Well, the season is quickly approaching and two of our winter in Yellowstone photo tours are already full. The winter months are by far my favorite time of year to visit and photograph Yellowstone National Park and on this page you’ll see a selection of images from last years tours. I started out this year setting up two semi-private tours, each limited to two guest and they filled immediately so I’ve added four additional itineraries for both January and February 2o17.
Unlike most of the photography tours and workshops that are offered in Yellowstone I purposely keep the number of guest very limited allowing each guest more one-on-one time with me as an instructor as needed. This also allows for much more flexibility in our schedule, how long we stay in one location, and where we’ll head each day depending on conditions as well as where we’ve previously spotted possible wildlife photography opportunities. We spend four full days in the Park and use West Yellowstone as our base for five nights. I reserve private rooms for each guest. Rather than spending time packing to move to another hotel several times during a tour we have much more time to spend exploring the Park. Additional “add-on days” may be possible should you wish to reach the far north-east end of Yellowstone. These are also great outings with a spouse and if you share a room there is a discount.
On this post you can see a selection of images captured during last years tours. You can also find reviews from my Yellowstone tours as well as others on my TripAdvisor Page or by clicking on the above Testimonials tab.
If you wish a more customized approach to photographing in Yellowstone National Park I hope you’ll checkout the complete tour outline found at this link. Contact us with any questions.
Last winter snow conditions in January were good but by the time I returned for the last two tours in late February there were a number of bare patches on the road and meadows, especially around the geyser basins which were almost completely void of snow. Dates for this winters tours will be a bit earlier and dates for those have already been posted. The year before the Park had closed the road to snowcoaches by mid-February. Cyclical or climate change? … above my pay grade to offer an opinion based on facts.
Just before the first tour started I went on my own up to the Lamar Valley hoping to see and photograph wolves. I was not entirely disappointed. I did get several shots there in the valley but nothing as up-close as I would have liked. Still fun to watch since this was actually my first time seeing them in the wild. Another first spotting for me was later in January when on a number of occasions we were able to photograph three different bobcats along the Madison River. A film crew was there for the BBC working on a piece focused on river otters and bobcats. Being as we had radio contact with their drive we were able to get a heads-up on where the cats were, something we took full advantage of. By the time we returned the next month the cats had vanished.
I started a project of photographing trees, most of them dead, in the Park and at a nearby location called Earthquake Lake. That project…or I, became a bit of a joke to the guest as I was labeled the stalker of dead trees. I also was named top bubble blower in all of Yellowstone! One guest decided to play around with something she’d seen elsewhere, trying to photograph soap bubbles that froze. I took control of the bubble blowing wand so they could concentrate on photography. Found out I was pretty good at it but at -12f that morning it didn’t take long for the bubbles or us to freeze.
Back to the trees. I loved returning to a few spots in Hayden Valley for this project with its vast open spaces and rolling hills which made for a nice clean back-drop. On one occasion a fox made an appearance while I was photographing a group of trees. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to capture a shot that really worked in that situation but not due to a lack of trying. I’ll be posting a separate page featuring a selection of those tree images at another time but here’s one to give you an taste.
I’ll be visiting Yellowstone later this spring keeping an eye out for the bobcats and all the other creatures we encountered this past winter. Adding to that I hope to have the opportunity to photograph grizzles, especially any cubs. If anyone is interested in reserving a tour for next winter the dates are posted along with additional information at this link. I can also custom design a tour for you. Since I usually limit the trips to 2 guest these are great for couples, even if only one of you is the photographer!
Thanks as always for looking, sharing, and for any questions or comments!
David
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