After settling into my camp spot, I stood by the river with my camera in hand and photographed buffalo with their newborn calves, grazing peacefully in the meadow. Somewhere in that late afternoon light, the sun seemed to darken. Atmospheric effects played across the backdrop of nearby rhyolite cliffs, and I felt pulled backward in time. I saw bedrolls and campfires. I felt the heat on my face and smelled freshly caught rainbow trout on a spit. In my mind’s eye, men were dressed in wool trousers, patches sewn over worn-through knees. The sleeves of their linen shirts were rolled up. Their necks were raw with sweat. Their hands coppered from exposure. One of the men rolled tobacco with soot-covered fingers and stuck the tip in his mouth. Then I realized that all of us who enter the park are in some way a spiritual descendant of these men around the fire. Because of that discussion and what became of it, the buffalo are only hunted with cameras along the Madison River, and no condos exist at Old Faithful. Yellowstone’s greatness is not found in its grand attractions. It is found in the simple, untouched wildness of the landscape.
Most of the 5 million visitors that make the pilgrimage each year will never get further off the roadway than 100 feet, which means that nearly 2.2 million acres of land remain relatively untouched by humans.
WORDS & PHOTOS BY JAMES MCKEW
A Guide to Finding and Photographing Yellowstone’s Wildlife
Last winter’s snow looked like white frosting smeared across the top of the Rocky Mountains.
I drove through the west entrance of Yellowstone National Park, riding on the rumors I had heard of abundant wildlife photo opportunities in early spring. The excitement I felt driving through park gates was like an electrical current that rose out of the paved road, through the steering wheel, and into my arms and chest. Out the side window of my truck was the Madison River, flooded to the banks with spring run-off. A mating pair of trumpeter swans sailed on the river. Their long, white necks and plumbed bodies moved gracefully, reminding me of angelic beings instead of simple swans. I took them as an omen of good things to come.
The Madison Campground was to be my home for the next week. The location is the campsite of the Washburn Expedition. On September 19, 1870, with the days still hot and the nights turning cool, the 189 men of the expedition pitched their tents on the banks of the river. Fires were started, supper was cooked, and horses were grazed in the meadow. Further down the canyon, a bull elk bugled in the twilight. The night turned dark, bed rolls were laid out around the fire, faces glowed, and smoke rose into the star-filled sky. A discussion began, recounting geysers, rivers, deep canyons, lakes, meadows, and abundant wildlife they encountered in the last 30 days. The subject turned to the future and what, if anything, could be done to protect these wonders for the next generation.
The following day at 5 am, I was on the road and looking for animals. My coffee mug was steaming, granola bars waited at my elbow, and Jimmy Buffet sang on the radio. Rumors of wolf sightings were everywhere. With frost-covered nights still lingering, the animals were on their feet and eating at first light.
Wolves are the main attraction for most mornings. The latest action was reported at Specimen Ridge in the Lamar Valley. When I arrived, high-powered spotting scopes were arrayed, and goose-down jacketed tourists lined the roadside hoping to glimpse the wolfpack. I pulled over and watched. The wolves were on the other side of the valley, at the base of Specimen Ridge. The tourists had their phones out, taking their best shot at a pixel-sized dot over a mile out. Perhaps five distinct languages were spoken that morning. The clattering of voices would give the Tower of Babel a run for its money.
Wolves are the main attraction for most mornings. The latest action was reported at Specimen Ridge in the Lamar Valley. When I arrived, high-powered spotting scopes were arrayed, and goose-down jacketed tourists lined the roadside hoping to glimpse the wolfpack. I pulled over and watched. The wolves were on the other side of the valley, at the base of Specimen Ridge. The tourists had their phones out, taking their best shot at a pixel-sized dot over a mile out. Perhaps five distinct languages were spoken that morning. The clattering of voices would give the Tower of Babel a run for its money.
Two days later, I watched a grizzly bear sow and her cubs create a “bear jam” near Swan Lake. Traffic had come to a complete stop. A park ranger was playing traffic cop, ordering drivers to keep moving. Tourists clamored for a photo of three black dots in the sagebrush a half mile from the road. Spotting scopes were aimed at the bears and acted as a tourist magnet. Conversations between photographers and tourists began about bear habitat, followed by a brief history of this particular sow and cubs. The tourists were delighted to look through the spotting scopes. Most of them on that day were from Europe and were genuinely grateful for the chance to see a grizzly at that range. After nearly three hours of waiting, the bears finally came within 100 yards of the road. Cameras began to click with a sound like a swarm of cicadas on an elm tree.
Here are my practical tips for wildlife photographers.
#1 Don’t Bring the Family
If you are going to Yellowstone to photograph wildlife, do not bring the family. This is a working vacation—no sleeping in. You should be on the road forty-five minutes before dawn and plan to stay out until it is too dark to shoot. This is usually followed by a long, slow drive back to camp. You will also find yourself standing in the cold for long periods, sometimes in snow and rain, in wet marshy areas, so bring muck boots or hip waders. If you do bring someone, make sure they have their own camera rig so they can feel like part of the action.
