Gearing up to travel

Each year Kinsey tries to take at least two trips in our RV which she calls Clementine. Here in Montana there are only six months to get the trips in, if you are lucky. Kinsey prefers to get the trips in before the tourists arrive and after they thin out. Our spring trip this year was to St. Mary on the Blackfeet Reservation and in July we took a quick trip to the Blackfeet Pow Wow in Browning. This is the first in a series of posts recounting our experiences on the trip we just finished to Yellowstone and the Tetons.

MOOSE ENCOUNTER

Yesterday was Montana in her glory. Fall is hands down my favorite season. The days are warm but with a slight chill in the air, foretelling the coming of winter.

I have been working like a dog in the forest trying to cut up the downed timber. I've now gotten all the good stuff in. Good stuff, by my definition, is fir and larch. I've got a lot of spruce and cottonwood down but they have lowest BTU of the lot. Spruce is a witch to split and since I split all my wood by hand that is a real consideration.

I can't help but stop in the middle of my toil and simply revel in the beauty that surrounds me. The warm sun filters through the trees. The larch, aspen, cottonwood and mountain maple are turning golden. My world is so beautiful it makes me weep. Also slows down the work. I can't help myself I just have to indulge in the beauty.  I don't care. The work will always get done and beautiful moments are what I live for. Moments are what my photography is all about. Moments are what life is all about.

Speaking of moments, last night I had a moose encounter. I was walking my sanctuary trying to determine where I would work next. I have a lot of choices. It was just the most beautiful afternoon. As I approached the larger of my two ponds what did I spy but a beautiful female moose standing on the dam reflecting on the surface of the pond. Just an exquisite site. I moved closer speaking softly. She just stood watching me. I stopped about 100 ft away. I didn't want to scare her away. We spent about ten minutes together and then she peacefully ambled off. I called out my farewell. I didn't follow. It was her afternoon to enjoy as well.

I often find myself, at times like this, saying out loud "God you can take me now. I have been given more than my fair share of beautiful moments."

I don't photograph animals here at the ranch except for the deer and smaller creatures. The larger animals are like celebrities to me and they deserve their privacy. I tried to find a photo on the internet but gave up. The world and the internet is just flooded with low quality crap. Everyone is a "photographer". I couldn't find anything that I would post here even if just for the ambiance. Like most things digital photography is both a boon and a bane.

©Kinsey Barnard

Wolf Sighting

Here in northwest Montana we are in that place between fall and winter when just about anything can happen weather wise. Here at the ranch we have a little snow on the ground and the temperatures have dipped below freezing.

Yesterday afternoon Koty and I took a walk in the woods. It was a little on the cool side but that's the way we like it. It's Montana hunting season so we try to pick our time. Early morning and late afternoon are obviously out. Lunch time can be a little tricky because a lot of guys come out to try their luck. So we try and pick a time between two and four. I was born and raised a hunter and was pretty darned good at it. These days I have no heart for killing.  I prefer to shoot with a camera and I now root for the game.  :)

During hunting season we always dress in our orange vests lest we become targets ourselves. I meant to get a photo of Lakota in his but I forgot. I'll have to remedy that.

Our wildlife sighting for the day was a gray wolf. As usual, he saw us before we saw him and was off into the woods like a gray ghost. Such moments are what make my day. It is always nice to capture a good image but just to see these wild creatres is good enough for me. Of course Koty, once he caught on, was quite excited himself but he is always on a leash when we are out. Koty is a Siberian Husky but these wolves are at least twice as big as he. Koty looks a lot like a wolf but he'd be no match for the real deal.

It turned out to be a glorious afternoon and we didn't see a single hunter. I call this a betwixed and between time because there is a little bit of fall and a little bit of winter in the landscape, an entirely lovely time.

"Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it" ...... Henry David Thoreau



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©Kinsey Barnard

Big Sky

Not to overwhelm with skyscapes but the Fall sunsets have arrived a little early and I cannot resist them.

I know it isn't even Fall yet but the sunsets here at Dancing Deer are already just gorgeous. I don't know why they are so beautiful at this location. Although, I suspect it has something to do with the altitude and the position of the sun as it moves south.

Light is pretty extreme up here in northwestern Montana. Each year, at the extremes, we go from eight hours of darkness to just eight hours of sunlight. But the visual trip between these two extremes is always awesome. Hm, I wonder if I coulda used extreme any more times in two sentences. :)

The scenery around here is so incredible I often think I am actually living in a painting.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

It's been cold and snowy here in northwest Montana. So mostly I have been working on my tagging and cataloging. Gets pretty darned tedious until I find a gem which then renews my enthusiasm. There are sooooo many images I haven't reviewed yet.

For those of you kind enough to be concerned about Koty's health he seems to be doing just fine. He had a short relapse but he's good to go at the moment.

Koty and His Igloo

Koty loves his Igloo but naturally will not sit still in it if I want to take his picture. I also thought I would try and get an action shot or two but clearly I was off my game. If you've not tried to photograph a speeding bullet it really isn't that easy. It's a lot like bird shooting, you have to lead them just right. As soon as he caught on to what I was doing he wouldn't get far enough away from me to get a shot. Well, ok, at least you can see he's in fine fettle.

Part of Koty on the Fly

We did take a little meander along the Tobacco River. Winter has its own brand of beauty and it got me to thinking about the incredible artistry, energy and engineering that goes into making the river go from this ....

The Tobacco River in Winter

To this ....

Tobacco River in Autumn

I freely admit I like to fool around with the camera. You just can't always take things too seriously. My philosophy is to play as much as possible with the camera in the woods. It's just fun to see things and shoot them just to find out how they might turn out. For me that's one of the most wonderful things about digital. In the old days the film I shot cost over fifteen dollars per roll of thirty-six. I wasn't nearly so playful in those days. I shot this just for fun and I kinda like it. It's kinda cool.

Sunset

And now for my photo pick of the week. I really like this one and believe it or not this is not filtered. It was taken before the sun came up and at a very high ISO. It was beautiful to the eye but was not nearly as pretty a shade of blue. Photography is quite often like a box of chocolates. You never know what you've got until you get them out of the camera.


Winter Morning by Kinsey Barnard

Well, that about does it for 2009! It was a great year and Koty and I are looking forward to 2010 being even better. I think each year keeps getting better for us because we know there are so few left and we have to make the most of them whilst we still can.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

Weather & Earthquakes

October 07, 2009

Woke up to a little snow on the ground. It was forecast. Temperature is in the high thirties.

A Little Fall Snow


More photo editing this morning. It’s turned grey and gloomy.

Low Clouds

Around noon we headed down to town to pick up the mail and got to the bank. I packed up the cameras and planned to walk along the Tobacco River. The clouds were all the way down to the foot of the Galton’s.

By the time we got to town it was raining. Had to abort the walk. We might have seen something like this ...

10-07-08 Tobacco River

We headed straight back to the ranch where it was snowing and thirty-two degrees. Bah humbug!

Should have gone later. This afternoon it was sunny and beautiful. Topped out at nearly fifty.


Sunny Afternoon

They will tell you, just about anywhere you go in the Rockies, if you don't like the weather wait ten minutes. It really is true.

Big earthquakes out in the Pacific with tsunami warnings attached. Seems like there have been an awful lot of earthquakes lately.

Here’s an interesting site where you can see all the earthquakes all over the world. Earthquake Map

©Kinsey Barnard