I had a few more interesting photos from our trip up the Teton Canyon the other day, here's a black bear walking down the dappled trail, looking back at us. We rarely see bears on our excursions so it's extra fun when we got to spend time with this one.

We've watched this tree growing from the rock since we moved here in 2003. In real life, it looks 30 feet tall.  We'd feel sad if we took this drive and saw where it was broken or it gave up on life. It's hard to imagine it can live and thrive in that place, but it does!

There are little streams alongside the road along with empty beaver dams. It seems odd they trap the beaver out of there and don't let them live.  The dams they create are beautiful, the water is so clear there....they make this soft deep green  color.

I loved seeing this shaft of light come through the forest and light up this patch of thimbleberry bushes. It only lasted a second! I was glad I caught it!

This little squirrel was running around a campground where we stopped. Of course he was a busy fellow, up and down trees, throwing pine cones to the ground then coming down in a streak to hide them in the ground or tuck them into hidey holes.

Here's a stump where the squirrel sits to eat when he gets hungry and needs a break from storing food for winter.

Hope you enjoyed the photos, we're planning to take another photo trip before long, possibly up the Sun River Canyon to Gibson Dam.  If we're lucky we'll see more bears in the chokecherries, and possibly the mountain sheep! We never know when we'll be lucky and see wildlife.

Photos and art prints for sale in our Wildlife Indoors store.

Here are some of my latest paintings. This one is named, "On the Cave Wall".  It was represented by the Equis Art Gallery in Red Hook, New York and is sold.

"Carrying Sunshine to her Horses"

"She Reaches out to Many Things but Only Touches the Horse"

This is how some of the paintings begin. I painted the canvas black, I added a thick layer of white paint.  I drew and scribbled into the white paint, threw water on it and picked up the wet paint, and I dropped India Ink into the surface. That created the black and white image you see above.

"Oh How They Danced When The Horse was Created"

When I began to add color, I noticed those wild figures dancing in the background. This kind of reminded me of the days when I was in high school and I loved reading Greek Mythology. One figure is kind of devilish with horns and a tail but I left him in there as some horses are kind of full of mischief and devilish, they're not all perfect, lol!

When I'm painting, I have learned to step myself back and let a painting become what it wants. They just about always let me know. A day or two after I've created a painting, I can not recall the process of painting it, it feels like someone else must have done it.  It's hard to explain what happens when a painting is being created. The process takes over and I'm just a conduit.

"Thank You for the Blessings of the Horse"

Through much the same process a painting is created, the horse came about and Mother Earth loves her creation.

If you happen to come across this blog, I hope you enjoy it. It began many years ago and has a lot of posts.  Take a minute to look back on some of them! And thank you for being here.

Donna

 

Robert had his right shoulder replaced August 11th. It's healing nicely and we were tired of sitting in the house so we took a drive up the Teton Canyon. We'd barely entered the canyon  when we spotted this bear in a huge chokecherry bush.  When we drove forward to see him, he backed up, when we backed up-he went forward.  So we were laughing and playing peek a boo with a bear. It was pretty fun after a couple weeks of staying tight to the house.

When you drive by the ski run and continue on down the pass, you enter the burned area and find an elephant!

Thousands of Montana forests look like this now. It would be a much needed miracle if we could return to the days of well managed forests and prevent this needless waste.

Trees that are this warm color really stand out in the burns. As a photographer, I like the interplay of the warm and cool colors.

This little guy was zooming around in the rocks at the edge of the road. I think they're so cute. We don't find many of them anymore for some reason or another so we're always tickled when one comes out where we can see it.

Ear Mountain, pretty well obscured by smoke in the air from forest fires.

Skinny legged hawk flying off a post. I almost missed a shot at him. :) All in all, it was a good day along the Rocky Mountain Front and we enjoyed it a lot.

 

Auto ISO do I like it or not?

