WHITE GOLD HONEY-CANADIAN DELIGHT

Over the years I have added more and more organic foods to my diet. Like many people my initial reluctance was the price. Today I don't care as much about the price as I do about the ingredients. I believe our food supply is tainted and I have absolutely no confidence in corporate ethics. In fact I do believe many corporations would and are selling poison for profit.

But, I digress. This article is about a new honey I recently discovered at the health food store. I love honey, especially with peanut butter. I'm still a fan of Skippy's extra chunky. Can't help it. Love it.

The honey that I discovered is called White Gold Honey imported from Canada. It is a raw, untreated honey.

As they say here in Montana, it is a little spendy but oh la la is it good. It's honey nirvana as far as I'm concerned. I've been eating the stuff right out of the jar. It seems almost sacrilegious to taint it with anything else.

I read just this morning of a man in Arizona who is over 100 and still going strong. One of his secrets is organic honey. Personally, I would rather dose myself with dreamy, creamy honey than pharmaceutical poison. But, each to his own.

I'm usually behind the curve wandering around out here in the wilderness. So, maybe everyone already knows about White Gold. But, if you don't and are a lover of honey you need to give White Gold a try. I strongly recommend that you do. If you Google "White Gold Honey" you can shop the best prices online.

I took this image on my dining room table without the benefit of lighting. Didn't turn out too bad. I bet it's a lot of fun being a product photographer. The thing about nature photography, not much is in your control.

©Kinsey Barnard

B & H STILL MY GO TO PHOTO EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER

Last weekend whilst rummaging around on Facebook I came upon the B & H Photo page. Coincidentally, I was in the process of being very peeved with B & H. I left a cryptic comment that simply said, “I think your service is slipping”.

I got hooked on photography whilst getting a degree in Journalism at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (1972). In those days photography was more a science than an art and part of the Journalism Department. Today it’s in the art department. It’s rightful place IMO.

One was required to be a bit of a mad scientist to work in a wet darkroom. I loved the darkroom but it was the creativeness of it I enjoyed not the science. The same with picture taking. I loved the art more than the science, still do. I suffer from a little dyslexia and after forty years I still have to say to myself “The smaller the number the bigger the hole” when working in manual mode on my Nikon. In my mixed up mind it’s totally counter intuitive.

From my college days all I wanted to be was a photographer. But, was more interested in making money so I chose a career in finance instead. That didn’t stop me from dreaming or taking pictures. Over the years the B & H catalog was my dream book. Until I moved to Montana I didn’t buy much from B & H just filters, Velvia film and incidentals. I am the touchy feely type so I went to camera stores to buy the bigger more expensive items. The B & H sales people were always helpful and fun to talk to even though I wasn’t spending much money.

I made the switch to digital after I moved to the Montana wilderness. There isn’t a real camera store within two hundred and fifty miles of me. When I decided to take the leap and replace my Nikon SLR’s with Nikon digital I called on B & H. The sales people were, as always, engaging and instructional. They asked questions and made sure that when my new cameras arrived I had everything at hand to jump right in. I really enjoyed dealing with them. They almost made you feel like you were standing at the counter.

Last November I decided that I wanted to up grade my tripod and head. I jumped on the internet, did some Google research and went to the B & H website I was leaning toward a Gitzo carbon tripod and Acratech ball head. As I always do I called B & H to get more information and make sure the head I was interested in was compatible with tripod. Usually, what happens is the sales person asks some questions makes some suggestions and places the order. The person I got on this occasion was totally apathetic and expressed no interest in placing my order. I didn’t ask him to. I expected him to offer. After I hung up I said, “Oh, to hell with it!” and didn’t bother placing the order.

My birthday was last week so I got back on the tripod kick. I thought I should give myself a special present. I went through the same motions and when I called B & H I swear I got the same guy and the same treatment. I was annoyed but determined so I just went ahead and ordered the tripod and head online. A girl needs her presents. OK, girl is a bit of a stretch. I began my sixty-fourth year on the twelfth.

I waited with great anticipation for the equipment to arrive. I had already planned where I would go to give it a test run. The equipment arrived on schedule a week ago Friday but there was a problem. The Acratech head had no plate so there could be no test run. I was so angry I could have spit nickels. In the past the sales person would have asked me if I had a plate for the head because it didn’t come with one.

