I photoshopped Meteors (from my photo in Mono Lake) into the Milky Way scene. Fun?

My first view of Triple Falls -- this is why we came here!

Some pretty flowers at Logan Pass. This is Mt. Reynolds

I found a nice little stream that cascaded down. I knew I wanted to do Milky Way here. Not sure how it turned out. There's a little bit of the last light on Mt. Reynolds

My little creek as the stars start to come out

The Milky Way starts to make an appearance!

Reynolds Milk

Willie, Alan, and I spent a week at Glacier National Park back in August and the trip was everything but what we expected. This particular night was about the only night that went as we intended. The weather forecast seemed great before we arrived but we witnessed poor conditions after poor conditions. For 2 days we couldn't even see our feet the fog was so thick. On our first night the clouds stayed away and we did the one thing we planned on: getting some Milky Way shots from Logan Pass. I had seen this waterfall earlier in the evening and photographed it as the last light hit Mt. Reynolds, disappeared, the stars came out, and eventually the Milky Way moved into position. I knew that Milky Way would eventually move parallel to the right edge of Mt. Reynolds but I didn't realize how long it would take. It wasn't until around midnight that it got dark enough and the Milky Way moved far enough to the right. I used a 4 image focus stack to make sure the entire scene came out in focus. As you'll notice the sky doesn't entirely look as sharp as it could. I rented the lens from BorrowLenses and it quickly became clear that this particular copy of the lens had some serious coma flare issues. I did my best to get rid of some of it but eventually removing it became tedious and I gave up. BorrowLenses customer service was awesome and I was given a coupon for the price of the rental to use another time! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED: Sky: 24mm, f/1.6, 13 seconds, ISO 3200 Foreground: 4 images, 24mm, f/10, ISO 100

Glacier Milk

When Willie, Alan, and I set out to spend a week in Glacier National Park we prepared for all kinds of weather. I purchased new rain gear, rented a 24mm f/1.4 lens in the event of clear skies or auroras, and kept my hopes up that the partially cloudy skies in the forecast would lead to beautiful sunrises and sunsets. While doing research for the trip it quickly became evident that most of our time would be spent in Logan Pass. On this particular evening our hopes at an epic sunset faded quickly and not a cloud could be seen in the skies. We gave up on sunset and switched gears .. it was time to use those rented lenses to photograph the Milky Way. A copious number of streams, rivers, waterfalls, and small patches of wildflowers awaited my every turn and provided countless possibilities for compositions. Using the StarWalk app on my iPhone I was able to roughly predict the path of the Milky Way. I quickly saw that the Milky Way would line up almost parallel to the right side of Mt. Reynolds with the core of the Milky Way in between the mountain and the trees. Perfect! I experimented with a variety of compositions but ultimately settled on 2 waterfalls that I liked. I loved the way the waterfall cascaded down from Mt. Reynolds and provided an interesting foreground. It's almost like there's steps leading us right into the sky! I then waited ... and waited ... and waited ... the sky never seemed to get dark enough for the Milky Way to come out. It had not dawned on us that being so far north would leave the sky so bright for so long into the night. Slightly before 11pm the Milky Way first made its appearance on the back of my camera. By 11:30pm the Milky Way finally moved into position. Just as I had predicted the Milky Way lined up perfectly with Mt. Reynolds and the core filled the right side of the sky! Another photo in my "Milk" series! It was then a race to pack up, get to the car, and try to catch the 2am opening in the road closure so we could catch a couple hours of sleep before waking up and starting all over again. As you'll notice the sky doesn't entirely look as sharp as it could. I rented the lens from BorrowLenses and it quickly became clear that this particular copy of the lens had some serious coma flare issues. I did my best to get rid of some of it but eventually removing it became tedious and I gave up. BorrowLenses customer service was awesome and I was given a coupon for the price of the rental to use another time! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED: Sky: 24mm, f/1.6, 13 seconds, ISO 3200 Foreground: 24mm, f/10, ISO 100

Another waterfall gets Milky Way'd. This is a composit from a milky way shot and the waterfall that I had taken earlier in the evening.

A number of other photographers, notably Toby Hariman, do this all the time, so I thought I'd have some fun. The batteries in my flashlight were dying and I had to borrow willie's flashlight to get a nice bright beam. Whatcha think?

