Cody Redmon - Photoblog

Inspired by Andreas Manessinger’s recent post on FineArtPhotoblog.com, I decided to shoot this image despite the bare willow branches preventing a clear view. He made the argument that sometimes you just can’t do anything about an obstruction and that you might as well use it. And so I found myself next to this pond, unable to get any closer to the scene but unwilling to let it go. I framed it as best I could and it came out pretty interesting - the contrast is pretty great in this one, so that helps. There are a lot of things about this image that go against some very basic rules of photography, but I think it still works pretty well.

It’s impossible to drive through Yellowstone without seeing some type of wildlife, as was the case yesterday on my way home from Jackson. Along with the standard buffalo, elk and deer, this bear was foraging beside the road near Upper Terrace. Despite being brown in color, it is a black bear and weighed only about 175-225 pounds. As is so unbelievably common, some tourists had gotten out of their cars and were standing about 30 or 40 feet from the critter, who was undoubtedly hungry after a long winter’s hibernation. Black bears are smaller and typically less aggressive than their ‘grizzled’ cousins, but you just don’t walk up to any bear, ever. It was one of those moments when you’re just waiting for something to go wrong, but fortunately a park ranger showed up and ordered everyone into their cars. What is it that they say, “Either brave or stupid…”?

I was once in Destruction Bay, Yukon, when a guy got out of his car and approached to within 25 feet of a 600-700 pound grizzly bear to take a photo. The bear acted uninterested until the man finished and turned his back to return to his car. Innately programmed to chase fleeing food, the animal’s eyes suddenly narrowed to slits and its shoulders hunched forward as it crouched to spring on an easy target. I was maybe 10 feet away in a truck, right next to that bear and I could see death plainly in its eyes. I couldn’t breathe, I just sat there in the most utter of silences fearing that any sound or movement of my own might tip the balance toward chaos. Luckily for this fellow, the driver of the car he was traveling in had gotten stuck in the soft shoulder and had begun revving the engine and the entrapped rear tire was kicking up a cloud of dust and rocks. The commotion was enough to distract the bear and allow the guy to return safely to the vehicle and his awaiting accomplice in “Precisely What Not To Do In Wilderness Safety’”. I doubt he’ll ever know what that photo nearly cost him, and I doubt I’ll ever forget it.

After yesterday’s plane picture, I thought I better take it back to nature. I hadn’t thought about the idea of vertical panoramas until my recent post in which two horizontal images were used to create single square composition. Of course, panos are typically meant to display an impressive breadth, one which is emphasized through “format redundancy” for maximum effect. But what if a scene is extremely tall? When I walked up to this lookout, there were elk just to my right, buffalo about 200 yards behind me and this moose in front of me, having an afternoon snack of water plants and willow buds. Plus the 13,772 ft, Grand Teton…gotta love it. The image is composed of three vertical shots from my 70-200mm, though it could have easily been captured in one frame using my 17-40mm, then cropped down. But part of it was just going through the process, and part of it is the fact that three full-framed images placed together will always print far better larger than a single image cropped and blown up to an equivalent size. I’m pretty sure I could blow this image up to about 8 or 10 feet and, printed via continuous tone, the quality would still be top notch.

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I decided to post something from ‘the road’ here in Jackson Hole vs. what I’d scheduled ahead of time.  I was out in the valley east of town today when I saw this plane coming in for a landing.  I’ve actually flown out of the airport, but never into.  Regardless, I thought this was a pretty interesting view on scale and such in ol’ Wyoming…

Here’s another round of images from the Smith River, mainly folks and smaller scenes. There will likely be another ‘people post’, but in duotone, which I’m looking forward to. I’m headed down to Jackson Hole, WY, this weekend, but am in the process of creating auto-posts for both Sat. and Sun. both…maybe Fri. too if I can get to it. I’ve been liking the ‘Fridays off’ thing, but I’ve got plenty to post so we’ll see.

Last but not least, there’s a story to go along with the close-up photo of the fishing fly about halfway through the set. You’ll notice that the tip of the hook is covered with something, which is actually a small caddis fly shell. They create these using tiny pebbles and whatnot and are protection against hungry birds and fish…pretty ingenious, really. If you could see it up close it looks just like a tiny tube, closed at one end and the bug lives safely inside for a portion of its life. That Russell might catch one on his hook is just crazy, especially being as small as it is. I’ve seen these things almost a couple of inches long, but never one so little.

Here’s another image from my trip over to the Boulder Valley yesterday, though this image was technically taken along the West Boulder. Homestead cabins still dot the Montana landscape and I’m grateful to them for enduring…quite often much longer than modern homes. Though this cabin was not part of the set, PBS filmed the very popular ‘Frontier House‘, one of the first reality TV shows, in this area back in 2001. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would have been like to have lived in this amazing valley before roads, fences and telephone poles…

I thought I’d give you all a break from the Smith River images, only to take you over to the Boulder River. This scene shows where the water comes through the lower section of the Natural Bridge falls via a massive sinkhole or underground cave structure. The falls are actually much larger than they appear in this image, though you can get an idea of scale from the logs just to the left of the mouth - the larger of the two is about 40 - 45 feet long and 3 feet thick. Regardless…lots of water, and this is only a fraction of the size it will be in another month. I’ll be sure to post some follow-up images the next time I venture over that way.

***Update - I just posted another image from this outing on the Fine Art Photoblog, which presents a better idea of the cliff face itself. It’s right over here, if you want to have a look…