The foregoing is what prompted me to post on B & H’s Facebook page “I think your service is slipping”. Let me tell you, people are paying attention because it was not long before I had a message from Henry at B & H inviting me to e-mail him the gory story.

Before I e-mailed Henry I wanted to be sure I was right about the plate. I was so I ordered a couple. On the same day I had ordered the tripod and head ordered a wireless shutter release. I ordered it without calling because I figure there was no point. The release I chose was a piece of junk in my opinion so I needed to return it. The sales person I got his time, Cesar, was everything I had come to expect from B & H. He was engaging, he asked questions and he turned me on to a much better product for the shutter release. Course, now I am annoyed with Acratech. Four hundred dollars for a head and you have to pay another forty bucks for the plate! :)

I did e-mail Henry, Director of Corporate Communications, the story. He was most conciliatory. I truly appreciate the fact that B & H is monitoring their Facebook page and is paying attention to what people are saying. That’s smart business and I like doing business with smart businesses. I was most grateful for Henry’s intervention but in the end it was Cesar who smoothed my feathers and brought me back to the fold. B & H is still my go to photo equipment supplier.

PS: I could not be happier with my new tripod and ball head. They are a dream team. For anyone interested here are the links to what I bought; the Gitzo 1541 and the Acratech GP-S

©Kinsey Barnard

SOMETHING DARK THIS WAY COMES

Sorry, no pretty pictures today.

I have been an investor since I was ten years old. As of today that would make it fifty three years. My grandmother passed away when I was ten and left me 100 shares of AT&T. That began a life long interest in stocks and investing. I even went so far as to go into finance eventually becoming a VP with Lloyds International Corporation the investment banking arm of Lloyds Plc.

I have been a member of a site called Silicon Investor for the past fourteen years. It's a public forum where people of all investing skills get together and talk, stocks, finance, the economy etc. Over the years I have cut the wheat from the chaff, and believe me there is a lot of chaff, and come to respect certain opinions above others.

This morning I read a post from TH. It resonated with me because I have been having similar feelings myself. I believe the markets have been so corrupted and manipulated that there is no such thing as investing any longer. Other than some natural resource plays I am quit the markets to a great extent. But, I still pay attention because what's going on will impact each and every one of us whether we are in the markets or not.

With TH's permission I am just pasting his post verbatim.

"The Ten at 1.9 and the Thirty below 3.

Just one of many things that are not, "right". I see those yields not as a measure of fear, but out of requirement to keep the game running. And I can't see how these yields offer anything but a negative return. In light of the reality of our fiscal concerns and compounding debt/interest payments, it is nothing short of a measure of insanity.

Or, manipulation.

To my thinking it must be one of the other. Is it played out? One respected pundit says that 1.5 might be the ultimate top for the Ten. Based on all the broken markets, I would not bet against that prediction.

And each morning, around the usual magic hour of 3 AM EST, we get a futures ramp and a gold wacking.

And you, me, the entire world apparently, accepts these things as perfectly normal.

This is not normal.

Miners are sold down to levels reflecting much lower gold and silver valuations. And there appears to be very little real interest in what are now value plays. All while shorts continue to pound way at miners near 52 week lows. If these were financial or housing stocks in 07/08, I could see it.

The reason I think its so quiet on SI and all the threads I haunt around the net is there is a growing confusion and uneasiness. I see it on social websites and financial websites. Something is in the air, and while it can't be defined, the collective has grabbed hold. And yet no one can define it. I can't.

I look at the primary coverage for Paul. And while I'm a strong Paul supporter, I also believe I can step back and objectively look at how he is being treated by the media. The fact that the effort to smear and marginalize him is so pervasive has shocked even a cynic like me. For me it's like the machine has shown itself in full. No mystery here. Its overt and in your face. And it operates on the assumption that the majority are either stupid or don't care. And maybe those assumptions are accurate.

Now there is talk about this internet piracy bill. This is nothing but a tool to stop free and open communication. That is ALL THIS IS. And we stand by and do nothing, while our rights are being stripped away by this liar and fraud Obama (and yes, it is Obama, for it is the President who must step up and do the right things...and yet, we have just the opposite).

It's a rant, but not really. It's more a reference point. Something has changed in just the past few weeks or months and it feels like it's about to snowball.

And while it is just a feeling, it's worth noting that many must be tuned into it.

