Out West.....

Last summer I spent a day in western North Dakota.

 

It ended with me and a band of wild horses in Teddy Roosevelt National Park at sunset.

 

 

And I lucked out. 

 

After spending the afternoon wandering in the badlands with several bands of horses the sun started to drop below the horizon. As I lay on the ground trying to silhouette the horses against the sky a couple young stallions walked up to check me out.

 

 

  

Before long the horses started walking away as the sun kept getting lower.

 

 

 

 

 I did my best to keep finding angles which allowed me to silhouette the horses and put some colorful sky behind them.

 

 

 

 And I kept on shooting as a herd stallion walked up a small hill.

 

 

 

 I wasn't sure how I was doing with the actual photos. I was focusing manually and checking to see if the exposure was correct. But I realized it was a heck of an opportunity.

 

 

 

 I literally thanked this stallion several times for pausing on this ridge while I was making these images. He stood there a few seconds, and then walked down the hill joining the rest of his band in the shadows below.

 

I sat in the grass thankful for the day and the experience, before walking the half mile back to my car.





 





When it's good...

When it's good, things just work; the wildlife cooperates, the light is great, and the photography is easy.

 

On Monday night things were good. This wild stallion allowed me to silhouette him against a beautiful sky in western North Dakota.

 

 

 

These two young horses were curious rather than worried as I lay on the ground trying to get an angle for silhouettes.

 

 

 

I had enough time to make several dramatic images.  

 



 

The sky was great with beautiful clouds scattered about.

 

 

 

Earlier it had been 86 degrees, there were lots of ticks, I was hot and tired, and hadn't slept in in almost two days, but I was really glad I didn't leave early.

 

 

 

By hanging in there I was able to make these silhouettes and spend a beautiful day with more than 30 horses as they slept, fought, ate, rolled in the dirt, slept some more, and drank from a creek. Before it was over I had spent more than 10 hours hanging with wild horses as they lived their lives on the plains and badlands of western North Dakota.

 

When it's good, it's really good, and this day was a gift.





Hold your horses......

The morning started off with wild horses silhouetted

 

on the plains of western North Dakota in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

 

 

 

After the sun got a little higher in the sky I located a band of horses with a mare and new foal.

 

 

 

The foal stayed close to it's mother.

 

 

 

As mom ate the young horse stayed at her side.

 

 

 

After awhile it went to lay down.

 

 

 

Some of the other horses ran up a small hill.

 

 

 

A curious young horse came to check me out as I photographed the group.

 

 

 

Eventually the herd stallion walked off and I followed him.

 

 

 

He approached another stallion with a group of mares less than a quarter of a mile away. Walked up, sniffed him, and nearly kicked him.

 

 

 

The other horse didn't seem too pleased or too agitated and kicked back in his direction.

 

 

 

After some whinnying and posturing each horse returned to their mares. They must have been pretty evenly matched as neither wanted to fight.





Persistence.....

 

I didn't give up. Almost twenty years ago I made several images of wild horses silhouetted against an orange sky in western North Dakota.

 

 

 

I really liked how those pictures looked and every time I was out there I'd try to put wild horses against a colorful sky.

 

 

 

It didn't happen.

 

 

 

For almost twenty years I tried and failed to create any similar images.

 

 

 

But I never gave up.

 

 

 

And two days ago I did the unlikely. I was in Teddy Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota at sunrise and I made these images of wild horses.

 

 

 

I first approached a group of three horses on a ridge. By keeping them between me and the sun and placing the colorful sky behind them I got the silhouettes.

 

 

 

Once they walked around the hill and out of the light I focused on two horses standing in a shade filled valley below.

 

I slowly approached and was lucky they didn't mind me being there. By laying flat on the frost covered ground and quietly moving around I was able to isolate the horses with the rising sun behind them.

 

 

 

I only had about five minutes before the two horses I was with started looking up the hill towards the other horses.

 

 

 

I heard a horse running towards us.

 

 

 

I kept shooting and was glad I did. I only had a few seconds before the stallion that was one of the three horses on the hill came thundering down. He lowered and snaked his head letting the mare and yearling I was photographing know it was time to go. He snorted, circled them, and started moving them up the hill towards the other two horses in his band.

 

 

 

This last image is of the stallion posturing for my benefit, just before he chased his mares away.

 

My odds weren't good and the likelihood of any of this happening was almost none. But I persisted, and the unlikely happened on Monday in western North Dakota.  













Over the years......

I've gone to many great places and seen lots of cool things.

Such as wild horses just after sunset in western North Dakota.

Mount Moran reflected in the still waters of the Oxbow Bend of the Snake River just after sunrise.

A common loon looking quite uncommon reflected in the waters of a northern Wisconsin lake surrounded by a lush green forest.

Steam rising from Grand Prismatic Spring and Excelsior Geyser on a cool fall morning in Yellowstone.

A sow grizzly encouraging her new cubs to cross a mountain stream.

A bolt of lightning over Yellowstone Lake during an afternoon thunderstorm.

A grizzly bear sow and her almost grown cubs in a heavy spring snowstorm.

A beautiful cinnamon colored black bear in an Alberta berry patch.

The sun setting through steam from Clepsydra Geyser as it erupts.

These are but a few of the many memories I now hold from my travels through the years.