Milky Way from the parking lot. We got back to our car and the road was closed due to construction. At 2am a pacer truck was going to come by and let us through. We tried to sleep but I couldn't and decided to take a couple more shots. Yay for parking lot shots!

On our way to Swiftcurrent Lake, to check it out for a future shoot, we ran into our first Grizzly Bear. Turns out pretty much every time we came to this area we saw a couple bears

The bear is swimming. The way those logs in the water stick out make it look like the bear is REALLY long

We spied a couple grizzly bears. You can tell it's a grizzly by the hump on its back / neck area. They love those berries

Grizzly

We spied a couple grizzly bears. You can tell it's a grizzly by the hump on its back / neck area.

We spied a couple grizzly bears. You can tell it's a grizzly by the hump on its back / neck area.

Some flowers with Mt. Reynolds

Logan's Frustration (B&W)

The first photo I saw that made me want to go to Glacier National Park was of Triple Falls in Logan Pass. Once I booked a flight and started to do some research I found I was more excited to shoot the rivers and streams in Logan Pass than Triple Falls. Before Willie, Alan, and I arrived at Glacier National Park the forecast looked good for some beautiful sunsets. Unfortunately that never happened -- on nights just like this, we watched the clouds disappear right before our eyes just minutes before sunset. 15 minutes after I took this photo the clouds were completely gone. So frustrating! Logan Pass is known for its rivers, streams, and wild flowers. Due to a dry winter the flowers weren't in bloom as we had expected. In fact, there were hardly any flowers around. Thanks to 2 days of rain, though, the streams were gushing quite well. Logan Pass sits in between 2 mountains: Mt. Reynolds and Mt. Clements. I find Mt. Clements to be the more photogenic mountain and I knew I wanted to find a waterfall with Mt. Clements in the background. I feel like I hiked around forever trying to find the perfect spot. I found this spot midway through my wandering and when Alan came around and showed me that he had also found this spot, I knew it was where I wanted to be during sunset. I got partially into the stream to get the angle that I wanted on the waterfalls. I then used a 4 image focus stack to ensure sharpness throughout the photo and a 5th photo exposed for the sky. I only wish the clouds here had lit up with some color but I can't complain. It was such a beautiful way to spend the afternoon that I didn't even mind my feet were soaked (I would have felt bad that Alan and Willie had to endure my wet feet but luckily Alan's feet were even worse. It wasn't until later on in the trip that I got my shoes so wet they had to be scanned multiple times at the airport!). Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/11, 1/6 sec, ISO 160 Black and white version

Logan's Frustration

The first photo I saw that made me want to go to Glacier National Park was of Triple Falls in Logan Pass. Once I booked a flight and started to do some research I found I was more excited to shoot the rivers and streams in Logan Pass than Triple Falls. Before Willie, Alan, and I arrived at Glacier National Park the forecast looked good for some beautiful sunsets. Unfortunately that never happened -- on nights just like this, we watched the clouds disappear right before our eyes just minutes before sunset. 15 minutes after I took this photo the clouds were completely gone. So frustrating! Logan Pass is known for its rivers, streams, and wild flowers. Due to a dry winter the flowers weren't in bloom as we had expected. In fact, there were hardly any flowers around. Thanks to 2 days of rain, though, the streams were gushing quite well. Logan Pass sits in between 2 mountains: Mt. Reynolds and Mt. Clements. I find Mt. Clements to be the more photogenic mountain and I knew I wanted to find a waterfall with Mt. Clements in the background. I feel like I hiked around forever trying to find the perfect spot. I found this spot midway through my wandering and when Alan came around and showed me that he had also found this spot, I knew it was where I wanted to be during sunset. I got partially into the stream to get the angle that I wanted on the waterfalls. I then used a 4 image focus stack to ensure sharpness throughout the photo and a 5th photo exposed for the sky. I only wish the clouds here had lit up with some color but I can't complain. It was such a beautiful way to spend the afternoon that I didn't even mind my feet were soaked (I would have felt bad that Alan and Willie had to endure my wet feet but luckily Alan's feet were even worse. It wasn't until later on in the trip that I got my shoes so wet they had to be scanned multiple times at the airport!). Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 17mm, f/11, 1/6 sec, ISO 160

Me at Triple Falls

Me in front of Mt. Reynolds. This is right above Triple Falls

Me in front of Mt. Clements