Something bad is coming, but the smoke from all the recent bad is so thick, I have no a clue what it is.

Maybe going physical and really getting off the grid is the path. I usually just joke about such things, but more and more I'm starting to wonder if that is absolutely the right play.

GT
TH"

©Kinsey Barnard

KOOCANUSA ICEFALLS

Saturday I made a junket off the mountain and in to town. It was clean out the mailbox day. Where I live the Post Office fears to go so I must make a weekly pilgrimage to town to pickup the mail.

When I have to come down off the mountain I always try to work in some photo scouting. My thought was ice falls along the Koocanusa. Usually at this time of year there are some extraordinary icefalls to be found. Last year the icefalls were everywhere and some were too beautiful for words. The image below is one such Koocanusa icefall.



This year was certainly nothing like last year. I was barely able to even find any ice. And here it is the middle of January for pity sakes! I was kind of thinking about trying to get into Little Norfork Falls if all else failed.

Whilst I was creeping along I did find some ice falls right along the road that looked like they had some potential. As is always the case when I see something I would like to photograph there was no shoulder to pull over. But, the road on the west side of the Koocanusa is a forest service road and gets next to no traffic in winter. That is unless I have parked in the road and set up my tripod at the edge of the pavement. About the time I got myself setup two axe men (read logging trucks) came barreling down on me. Let me tell you those boys stop for no one and nothing. They flew by me, using the oncoming lane, like I wasn't even there. I wish I could have gotten a shot of them coming at me. It would have been impressive.

I never saw any other vehicles in the time I was there, probably three hours. I did make my way down to the Little Northfork Falls turn off but guess what? That's exactly where those logging truck were working. No way this girl is going down an icy single track road with logging trucks on it. No freaking way!

At that very spot where I saw my life pass before my eyes I was able to get one photograph I thought was nice. I was darned grateful for even the one. It's totally different from last years catch but I think beautiful in it's earthy contrast.



Weather here in Montana can change on a dime. It's still just the middle of January so maybe there will be more opportunities ahead. Will just have to wait and see what Mother Nature has to say about that.

©Kinsey Barnard

SUNSETS AND OTHER CELESTIAL DELIGHTS

I love to photograph the sky.  What better place to do it than in big sky country aka Montana. It seriously is not hype or department of tourism hyperbole. The sky in Montana, like the state itself,  is truly big and really beautiful. The colors of the sunsets, particularly in the winter, are a color junkies delight. The clouds, well, you can just lose yourself in them. I often lay on my back in the woods and just watch the clouds float by. It's like watching a movie the way they shift and fashion themselves into the most incredible shapes. I love so much about Montana but that big sky steals my heart.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, is a slideshow with some of that stellar big, beautiful sky.


sunsets clouds celestial landscapes - Images by Kinsey Barnard

To check out the still images go my skyscapes gallery.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

DANCES WITH DEER

I started out 2012 with the best day I could have imagined. It was sunny and about 25 degrees. That sounds cold but it really isn’t when the sun is out. I truly love it when a plan comes together. So often I get a great idea but then it doesn’t turn out as nifty in reality as it did in my imagination.

Just before Christmas I got the idea that it would be very cool to have an iPod so that I could go out in my forest and perform my Isadora Duncan routine without upsetting my winter residents too much. I love beautiful music as much as I love anything. It is nirvana to me. It just occurred to me what an incredibly blissful experience it would be to be able to fill my head with the music that I love in the place that I love. So, I gave myself and iPod for Christmas.

With one thing and another I didn’t have the chance to try out my theory until yesterday but what better day than the first day of a new year? It just so happened about the same time as I decided to make my little dream a reality the mule deer band showed up. I know from experience if you want to scare away wild things treat them to the sound of a human voice. Even if that weren’t the case I can’t carry a tune in a bucket so I knew singing was totally out of the question.

Geared up with my iPod playing my favorite Enya album, I danced my way down to the house pond. The deer stood stock still in complete bewilderment as I swayed and danced to music they could not hear. It was so difficult not to sing out loud. I dipped and glided around the pond. What a graceful apparition I must have seemed, clunking away in my snow boots. I was truly transported to another astral realm.

Miraculously, the deer didn’t run off. After recovering from the shock of this strange apparition of a two legged moving in such an unusual way through their space the deer started to mill around, bucking and shaking their heads. It was almost as though they wanted to join in the dance. Either that or they were that or they were just expressing their discombobulation.

