Glacier National Park in the Winter

Hello folks, it's been an exciting few weeks for weather around here as the following video will reveal.  This is several short clips I shot over the course of the last two days.  Yesterday, January 19th was spectacular, and then today - Oh what a difference a day makes!  Watch this short, East Glacier Park, Browning area video.

New Portfolios
Aside from making this short video, I've been working on marketing and and put up some new portfolios on my new website.  I have new wildlife, new glacier national park, and new hunting portfolios available.  I've also been working on my linkedin profile and added to that a portfolio of north american big game wildlife images.

Business
I'll have to admit, I really like the marketing side of the photography business.  Not more than shooting of course, but the people you meet and the interesting things you learn along they way motivate me more and more each day to work harder and create better more appealing images.  I only wish there were more hours in a day.

We also are getting prepared for the spring opener of Glacier Impressions Gallery.  I sell fine art prints during the summer months here in East Glacier Park.  Here's a link to the gallery web site if you're interested.  And if you're on facebook, here's the Glacier Impressions facebook page.

In order to make a living at this, particularly in today's age of tweet this, twit that, like me, bing there, and facebook me and youtube and linked in it's vital to cover all the bases you can and for me that includes one of my favorite aspects of photography - commercial photography.  Speaking of that, I almost forgot, I just finished shooting a piece for Western Horseman.  I photographed a real western lady from Montana who will be featured in an upcoming issue of Western Horseman. She is one heck of a lady. Braved the sub zero temps and storm force winds to get the shoot in - bless her heart!

Friend Me, Like Me, or Tweet Me
So, back to business. Even though I like the business side of things, one still has to make images so one of the greatest challenges for a nature photographer is staying fresh and creative.  To me, the office time helps me to be even more focussed when I'm out shooting.  If you're not a member of facebook or twitter.com/tonybynum yet maybe it's time. . .  

You can find me on facebook, Twitter, and linkedin if you'd like. . .  If you're a member of any of these sites, friend me, like me or tweet me or just say hi!  (am i really saying all that - tweet me . . .   what the heck)?   LOL  

I hope you have a great week!  Talk to you soon. . .

Tony 

Spring Arrives In Glacier National Park, Two Med Open to the Falls . . .

Spring is no doubt in the air! One minute snow, the next rain and all of it sideways! It is astonishing though that the snow in my yard is all gone by April 4th; I think that’s a record! So what does it all mean, and why am I telling you this? It means get outside and enjoy it before someone notices and turns on the snow machine for a week! Just a couple days ago the clouds built up over the plains out near Cut Bank, and a thunder storm developed. The rapid changes in the weather though make for some dramatic and interesting photography opportunities.

On Friday night April 2, as it was snowing on the top of Summit Mountain and falling on East Glacier, I planned to shoot the sunrise on Saint Mary’s Lake the following morning, a favorite location for photographers and one of the most recognizable images of any national park. It’s an “iconic” image made famous by – I don’t know who - but everyone who comes here wants the shot and who would blame them?

An average (typical) Iconic Shot of Wild Goose Island, Glacier National Park, MT


It’s early o’clock on Saturday morning and I woke about ½ hour before my alarm went off. I don’t sleep very well the night before a fun shoot is planned. I’m to anxious and just always want the sun to come up. I loaded up the rig and left at 5am. The drive from East Glacier to Saint Mary’s takes usually about 50 minutes but not on this day. . .

It was snowing lightly when I left town, but that soon it changed to a complete white-out blizzard starting along the Milk River and lasting clear across the pass at Divide Mountain. On top, the road narrowed to less than a lane I and had to stop a few times, the road was getting lost to snow drifts  – it’s not very well marked up there so it’s hard to see the edges when the wind is blowing the snow at 50 MPH.

Took this shot before I encountered the Blizzard on Divide. This is near Cutbank Creek on Hwy 89.

Anyhow, I finally arrived at my destination and spent the next 5 hours waiting for the weather to break; it never did, so I returned home around noon.

That reminds me, one spring I made 23 trips in a row from Browning to shoot Wild Goose Island; I kept going till I finally got the shot I wanted. . . So, just like I did that year, I returned the next day, after getting skunked on Saturday. The difference between then and this year is it’s much earlier in the season this year, so the Sun Road is still closed; I walked from Rising Sun to a suitable shooting location along the lake – which means you have to add some time to the trip . . . it’s more rewarding in my view to put down some boot rubber before you shoot . . .

So Easter arrived and it was blustery and lightly snowing in East Glacier but on that morning I could see stars and the moon – that was good enough for me . . . I arrived about an hour before shooting light, got all my gear together and headed into the huge winds and blowing snow for my Easter encounter with Saint Mary’s Lake and Wild Goose Island . . .

Shooting Data: 14mm, 1/6^th@f22, iso 100, 14 bit, raw, polarizer, Kaiser Ballhead, Gitzo g-loc tripod and a 30 lb pack hanging from the center post for stability.


Persistence pays off. Stay at it, work hard and keep shooting. Oh yea, don’t forget the bear spray, the grizzly bears are active. . . and the Two Medicine Road is open to Running Eagle Falls. Have fun till next time . . .

Tony