Cathedral Rocks and Bridalveil Falls in Yosemite viewed from the north side of the Merced River

In Yosemite National Park, there are many very tall waterfalls. Bridalveil Falls is actually one of the shorter ones in Yosemite Valley. When you drive into Yosemite Valley from the south, though, it's the first one you can visit. It flows between the Cathedral Rocks to the east and the Leaning Tower to the west. Farther upstream, the Glacier Point Road crosses over Bridalveil Creek and there is a campground nearby. Bridalveil Falls gets its name because the valley gets windy, especially in the afternoon, causing the falling water to drift right and left so it comes down more like a sheet or a "veil" instead of one cohesive flow of water. The water then flows into the Merced River.

Image taken at ISO 400, 1/200 sec, f/7.1, 21 mm focal length (approximately 30 mm equivalent).

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Grand Teton cloud eruption!

On the horizon is the towering peak of Grand Teton, as viewed from the west looking east while still in Idaho. This caught Rick's attention because of the way the clouds appeared to be coming out of the peak, as though it was a volcano spewing ash. It reminded him of pictures of volcanic eruptions, so he pulled over to the shoulder of the road to get pictures of the peak and the clouds. There is another string of cloud reaching toward the ground to the right in this image, as well. This also helps to show that the west slope of the Teton Range is gradual and leads up to the peaks, unlike the eastern, more famous side of the range that is known for not having foothills at all.

The camera is a Canon Rebel EOS xSi at f/8, 1/180 sec, ISO 200, focal length 55mm (about 86mm equivalent).

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Telephone Arch in Telephone Canyon, Death Valley National Park

In one of Death Valley's many canyons is a natural arch. This canyon requires some driving on a dirt road to get to its mouth, then you can hike about 1/3 of a mile to see the arch. The canyon itself once had a telephone line and a road running through it, but time has obliterated most signs of them. This line gave the canyon its name of Telephone Canyon.  To us, this arch, appropriately enough, looks like an old style telephone.

The feature runs roughly north-south, so the western face is lit up during the afternoon, when this image was taken. The opening is roughly 15 feet tall (about 4.5 meters). There is a spring uphill of the arch but it appears to have dried up. The image was taken with ISO 50, 1/200 sec., f8, 6mm (35 mm equivalent).

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park wind-caused rippling pattern

Death Valley National Park has 5 different sand dunes within its borders, including California's largest in Eureka Valley. The easiest dunes to reach are the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes because they're right next to the main road through the park. These dunes were made famous by the 1970's TV series called Kung Fu, with David Carradine.

We got up early in the morning to get to the dunes before the crowds starting traipsing across it so that we could get undisturbed ripples in the sand. The wind blowing across the sand causes some grains to collide with other grains and knocking into the next crest.

Image taken at ISO 50, 1/40 sec., f8, 8mm (48 mm equivalent).

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Female Elk Walking Into the Madison River in Yellowstone National Park

This female elk had just crossed onto the opposite bank, and after a while looking around, decided to come back to the near bank. There were a couple of young elk and another female in the area hanging out while a huge crowd stood by the side of the road photographing them. Later on they decided to lie down in the tall grass and almost disappeared from view.

Taken at ISO 100, 1/250 sec, f/8, and 118 mm focal length. roughly about 660 mm (35 mm equivalent).

Remember it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Moose in the Gros Ventre River in Grand Teton National Park

A portrait of a bull moose in the Gros Ventre River in Grand Teton National Park.  This guy was actually part of a foursome of bull moose who were feasting on willow leaves along the river's edge.  Moose are the largest member of the deer family and unlike most other species of deer, they tend to be solitary and don't form herds.

Like the males of the mule deer and the elk in the park, the male moose grow antlers every spring and shed them by winter.  This is what distinguishes them from horns, since horns are permanent structures.  The antlers of the moose are different from the other members of the deer family Cervidae since they have palmate antlers meaning there are broad flattened areas of antler between the pointy tines.

Other distinguishing features of the moose is the tuft of fur at the top of the throat that hangs down called a dewlap and a pendulous snout.