As I said I love it when a plan comes together. Man de lay va, this reality was better than even I could have imagined. Combining the best of nature with my idea of the best of music was beyond my imagining. Which is really saying something because my imagination is seriously capacious.

I often watch wild things at play and marvel, with no small amount of envy, at their complete abandon and obvious joy. That was exactly what this experience was like for me. The feeling was beyond any words that I possess. Talk about a rocky mountain high.

I had my camera with me but as you might imagine it’s a little tough to take pictures and dance at the same time. I stopped my dancing just long enough to snap off a few images. It’s got me to thinking maybe I need a camcorder so I can film some of the deer antics around here. Lucky for me my birthday is this month! :)

Young Spikey Buck Peeking our From Behind an Aspen. I could hear him thinking "What the..?"

Doe with one ear forward and one back. Clearly not sure what to think.

©Kinsey Barnard

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As another year draws to a close I can look back and say, with conviction, it was a wonderful year. I attribute that primarily to my being able to live here in the Kootenai Forest in Montana. I am rich beyond measure because I am surrounded by such incredible and exquisite natural beauty. Every day is a new adventure. None of it costs me a thing.

My wish for my friends and fans is that you find peace, health and happiness in the coming year. No matter where you live there is natural beauty to be found if you but look for it. Seek out beauty and let it fill your senses. That is Mother Nature's perpetual gift to you. Accept the gift!

I hope to be able to provide new and beautiful nature photographs for your enjoyment. Maybe a good story or two. And, of course, a few opinions on things.

I have made some wonderful friends through this blog. I value friendship greatly. Of all the photos I have taken the one below is the one that most touches my heart when I think of friends and friendship. Lets all look back over our shoulders for those who may need a helping hand. Let's touch noses and show our support for one another in the coming year!



Once again HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

MY FIRST CAR

The end of the year always seems to make one reflective. I think as one gets older you just get more reflective regardless of the time of year. I recently took a photograph of an old abandoned GMC truck. That photograph and the end of the year thing got me to thinking about my first car which was also a General Motors product, the Chevy El Camino.

My father made a deal with me that he would match whatever I could come up with to buy my first car. From the time I earned my first nickel I was a saver. My allowance, back in those days, was two bits (twenty five cents) a week.

I grew up on a ranch near a small no more town called Ventura. Ventura is about thirty miles south of Santa Barbara and sixty miles north of Los Angles on the California coast. In those days the area was mostly agricultural. Today all that beautiful, rich soil has been paved over to sprout houses. The climate was and still is as close to perfect as you could get and it seems people prefer melanomas to melons.

I earned some of my money picking one crop or another. The crop picking memory that sticks in my head involved walnuts. When I was about ten a school chum offered me a “get rich quick” scheme, or so I thought. Her family owned walnut orchards and it was harvest time. She told me we could earn five dollars for every bag of walnuts we picked. In the early sixties five bucks was big money. I figured I ought to be able to get at least a couple of bags in a day. Ten or fifteen dollars for a day’s wages, that was just too good to be true. Of course I knew nothing about picking walnuts, my family was in citrus and avocados.

I certainly learned about picking walnuts that day. The walnuts were shaken out of the tree onto the ground so they had to be picked up. A good number of the nuts hadn’t shed their outer shell so those had to be shucked. There is something in those outer skins that stains your hands a ghastly yellow. And, those bags were really big. By the end of our backbreaking day my friend and I had managed to fill one bag between us. Our fingers looked like we had been smokers for at least a hundred years! Not surprisingly, that was my first and last stint as a walnut picker.

In 1960 my grandmother passed away. She left me 100 shares of AT&T. Unlike today, in those days companies paid dividends and management answered to them. Nowadays shareholders take all the risk and the executives pay themselves lavish salaries instead of dividends. One hundred shares of stock don’t seem like much today but back then those shares paid me $240 per year in dividends. That was huge for a kid my age. Unlike today, back then, savers were rewarded. I had never heard the word compounding” but compound I did. It just seemed like the smart thing to do.

By the time I was seventeen I had saved up $1,300 dollars and I knew exactly what I wanted. From the time I was a very little girl I loved horses and was riding one as soon as I was allowed. Originally, I thought I needed a pickup to haul my tack in. But then I discovered the Chevrolet El Camino. It was love at first sight. The best of both worlds, it was a car with a bed. Perfect! Now that was a bed for hauling equipment lest you get the wrong idea.