Grain bins on the Montana prairie. They kind of looked like little hats sitting up there on a hill. That cloudy sky set them off to perfection. I took this photo last night. Most of the time, I use all manual settings on my camera. Sometimes I miss a shot because I don't have time to change settings as the situation or the light changes.  Last night, I decided to use auto ISO and change f stops and shutter speed as needed. I didn't miss any shots, as far as exposure goes, but I did have to lighten most shadows. I will now have to master exposure compensation. In this hobby of photography, I sure have a lot to learn.

I took this photo last night, using auto ISO also. It was fairly close in exposure although I did lighten shadows again. The golden light was beautiful and made these ordinary looking trees shine!

This photo was from last night also. The light was gorgeous, and streaked the land with warm and cool tones.  I did adjust color vibrance and lighten shadows to create what I saw when I took this photo.

I took this photo Christmas Day. I think this moment was our Christmas present! It was wonderful to see these rams connect with such force. I was using all manual settings that day.

This is another photo from Christmas Day.The ram and ewe were in the cool light shadows of the forest floor. 

Not sure if I like this photo. I thought if I placed it here, it might help me decide. It seems very blah to me. It still seems that way even after I see it here. What do you think?

So on the topic of auto ISO I guess I will keep that setting on my camera. It does help a lot to keep from totally missing a shot. At least the ISO was close enough, that it only took a small adjustment in Lightroom to correct the photos.

Do you like using auto ISO? Do you use manual settings on your camera?

We have Montana photos of landscapes and wildlife on our website. Come on over and check it out! Affordable images for your home.

Photo trip to Freezout Wildlife Game Management area.

Our bison, published in Montana Outdoors, photo issue this year. The magazine is out on the stands now. I feel so honored to be a part of that issue.

I took this photo during a snowstorm, so far the only one we've had this winter! It's the grass and willow branches along the Sun River, at the Largent Bend Fishing Access site.

This looks like a funny bug but it was debris caught in the willow branches after the flood. It has snow on it's back here. I loved the way it looks like there are legs sticking out in all directions.

This is looking toward Ear Mountain from south of Choteau, Montana. A storm was brewing over the mountains. That was a fascinating bank of clouds.

The same cloud bank from a new angle, I was east of Choteau when I took this one.

Love these yucca weeds when they're all dried out. 

We've had 50 degree weather for most of this winter so far. It seems odd to go out without a coat, and be warm in January. The country is very dry, I hope we get more snow before long.

Donna

Photos within 15 miles of my home.

Robert and I were here at home, sitting in our chairs, watching the news. I keep an eye on the sky as we do this because as far as I'm concerned the news is nothing but depressing and worrisome. I'd rather find something uplifting and fun. So when the sky began to change and a sunset began to happen, I grabbed the camera and headed for Largent Bend.

Night before last, the sunset was absolutely amazing, but we were in town, and my camera was home. So that didn't work so well. :)

I took these photos looking east, and looking west, the sky was beautiful in both directions.

Largent Bend is a blessing in my life, it's only a few miles from the house, so I have almost instant access to a tiny slice of nature. I don't see many animals there, but I see tracks of raccoon, deer, bear, mice, voles, and others. During nesting season, the Canada geese are there, along with other birds that come in spring. Osprey nest not far far from there, and come fishing in the ponds in summer.

There are hiking trails which I like way better than the treadmill in the back room! It's a simple cottonwood type forest, along the Sun River, not as exciting as hiking in the mountains but it's still a good place to go.

There's an eagle hanging out down there right now, I've got distant shots of it but it takes off before I get within half a mile of it. One of these days it might get used to me being there and I'll be able to show a photo of it.


As always, we have photos for sale on our website, along with Robert's poems. Come on over there and see what you can find. There are prints and gift items of all and sizes.

Wishing you all the best in 2019.
Donna

Heart Butte

Rocky Mountain Front at Sunset

Horse near Ear Mountain

Square Butte from First People's Buffalo Jump State Park

Near Teton Canyon

Ear Mountain in Autumn

Square Butte near Vaughn

Here are some random photos of places I love in Montana. Different seasons, different places, all much loved.

Donna Ridgway