Back to Teddy....

We drove four hours from the Black Hills of South Dakota up to Theodore Roosevelt National Park at Medora North Dakota. We wouldn't have much time to explore, as we were leaving at dark.

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as I saw the clouds and sky the drive was worth it.

 

 

The way the clouds move over the open landscape of North and South Dakota is one of the things I love about those places.

 

 

 

The wind was blowing more than 20mph and really waving the grass around.

 

 

After only ten minutes the sun disappeared behind some clouds and the scene vanished,

so we headed to a petrified log nearby.

 

 

 

 

The perspective and view was very different depending which side I was on. I liked them both, but shot many more with the light.

 

 

This bison cow is walking through a prairie dog town near the Little Missouri River.

 

 

The park is home to about 150 wild horses. This mare was part of a band of about twenty grazing near the road.

 

 

 

 

The group included two foals that were racing each other across the grassy slopes.

 

 

 

 

 

They'd sprint one way for a hundred yards, turn the corner and sprint back to the herd.

 

 

Then back to mom's side.

 

 

 

We weren't in the park long, but it was long enough to walk in the badlands and over prairie, and to see and photograph lots of beautiful stuff. 

 

 

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.