I think my father was somewhat dismayed when I announced I had saved up $1,300 and was ready to buy my new car. Now, he had to cough up his share. You probably think $1,300 is no big deal but you would be wrong. In today’s dollars it’s probably more like $10,000.

I’ll never forget the evening my father said, “Let’s go see about that car”. I was so excited. We headed off down Telegraph Road to Fillmore and William L. “Chappy” Morris Chevrolet. The dealership still exists today but Chappy is no longer with us.

Walking into the lit up showroom was exciting in itself. But, to be there to pick out my new car, well that was beyond the beyond. When I say, “pick out” I don’t mean wander around a huge lot looking for a needle in a haystack. I mean looking at a catalog and choosing the paint, the seat covers, the carpet, the engine, the transmission and other options. General Motors took that order and made that car just for me, just the way I wanted it and it cost just $2,600.

When you hear people talking about how our standard of living has gone down so much in the last forty years I think this story really illustrates what they are talking about. For $2,600 GM promised me the moon and they delivered. I don’t think there is an equivalent on the market today. But if there were a similar car/truck you’d most likely pay ten times as much and have to take what was on the lot.

My father could have easily just given me the car but he always insisted that his children work for what they got. This was not a bad thing. I learned self-reliance. Self-reliance is equivalent to freedom. I never thought I had to depend on a man for my survival as most women of my era did. It simply never occurred to me I couldn’t provide for myself. Most women were trained to believe they had to have a provider. Now that I think about it I need to be thanking my father for being such a “jerk”.

Back in the sixties people saved to buy what they wanted. We didn’t take things for granted and we really appreciated what we got. It seems, thanks to Madison Avenue, in the last twenty years people have gone berserk with credit. They have bought everything they wanted when they wanted it without having earned it. Now General Motors is in and out of bankruptcy and people have become enslaved to their creditors. It truly is difficult to believe this has happened. A genuinely wonderful time in America has slipped away only to be remembered by old fogies like me.

Below is the photograph that got me to reminiscing.



©Kinsey Barnard

Lake Koocanusa Bridge

2-8-2011

It snowed a couple of inches in the night. The morning was sunny and beautiful. After cleaning up the overnight deposit I decided it was a good day to get into town and pick up the mail. I hadn't been in for nearly two weeks. Postal clerks get a little testy when the box gets too full. So I loaded up Koty and we slithered off the mountain.

It was so bloody gorgeous I detoured down to the Koocanusa Bridge.

Koocanusa Bridge

Spent several hours photographing some absolutely gorgeous ice falls. Fairly certain I got some keepers in this lot.

©Kinsey Barnard

Photo Shelter Review-Landscape Slideshow

I have been toiling away uploading photos to my new home at Photoshelter.

I wish I had stumbled on this out fit years ago. It is by far and away the most professional photography site I have found. Their strategy is all about promoting the photographer and not themselves. The tools that they provide are exceptional and the opportunities for learning about internet marketing through videos and webinars are never ending. You can actually pick up the phone and talk to a live and very helpful human being. Honestly, I cannot say enough positive things about the site or the people. If you're a serious photographer I highly recommend you check out Photoshelter

The process of moving over to Photoshelter is a daunting one to say the least. I thought you might enjoy a slideshow of the photos I have loaded so far into my Mountain & Forest Landscape gallery. There's pretty nice stuff in there if I do say so myself. At the very least it may provide a few relaxing moments.



Mountain & Forest Landscapes - Images by Kinsey Barnard

You can find the actual gallery here 

A number of people have had difficulty subscribing to this blog. I have a private subscribers list that I send notification out to each time I post to the blog. If you would like to be added to this list please e-mail me at kinsey_barnard@yahoo.com

©Kinsey Barnard

Clayton Lake Flathead National Forest Montana

I was just saying the other day in my article on Jardine, Montana how Koty and I spend not so much time in US national parks because of the dog rules. How we spend more time photographing outside of them than in. And, how this is really a blessing in disguise because we end up exploring and photographing places that not so many people get to see.

Clayton Lake is another one of those places right next to a national park, in this instance Glacier that has every bit the beauty as its neighbor. Clayton located in The Flathead National Forest  and is considered part of the Jewell Basin complex.