#2 Expect Camera Envy
The photographers in Yellowstone are there for the same reasons you are. Most have day jobs just like you; some are the guys and gals you see every weekend on the sidelines at professional football games, and they are just as hungry as you are for high-quality photos. Try to hold back your shock when you see camera lenses the length of an elephant’s trunk. Indeed, nothing labels you as a wildlife photographer better than having a six-foot-long lens with camo tape wrapped around the sun shade. At a minimum, you will need a 400mm f5.6 lens. That’s minimum and considered small and amateurish. Regarding the affordability of such a camera lens, let’s compare the relative cost of another hobby: mountain biking. The price of a good mountain bike has gotten so out of control that the purchase ratio is four camera lenses to one mountain bike. The standard professional lens for wildlife photography is the 300mm f2.8 lens, which will cost two mountain bikes! If possible, go with the 300mm and purchase a quality 2x teleconverter, turning it into a 600mm f5.6. Additionally, you will need a sturdy tripod and gimbal head. Some companies will rent you some of this equipment, but I haven’t tried that avenue.
#3 Plan On Camping
Easy, right? In early spring, the campgrounds won’t be too crowded. You might not need a reservation. I recommend the Madison Campground; it is central to the park’s west side, where elk, bison, coyotes, and bears hang out. It also has the luxury of heated bathrooms. Slough Creek Campground in the north is a good option, if it’s open. This is an excellent location for grizzlies, wolves, and bison. I haven’t slept in a tent in Yellowstone, and I never intend to. I prefer something hard-sided. I once owned a small motorhome. It worked well because the kitchen and work table were right there.
#4 Be a Chatty Kathy
You’re standing on a sagebrush slope with six other photographers. Your toes are freezing. You would trade your firstborn child for a hot cup of coffee. Waiting below you is the aforementioned dead bison in all its bloated glory. Someone in the group gets a tickle in his stomach and thinks a grizzly bear will smell the dead animal and come around to eat it. Fine. You decide it’s worth sticking around to see what happens, maybe a couple of hours, maybe half a day. Everybody is spread out, tripods and cameras at the ready, backpacks and jackets piled here and there. Snacks and water bottles are out, and you have joined the ranks of a small, weird group of paparazzi waiting for the celebrity to make his appearance. The best part of the waiting game is the people. They haven’t slept in a week. They smell, cuss their bad luck, and dream of margaritas on the beach. Their cynicism is worn like a winter jacket, but they can also be generous to one another. The best intel on animal locations will come from these folks, so make friends. Make a sarcastic joke about what the tourists are wearing and what the rangers are up to; tell everybody where you photographed a sow grizzly yesterday and where they can buy a hot sandwich after dark; and you’ll be in good company. They mostly don’t have secret spots because the equipment is so bulky that they can’t sneak into the woods without being noticed. Remember that it’s best to make friends with the people you will see over and over for the next week.
#5 Where to Find Animals in the Spring
YPhotographers and wildlife cross paths only twice each year, in the spring and fall. Yes, you can go in the winter, but it requires special vehicles and operating delicate electronic equipment in frigid conditions. Once you return indoors, humidity can play havoc on camera bodies and lenses. Go for it, if you want, but I never did. During the summer months, it’s even worse. The road traffic and 4 million sweaty tourists are too much for my brain to handle. Enough said.
Here is my top-secret, behind-the-velvet rope, special handshake, and members-only list of where to find the animals.
Spring photography includes bears with cubs, wolf packs, bison with red dogs (bison babies), and elk calving. In a typical year, the lower valleys in the park’s northern half will be snow-free. By late April, the roads will usually be open. Bears emerge from hibernation hungry for new green sprouts in the meadows. They also seek out any available winter kill. Winter kill can occur anywhere in the valleys, so it might be good to do some cautious hikes and see what you can find off and away from the main roads. Elk, bison, and deer are all calving in these lower valleys. Some of these babies will become food for the bears and wolves. This is a basic fact of nature. Predators and prey come together in the valleys in a hunting frenzy that must be seen to be appreciated. I can’t make this sound any prettier than it is: this season is a macabre opportunity for a photographer to get close to the action. You will typically stay busy shuttling from one roadside pullout to the next or possibly walking trails for most of the day. This is a good time to carry binoculars and a spotting scope. The long lenses might help you find moving animals and intersect them for the perfect shot. My favorite Spring locations include Gardner’s Hole, Lamar Valley, Soda Butte, and Hayden Valley.
#6 Take Time to Immerse Yourself
Your first trip to Yellowstone might feel like a disappointment. Turn that disappointment into something more: photograph pawprints in the mud and snow, find an old buffalo skeleton, and shoot it with an artistic eye. Write journal entries for each day’s events. Bring a fly pole and get photos of your buddy fishing with bison in the background—it’s a seller! You traveled a long distance and spent thousands of dollars with the expectation of taking prime photos that will fill the glossy pages of magazines or be used for online publications. Trust me, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Yellowstone is a vast area where you drive slowly for hours with no guarantee of seeing animals. Once you find an animal, another six cars will stop, and now everyone is getting the same excellent photo opportunity you thought was exclusively yours. Don’t get dismayed. Put some bear spray in your back pocket and walk into the woods. I promise that a quarter mile off the road will feel like you have stepped back two hundred years in time. It’s a good guess that 99.5% of the visitors never get a hundred yards off the road. In your photographic journey, take time to get quality landscape shots. Summon that National Geographic photographer who lives inside your soul and let him explore the park with a poet’s eye. Start with the big sunrise and sunset landscapes before working down to small leaves and finally to patterns of frost on the edge of streams. It is all part of the photographic experience that makes Yellowstone a wonderland for photographers.
