Monday, June 25, 2018

Grand Prismatic Spring

After Old Faithful we went to check out Grand Prismatic Spring. You can find a lot of photos of that online, many of them quite dramatic. I thought it had to be a bit overplayed, but we ought to check it out anyway. And it turns out I was wrong. That thing is frickin' amazing.


Somebody will inevitably ask if that's edited. It is, because it was shot in RAW and there's no way to not edit it. But it really is that colorful. It's ridiculous.

It's so colorful that if you look at it from the side, the water vapor rising off of it looks like it's colored blue.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. So it turns out I took a few photos there... like 180 or so... after I deleted the ones I really didn't like... Anyway, I won't make you look at all of them, but there will be a few. Because come on, this doesn't even look real...



There are two other pools next to Prismatic Spring. This one is Excelsior Geyser...

The other pool was... hell, I don't know. It was nowhere near as cool. Which was pretty much our attitude for the rest of the trip. "Oh, another amazing thermal feature? Is it even half as cool as Grand Prismatic Spring? Well then screw that stupid, one-of-a-kind, amazing-if-it-was-anywhere-else natural wonder." It kinda ruined us for the rest of the trip, but still so worth seeing.



I spent half an hour sitting in the line to get into the parking lot. I hate lines, I hate traffic, but it was 100% worth it. Go see that. As usual, more photos on Smugmug.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Yellowstone - Pool Abstracts

One of the neat things about the pools is the bizarre landscape of erosion, mineral deposits and bacterial mats that form in the runoff. You have to look closer, but the patterns and colors are amazing.

I have to concede that Wendy spotted this composition first. It's a good one!


This one almost looks like an aerial photo of a seaside cliff, but no. It's a closeup of a bubbling geyser. Nearly all of it is underwater too. It's a bit hard to see because the water is so clear, but if you look closely you can see the ripples from the water droplets hitting the calmer water.

Looks like a map of a desert with one river, if you ask me. And I do ask me, because nobody else would be so foolish.




And a few more of the lesser photos. As usual, more on Smugmug for the masochistic.





Sunday, June 17, 2018

Pride Parade 2018

Let's take a brief break from landscape photography for pretty much the exact, polar opposite - people wearing rainbow colors and sometimes not much else!

I went to Pride Parade again this year. I support the message and cause. It's basically just "be nice to people," which I find hard to oppose. But to be completely honest I mostly go because it's fun taking pictures of all the crazy people. I had previously gone in 2016 and had a good time. I actually thought I went in 2017, but apparently I didn't - go figure. 

I took a lot of photos today... 814 to be exact. Yeesh. I'm not going to post all of them here, but they will all be on Smugmug... whenever my internet connection finally catches up.

Let's start off with the visual/graphical opposite of the rest of the photos - Captain America!
Not only is this an impressively well-done cosplay, the guy is super friendly and nice, and is apparently doing this for charity. He's got a website with all his social media type stuff, so go check him out. 

Next up is Mythica! I've run into Mythica a few times now - at Pride Parade 2016, and doing some of my favorite chalk art. She's always really friendly as well, not to mention a colorful character - haha! ha... hey, it's my blog, I'll make terribly obvious jokes if I want to. Anyway, here she is again!


So that's enough of people I know, on to random people that I happened to get good photos of.
One of the things I like about Pride Parade is most people are delighted to be there. It's just a very positive experience.

Even better, a lot of them actually pose for the camera. It's almost like people that put on rainbow colors and makeup, grab balloons, and march in a parade want to have their photo taken! Weird...

Alright, some are a bit shy about it, but still. 

And if there's a doggo, you know I have to get picture of it. But PSA, I was talking to a parade marshal and they're actually against the rules. Partially because they tend to get dehydrated or heat exhaustion from walking on the hot pavement - thankfully not a problem today because it was cloudy. Also because they can get underfoot and get themselves or others into trouble. 


So that's great and all, but it's not a Pride Parade until you see...
Yep, gay sailors in a speedo. And when there are sailors around, you definitely need...


A giant walking condom. Naturally!

How about a pretty good cosplay of Hawkeye from the Avengers?

Good use of a pedalhopper! 

And again!

Oh hi ladies!

Yes, I even take photos of grump dogs.

Sneak: -100

Needs moar colors!

Carnival style!

And again...

Just a neat photo

Ayyyyy!

Foam!



Gaydar reading: inconclusive.





Thursday, June 14, 2018

Old Faithful

We were fortunate to walk up right before Old Faithful put on a show. We were unfortunate in that the wind didn't blow the mist away, so we didn't get a very good view of the water from the geyser. Oh well - some days you get the geyser, some days the geyser gets you. (That's how that saying goes, right?)


Also saw a group of tourists re-enact the Abbey Road cover...

And see a number of smaller geysers in the area (more of these later...)



Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Trees in the Mist

We headed into Yellowstone relatively early in the morning. Near the entrance some thermal features threw up a cloud of mist that was backlit by the rising sun. It makes for a dramatic view.



In fact it was so dramatic that Wendy wrenched the car into a turnout, throwing around everything inside the car and narrowly missing the median. She then became so entranced with the view that she let the car roll into the curb instead of stopping it. Not exactly an auspicious beginning for a trip that turned out to involve some interesting driving.

A few more from that spot here. I'm too lazy to link them individually, so larger versions are here.




Sunday, June 10, 2018

Grand Teton

We just got back from a trip to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Park. It was our most "All  American" vacation to date. We visited the first national park, saw bison, bears, cowboys, tall mountains and beautiful lakes.

But by far the most 'Merican thing was visiting Grand Tetons National Park. Because "téton" means "breast" in French, and what could be more 'Merican than going to Big Titties National Park?

Anyway, without further classy banter, some photos...

This is my favorite photos of the Tetons that I've gotten to so far. This was taken from the Oxbow Bend turnout, a very nice place for sunrise. There was a photo workshop there at the same time, so probably 20 photographers in total running around. Thankfully it's a large enough area that we weren't much in each other's way. I do wish we could've gotten a better sky, but this one wasn't so bad.

My second pick from the same morning...

They're both pretty good in my opinion. I like the geese in the second one, but the full mountain range in the first one. Probably tomorrow I'll decide I like the second one better. :)