To get to the trailhead from Hungry Horse and Hwy 2 you’ll travel south along the Westside road of Hungry Horse Reservoir passing over Hungry Horse Dam to the end of the pavement (16 miles) and continue until reaching the Wheeler Creek road (FS #1633). Turn right and drive to the trailhead. The trail is rated as moderate but it’s not all that long so I rate it as easy. It’s only 2.3 miles to the lake.

CLAYTON LAKE TRAIL

Like most lake trails there is a bit of a grade but no steep drop offs and about half way up the view east toward the Great Bear Great Bear Wilderness is nothing short of spectacular. In the distance the Flathead Range rises up in your face. You can’t help but be awestruck by the incredible beauty of this panoramic view.

 

VIEW TO THE GREAT BEAR WILDERNESS

As you can probably tell from the photos Koty and I made our pilgrimage in the fall and I can’t image a better time of year. The fall colors were bursting out all over. Although we didn’t see any bears be forewarned the trail is loaded with bear berries and they didn’t get that name for nothing.

BEAR BERRIES

Speaking of bears I have some thoughts on that subject, what a surprise. I always carry a .375 revolver but my first line of defense is bear spray. They always say don’t hike alone. Well I’d do darned little hiking if I didn’t. The trick is to be aware of your surroundings at all times. Keep an eye out for fresh sign like scat. Be especially alert going around corners and hiking through thickets. Most problems occur when bears are surprised. They also say don’t hike with your dog because it my go off, encounter a bear and bring it back to you. I don’t ever go hiking without Koty but he is always on a leash. If you hike with your dog I recommend you do the same when hiking in bear country.

Considering the short distance of the trail I don’t think you can beat the beauty effort ratio. The lake is not particularly large but mountains surround it and for my money it is awesomely beautiful. There is a trail that goes around the lake but we didn’t make it because it gets pretty thick and bush whacking isn’t one of my favorite things to do. I did get some pretty fine images of the lake.

CLAYTON LAKE, MONTANA

CLAYTON LAKE, MONTANA

CLAYTON LAKE, MONTANA

Clayton Lake in the fall is a definite candidate for your “to do” list. In the fall, in addition to experiencing the awesome colors you will most likely have the whole place to yourself as we did. I’d categorize it as a definite picnic place.

And, of course, last but not least the gorgeous Lakota Sunrise at Clayton Lake.

©Kinsey Barnard

FOLLOW US ON TWITTER

Raggedy Ann Scarecrow

One of the things I truly get a kick out of whilst photographing on the road are the many creative things I see literally on the road. People in rural areas seem to be particularly creative. Maybe when you don't have so many distractions, as city folk do, ones mind provides its own entertainment?

I think this Raggedy Ann (I just made that up) Scarecrow is just adorable. It looks like a Raggedy Ann doll to me. But, someone told me they thought it was scary.  Which only goes to show we all see things very differently. I think that's the reason we have so many misunderstandings in life. One person clearly sees one thing and another sees it entirely differently. Then each acts on his own perception and all heck breaks loose.

Scarecrow

To me this is real Americana.

©Kinsey Barnard

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

HUNGRY HORSE & THE JEWEL BASIN

On day three we rose early and headed back to Hungry Horse. Our objective this day was Handkerchief Lake. It's about thirty miles down the west side of the reservoir. As you can see from the above photos the reservoir was looking mighty fine this fall morning. It was an awesome drive. VIEW MORE LANDSCAPES



The only folks out on the road were wood cutters and there were lots of those. You can get a wood cutting permit from the Forest Service for five dollars and for that five dollars heat your home pretty much all winter. The rules are you can only cut down dead trees but because of the fire three years ago there are dead larch everywhere. Larch, otherwise known as tamarack make great firewood as they have a high BTU and there were some really nice sized trees. Montanans are always up for passing the time of day so we stopped to chat with these guys. Mostly the conversation centered around how lousy things were in the economy.



Finally we found our way to Handkerchief Lake. As usual it was a pretty lake. It's located right off the road so the only hike involved was around the lake itself. The above photograph is just of clouds floating on the water that I thought looked pretty. I'm a regular sucker for reflections.



Whilst picking our way around the lake we came upon this group of mergansers paddling along on the other side of the lake. I was so focused (pardon the pun) on the mergansers I tripped over a log and went flying. Fortunately, the mergansers didn't reach this photogenic spot until after I had righted myself.