Remember it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Rays of Light From the Setting Sun Create a Silver Lining in the Clouds Over the Teton Range, Wyoming

On August 10, 2016, we were in Grand Teton National Park. After spending some time photographing 4 bull moose along the Gros Ventre River, we drove north along the range and noticed that the sun was setting and creating a fringed look to the clouds. In this image, you can see the silhouette of the Teton range, parts of which still have snow. In the clouds, the lobes of the clouds were creating a light and dark pattern to the sunlight. The clouds themselves appeared to have a silver lining.

The image was taken with a Canon PowerShot SX530 HS, ISO 100, f8, 1/640 sec. zoomed at 65.4mm. Taken on August 10th, at 7:50PM from the Teton Park Road.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Undine Falls in northern Yellowstone National Park

Undine Falls in the north of Yellowstone National Park about four miles east of Mammoth Village.  In three separate plunges Lava Creek falls about 60 feet over a cliff of basalt lava flows.  These falls can be viewed by a short hike from the park road to an overlook.  If you look closely, you'll see a trail passing by the falls on the other side of the canyon.  During his college years, Bob hiked on that trail past Undine Falls on a backpack trip from Mammoth to the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone River east and north of these falls.

This image was shot at 1/4th of a second to create the silky appearance of the water.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Mormon barn and the Tetons

This image is from along the Antelope Flats Road in Grand Teton National Park.  It shows the historic Moulton barn of the Mormon settler era with the highest peaks of the Tetons on the horizon.

The Mormon settlers dug many ditches to supply their fields with water from the nearby Gros Ventre River, and many of these ditches still have water flowing through them.  Bob was standing right next to one of them when he took these photos.

We created this panoramic image by merging three images together.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story.

Cloud stream over the Tetons

Clouds streaming over Grand Teton and other Teton peaks.  This image was taken from the Windy Point Turnout along the Teton Park Road in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

We used a welder's glass held in front of the camera's lens to induce a very long shutter speed in order to give the clouds a chance to move through the frame.  Because of the welder's glass, the original image took on a strong green tint, which we corrected with photo editing software.

The f/stop was 16, exposure was 114 seconds, with the ISO at 100 and the 18-55 zoom lens set at 31mm.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Swan with young ones in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Here is a recent picture of a trumpeter swan adult bird with two young ones swimming next to it. We visited Jackson Hole, Wyoming and got this picture by simply pulling off to the side of the road with lots of other people. There was even a platform on which to stand. Trumpeter swans are an endangered species that lives in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, but this one was south of either park near the town of Jackson, Wyoming, in the National Elk Refuge. whose boundary comes right up to the road.

This image was taken with the ISO at 100, f/8, 1/400 sec.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

The Moon rising in the Yosemite area before sunset

The nearly full moon will rise before the sun has completely set. Here's a picture in the Yosemite area taken from Yosemite Valley looking southeasterly at the rising moon with the landscape still being lit by the sun. We were in Yosemite to get moonbow pictures. Fortunately we were there early enough to get the moon rise, as well.

Camera was set at f/4 and 1/60 sec and was handheld. The ISO wasn't recorded. This image was taken using an ultra-high definition camcorder that can also take 20 megapixel stills.This was originally a 20 megapixel still image, but has been cropped and then resized for our blog.

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!

Death Valley's Telescope Peak reflected in Badwater Basin on a winter day

Badwater Basin is the lowest elevation in the western hemisphere at 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level. The name comes from this year-round spring where the water comes out salty and is not good to drink. It's located in Death Valley National Park in the state of California. Only 20 miles (32km) from Badwater Basin is Telescope Peak at 11,049 feet (3368 meters) elevation. During the winter it gets covered in snow along with much of the Panamint Mountains.

The geological explanation for the low elevation is the mountain ranges on either side of Death Valley, Panamint to the west and Amargosa to the east, are tilting up and away from the valley, leading to less support for the land in between, resulting in sinking. Death Valley is technically not a valley, because, geologically, valleys form by flowing water. Death Valley formed by the land subsiding. This type of geologic feature is given a German name "graben" pronounced like the bird "robin". But no one will campaigning to the Park Service to have the name of the park changed to "Death Graben."

Remember, it's not just a picture, it's a story!