Twin Trees at Black Sand Basin – Autumn in Yellowstone National Park

October 6, 2010 by 4 Comments
Trees at Sunrise in Black Sand Basin at Yellowstone National Park

Twin Trees at Black Sand Basin © 2010 Bo Mackison

Some mornings it is harder to capture a sunrise photograph than other times.

When I’m camping and I’ve sat by the late evening campfire admiring the red embers of the dying fire and gazed at the Milky Way until the early hours of the morning, it takes extra effort for me to be ready and in the car before sunrise the next morning. But it is often worth it. It surely was a few mornings ago, when I took this magical photograph.

I was photographing the geysers along the boardwalk in the Black Sand Basin.

This basin is a smaller part of the Upper Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. It was just past sunrise. We had finished exploring this basin and were headed to the Old Faithful complex. Sherpa had already headed back to the parking lot. I was lingering in the eerie, early light.

I turned for one more look at this mystical place.

This place with such an ancient feel, with steam curling out of the earth and hovering thickly in the cool morning. (It was 28˚F, so the hot springs were steaming almost everywhere you looked in the thermal part of the park.)

Just one more look, just as the sunlight spotlighted these lodge pole pines.

I am so grateful that in my photo practice, I always make it a point to turn around to check on what is behind me before I stop shooting.

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Oh, the Colors You Can See – Mineralization at Yellowstone National Park

October 5, 2010 by 12 Comments
Great Prismatic Pool

Oh, the Colors You Can See! © 2010 Bo Mackison

We arrived at Yellowstone National Park on Saturday afternoon, set up camp quickly, and went exploring.

We stopped at several geyser basins. These geyser basins just seem to call me – I just can’t resist walking on the boardwalks, gazing at the many brightly colored pools, timing the predictable (and unpredictable) gush of the geysers, watching the muddy paint pots that burp out a pop of mud in rhythmic fashion.

When we arrived at Midway Geyser Basin an hour or so before sunset, we ended up lingering there until traces of the sun had all but disappeared. The thermal features are lovely at any time of day, but at sunset, everything is bathed in warm light and the oranges and yellows deepen. I couldn’t stop looking and I took way too many photographs.

This shot is one of my favorite from that evening. The Grand Prismatic Spring, seen steaming in the background, is the largest hot spring in Yellowstone, measuring over 250 by 300 feet. It is a brilliant icy blue in the center, and then turns bluish-green on the edges. But the parts that so attracted me were the rays of oranges, yellows, and browns that radiated from the spring as runoff.

As a bonus, the reflections in the pool and runoff waters are spectacular, as seen by these reflections of white clouds and blue sky.

Ah, glorious nature. What a show she puts on!

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Wyoming High Range – Cross Country Travel

October 4, 2010 by 7 Comments

High Plains ©2010 Bo Mackison

Traveling from the Badlands in South Dakota to Yellowstone National Park, we traveled through western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. In Wyoming, the landscape changed rather suddenly from irrigated farm fields to sagebrush high range.

It was one of only a couple of times that we pulled the car over and I took a few photographs. I learned the hard way how difficult it is to try to travel 2o hours with a minimum of stops. I passed by hundreds of places I wanted to photograph, but knew I couldn’t stop we would never get further west than Iowa. It was a long two and a half days to get to Yellowstone.

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Across the Mississippi

October 2, 2010 by 12 Comments

Across the Mississippi © 2010 Bo Mackison

Once I cross the Mississippi, I know it’s true.

It’s time for another trip to the land I love to visit – the western and southwestern regions of the United States. We crossed the Mississippi just after sunrise, and the sunlight made that Minnesota shore sparkle like gold.

That’s Lock and Dam #5 – located on Mississippi River about ten miles northwest of Winona, Minnesota. It was built in 1935 and underwent major renovation in 1987-98. The locks and dams control the flow of the Mississippi.

From its origin to St. Louis, the Mississippi is controlled by 43 dams. Fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and generate electrical power and provide a great recreational resource. The other 29 dams start in downtown Minneapolis and contain locks which were constructed to permit commercial navigation of the upper river.

These 43 dams shape the geography of this huge river, the largest river system in the United States. The length of the Mississippi, from its origin in Lake Itasca, Minnesota to where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico 50 miles south of New Orleans is about 2,320 miles.

I lived in a river city on the Mississippi for the first 18 years of my life, and I’ve always lived in a state that borders the river, so I consider the Mississippi “my” river.
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‘Golden Shadow’

September 30, 2010 by 10 Comments

'Golden Shadow' © 2010 Bo Mackison

I took this photograph of a most unusual plant a few weeks ago at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens. I took it before we had had our first frost. I took it when we’d had an abundance of rain. I took it when the mosquitoes were each the size of a dive-bombing hornet, and each mosquito had targeted me as dinner. Therefore, I grabbed a quick look at the tag on the plant, and noted its name was ‘Golden Shadow.’ And I took cover in the car in an attempt to escape the mosquitoes.

Weeks later, I wanted to find out a little more about these lovely golden shadow leaves and so I started Googling “Golen Shadow’.  I found a dogwood with the name of ‘Golden Shadow’ – no resemblance. Then I found a Paper Mulberry ‘Golden Shadow’, but it looked nothing like this plant either.

So though I love the unusual look of this plant, and it has the most wonderful deep butterscotch color, and the texture was a velvety nub, I have no identity for it other than “Golden Shadow’.

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