This last shot is of Handkerchief looking northwest into the Jewel Basin. Handkerchief is fed by Graves Creek and the creek comes out of those mountains. I really fancy this photograph as it looks almost like an oil painting.

It was a great trip to Hungry Horse and the Jewel Basin. We will certainly do it again because there is a lot we didn't see.


©Kinsey Barnard

SPRING IS IN THE AIR!

Yesterday, was a beauty so we decided to take a ride over to the Koocanusa. I'm not sure if I have told you the story behind the name of the lake so for those who may have missed it.... It's kind of corny but the story is this; The Koocanusa runs about 90 miles from Montana (USA) into British Columbia (CAN). The lake is situated in the Kootenai National Forest and is fed by the Kootenai River. I think you can get the picture.

On the way out we saw a pot load of Mule Deer. This one ranch must have 150 of them lolling around. No fawns yet.

Over at the Koocanusa the reservoir has really been drained low. I thought it was low last year but it's even lower this year. So much sand has been exposed that when the wind comes up the valley looks like the Dust Bowl.

After hiking around the lake we took off just looking for whatever we could see. The first thing were some long horn cows that had just given birth and one cow just about to pop. They were really beautiful there in the pasture. At the same ranch was this horse that reminded my mom of one from her childhood. His name was Black Boy. This fella was a black boy alright!

Good news! Mom finally got a photo of a wood duck. Bad news! The lens she was using wasn't long enough to get a good look.

It was a beautiful spring day here in Montana and we enjoyed every minute of it! Looks like spring might be here for real this time!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

Walden Pond

You may recognize the name Walden Pond. My mom pilfered it from a guy called Thoreau. I think this fellow has been the most influential force in mom's life.

When we came to Montana nearly, six years ago, it was just after the death of Lady Jane, mom's mom. Lady Jane had Alzheimer's. Mom and I cared for her for nearly seven years. Mom was pretty worn out.

Mom fell in love with this place the moment she set foot on it. She purchased it on the spot. And, from that moment on set about turning it into a wildlife sanctuary. It has turned out to be as much a sanctuary for her as the wildlife.

As part of the plan she built a pond out in the middle of the property and she called it Walden Pond in honor of Thoreau. And, much like Thoreau we lived apart from the rest of the world for quite a time. Me, I'm happy no mater what's going on. For mom it was the elixir of life. All this to say that is how the pond came by it's name.


The weather has been really whacky since we returned. One day the sun is shining and the next it is snowing. This morning the sun is shining but it's 19 degrees!

The photos that you see were taken on a sunny afternoon over at Waldon Pond. The ducks are a mallard pair and a goldeneye pair. They were so beautiful to watch paddling along on the pond. The reflections in the water gave them a really special quality.

Naturally, I would have preferred to be off exploring in the woods but this was pretty nice too. Yeah, I can see why mom loves this place so much.

I think that guy Thoreau would have loved it! I'm not big on quiet contemplation but if I were this place would be Nirvana.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

Cape Sebastian to Boardman State Scenic Corridor

Today we went south on 101. Our first stop was at Cape Sebastian. There is a trail there that goes down to the beach and we tried it out. As we went along we encountered more and more fallen trees across the trail until, about 2/3 of the way down we had to thrown in the towel. There were just too many trees down. I reckon it's from that huge storm we had a week or so ago.

From Cape Sebastian we went along 101 stopping at various view spots. The next place of interest was Pistol River. There are some very pristine sand dunes here if you are interested. Mom has been looking for dunes like these since we arrived on the coast. The Oregon Dunes are just too traipsed all over. Unfortunately, we arrived just as the tide was coming in and we couldn't stay long or we would have been trapped until the tide turned. We will certainly plan on going back there.

We continued on south pulling in at every spot but the best of the bunch as far as we were concerned were Lone Ranch Beach and Harris Beach State Park. Both of these places are way cool as they have lots of those rock formations they call stacks. I had a great time sniffing around and mom had a great time looking for subjects.

By the time we got to these places the tide was on its way out and that made things really interesting for exploring.

On the way back there was a bit of a sunset. Mom was pooped so we didn't wait for it to blossom. Too bad too because by the time we got back to Clementine we could see it was a great one all in pastels. Another day .....

©Kinsey Barnard Photography