Montana images... beautiful in Winter too!

I went to Montana to attend a pajama party given by friends on New Year's Eve. It was great fun but I'm not posting pictures from that here! ;-) When I go to Red Lodge, I fly into Billings, rent a car and drive the ~60 miles to Red Lodge which is south-west of Billings. The first image below is from a roadside stop along route 212 between Roberts and Boyd, MT. I watched the clouds over the mountains from the time I left Billings on I-90 (no place to stop there) and finally found a "scenic" and safe stopping spot from which to shoot them.

The image below is from a favorite spot on the West Fork of Rock Creek outside of Red Lodge. Silver Run is a cross country ski trail in winter and a biking, hiking trail in summer. I go to the parking lot there every time I visit Red Lodge and am always inspired to take yet more photographs. This is the first time I've been there in winter and I experimented with my Singh Ray VND (variable neutral density) filter with this as the result. Only the fastest running part of the creek was not frozen.

I have recently created an account at iPhoneArt, one at Twitter (toryporter) and one for Instagram (also toryporter) which is a camera/uploading app for iPhone. So I am in even more overwhelm than usual but I have resolved to work out a schedule where I am blogging AT LEAST one day a week and can devote time to posting on other sites/social media services on a rotating basis as yet to be determined. I am also on Facebook, Google+ and Flickr. I think I'm in overload mode!

Clouded Sulphur butterfly on Spotted Knapweed... Montana!

Thought I'd post this collage today just so folks don't think I've dropped off the face of the earth while I'm traveling out west. I will get around to blogs eventually but am slower than usual while on travel.

I'm traveling light which means I do not have my macro lens with me. These images were taken with a 70-300mm Nikon telephoto lens (leftover from my film camera that works perfectly fine on my Nikon D90). The image on the left was taken at 300mm while standing about 10 feet away from the action. The other two were taken with the same lens from the same distance but using a 1.4x tele-converter to get closer to the action. I rather like how these turned out, especially since shooting from further away meant that the butterflies weren't disturbed by my presence!

I'll be posting this to Macro Monday over at Lisa's Chaos... come on over and join the fun! If you'd like to view the collage up closer, click on the image. The images on the left, middle and right are also available to view large if you want to have a closer look.

Experiment with Vari-ND filter... western exposure!

I'm currently in Red Lodge, Montana and will soon be in Colorado for a photography workshop shooting fall color in the Rockies. A Vari-ND filter is one piece of equipment that it was recommended we bring with us to the photography workshop. Since I've never used one before, it seemed to make sense to spend some time learning a bit about it before the workshop.

The image below shows two shots of the same scene (camera moved a bit so the images aren't exactly identical). Compare the water appearance in the two photos and you will be able to see the difference between shooting with (on the right) and without (on the left) a Vari-ND filter. I have much more to learn about using this filter but wanted to share these images with you and let you know that I'm mostly away from blogging while traveling in the wild west.

This is the West Fork of Rock Creek as seen from under the bridge at the entry to the parking lot for the Silver Run hiking trail. I was balancing my tripod on rocks and myself as well so was having trouble keeping the exact same scene in my viewfinder.

Hoverfly in flower garden... Red Lodge, MT, September 2009

While listening to friends play 'oompah' music in the park near the farm market on a sunny Saturday in Red Lodge, MT this past September, I set up my tripod with my 70-300 mm lens and amused myself photographing the bees, hoverflies and other insects in the flower garden.

(This image and the other images that will be included in my gallery show are in a set on Flickr that may be viewed as a slide show if you care to have a look.

Big Sky Country... Absaroka Mountains near Fishtail, Montana...

Just finished an Adobe Photoshop Elements class so have been combing through my photos to find some that need work... want to practice skills learned before I forget them all! This image is from a couple of years ago and was taken with my first digital camera... a Nikon Coolpix P1... and shot through a quite dirty car window. So I used tools to clean up the smudges... cropped the photo to get rid of the hood of the car... and wound up with this "panorama" of the Absoraka Mountains outside of Fishtail, MT.

Crabapples against a brilliant blue sky... Red Lodge, MT!

While wandering around Red Lodge with Mike's cousin Tom and his wife Helen, we saw this crab apple tree (at least I think that's what it is) and I couldn't resist capturing the red and green against the brilliant blue Montana sky.

Mount Rearguard stands above the Hellroaring Plateau... near Red Lodge, MT

Mount Rearguard at 12280 feet elevation exceeds the approximately 10,000 feet elevation of most of the Hellroaring Plateau... it's possible to hike to the summit but we didn't as we weren't properly prepared for such a hike... this year! (refer to the previous post for information on accessing the Hellroaring Plateau) NOTE: I do realize that the rule of threes is not followed in this photographic image... but we love the Montana vividly blue sky so much that I couldn't bear to crop this!

Road to Hellroaring Plateau as seen from the Beartooth Highway near Red Lodge, MT

When we were in Montana in June, 2008, we failed at reaching the top of the Hellroaring Road in our attempt to get up onto the Hellroaring Plateau (most of which is around 10,000 feet elevation) due to snow and further up, downed trees making the road impassable at that time of year. As a child, I'd heard stories about my aunt and uncle going there every year to camp and fish in the lakes near the top and on the top of the plateau. Now that we've finally managed to reach the top (in September, 2009), I wonder that my aunt and uncle ever made it at all in a regular passenger car. The road up to the top of the plateau is rough, rock strewn and requires a high-center vehicle and a driver willing to travel at speeds that rarely (if ever) exceed 10 MPH on the 7 mile Hellroaring Road. Once reaching the top, the views are spectacular and I'll post some of those in the coming week. (my posting has been somewhat sporadic due to all our travel and other obligations)

I just like this plant... some sort of desert plant growing on Red Lodge Mountain, MT

My guess is this is a member of the agave or yucca (are they the same?) family of plants... I just liked the leaves and shadows...

Rock Creek Valley near Red Lodge, MT as seen from the Beartooth Highway...

Every year we go to Red Lodge, MT... we simply must go up the Beartooth Highway at least once... and I always take LOTS of photos.... here's one showing the valley with Rock Creek Road alongside Rock Creek down in the valley with the Beartooth Mountains in the background.

Sunflowers at Café Regis in Red Lodge, MT

Our day's adventure for September 8, 2009 included a stop at Café Regis in Red Lodge, MT for lunch before heading up the road to the Hellroaring Plateau... they invited us to visit the garden (where they grow much of what they serve) while we were waiting for our sandwiches to be made... the sunflowers against the clear blue sky caught my eye... our adventure up Hellroaring is detailed (with more photos of the spectacular scenery) on my vacation blog for those of you who might be interested!