we’ll set out on foot exploring the thermal features. On this and each of our 4 days in the Park we’ll eat our freshly prepared boxed lunches as we see fit allowing for more time to enjoy and photograph the destination of the day. We will return to W. Yellowstone by 5 pm each day, rest up, then meet for dinner.

Day 3
After breakfast, we board the snowcoach at 7 am following the same route as the previous day. This is the only way into the Park, following the Madison River, to reach our different destinations. Today we’ll pass the Lower Geyser Basin and head deeper into the Park to the Middle and eventually the Upper Geyser Basin home of Old Faithful. The day will be spent exploring the many thermal features found in this region following the vast and varied boardwalks found at each location.

Here, along with the geysers, we’re sure to encounter bison, and other wildlife, possibly elk, coyote, fox, or bobcat which sometimes magically appear out of the dense fog. Skeletons of trees, long since killed off by the thermal activity in the area, are often coated in a thick frost making for out-of-this-world photographs. This can be an excellent subject for black and white images. We return to W. Yellowstone arriving by 5 pm, rest up, and meet for dinner.

Day 4
After breakfast at around 7 am we retrace our route to Madison Junction where we then head north towards Norris with the destination being the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. After photographing the waterfalls we then continue to the Hayden Valley following the Yellowstone River where we’ll be watching for river otters and are sure to have the opportunity to photograph the beautiful trumpeter swans. Retracing our route we return to the Norris Geyser Basin, Gibbon River, and the Gibbon Falls.

Day 5
At 7 am we depart to a location that will be determined by what we have been able to photograph so far. We’ll keep an eye out for wildlife along the Madison River both heading into the Park as well as on our return at the end of our day. The Middle and Upper Geyser Basins offer the most in way of wildlife and thermal features to photograph which make it a likely destination. Another possibility is to head north past Norris Geyser Basin toward Mammoth. Changing weather can make for an entirely different photo experience than what we’ve encountered so far making returning to a previously visited location a different experience. You may have the intense brilliant blue sky with glittering frost crystals coming down like snow one day then dense fog the next each making for a new challenging and spectacular opportunities.

Day 6:
This is the day we part ways. No need to be up before first light this morning. We’ll all try to get together again for breakfast, to exchange stories, and contact information. Again there is a shuttle service that can return you to the airport in Bozeman, MT. Check-out is at 11 am.

David Schultz Photography, LLC. reserves the right to cancel this Winter in Yellowstone Photography Tour if the minimum number of 2 participants has not been confirmed. To avoid cancellation there may be the possibility to continue the tour at a higher cost if this minimum number of participants is not met. 

Should you need to cancel then the following terms apply. There is no refund on deposits for the Yellowstone tours. Transfer of deposit for a different Yellowstone tour date may be an option Cancellation request MUST be in writing. Thank you. Please read the Cancellation Policy

• 90 days or prior: No refund of deposit
• 89 to 61 days prior: No refund of deposit
• 60 or fewer days: No refund
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