Tag: farmland

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Dancing Medusa Cottonwood Tree

Dancing Medusa Cottonwood Tree
Dancing Medusa Cottonwood Tree

Silhouettes: Dancing Medusa Cottonwood Tree

The Middle Tree,…..A silhouette of a Dancing Medusa Mythological Figure instantly stood out. This capture is a result of course of my somewhat overworked imagination 😜 A favorite tree of mine, it is handy to photograph in the late fall and early spring. During those times, where the sunsets changes as the sun migrates south. This gives it an angle that is hard to refute aligned with this location. It’s about 200 yards to those trees from my camera. Filed under imaginary creatures in the trees up here in the backcountry of the Wyoming/Montana borderlands. Title: Dancing Medusa Cottonwood Tree

Mythology Medusa:

Medusa was a normal but beautiful Mortal. She was unlucky enough for the Goddess Athena to punish her. Athenas punishment was giving her wings and snake like locks/hair. This along with her annoying ability to turn anybody that looked/gazed at any of her head even for a moment into stone. She is one of the monster figures called Gorgons by the ancient Greeks.

The Medusa was however the Only Gorgon that wasn’t immortal. You might remember Perseus in a legendary journey across the Greece to Medusa’s lair. So much for immortality lolol. That trip culminated with the head of Medusa being severed. It’s head later wielded by Perseus to save Argos from the “Kraken”. This encounter it turned the monster to stone. Perseus was rumored to have buried the head in the marketplace of Argos. I suspect it still lies there🤔

Classic Greek Mythology is certainly from the heads of those also with an active imagination. Hat’s off to those old boys 😀

On “Wyoming Backroads” (where I tend to work when the backcountry is blocked to me by snow.).. The roads are USUALLY open lol.

Location: Northern Campbell County Wy 4 miles from Montana, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title: Dancing Medusa Cottonwood Tree

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Seed Filter for the Sun

Seed Filter for the Sun
Seed Filter for the Sun

A seed filter for the sun …

I’m always looking for free cellulose filters to reduce the very very bright light from the sun. I never use filters in front of my lenses ever but natural ones. Extra glass get’s in my way but a Seed Filter for the Sun is always a good idea. I’m not sure of the plant species. There was a cluster of them by the road side so they are probably a noxious weed that just went to seed. I only know a two patches of this up here that I’ve noticed anyway. They seem to be very localized. It’s pretty stuff though with the sun playing through it. .

Photo musings:

This was taken just a few weeks ago before the snow crushed all of this to the ground. Using a really Wide angle lens helps with this kind of capture but you want a lens that focus’s very closely. When I was shopping for a good wide angle, one of the things I paid a lot of attention to was how close the lens focuses. My 10 mm lens (here) will focus down to 9 inches away. Your setting FIrst priority is a high F stop….F-22 (deeper focal fields the higher the f-stop number) You need a deep focus for this… Shutter speed just has to be fast enough to stop any wind or hand motion of the seed headsSay 1/100th second. Then you just have ISO or camera sensitivity to balance the light equation to get the image where you want it. .

Your of course working manual settings on your camera. I don’t even know how to work my Sony Alpha cameras on Automatic. Never used it before on them. This image would have been capturable by a cell phone but this was a high end camera and lens.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title: Seed Filter for the Sun

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Snow Dumping on Pronghorn Buck

Snow Dumping on Pronghorn Buck
Snow Dumping on Pronghorn Buck

Snow Dumping on a Pronghorn Buck (or “Winter is coming” )

Winter has been here for a months already and we’re seeing snow on the ground full time now for a week anyway. This Pronghorn Buck is crossing in front of a Game trail Camera while Snow is just Dumping on him lol. Based on the timeline of images, he was following a doe through the gate walking right along the trail. I set my camera up to be focused right on the trail. This particular camera is in a very good spot ! 📸

Pronghorn Migration South

The Pronghorn are migrating now and I’m seeing groups I have never seen on ranch. Moving through here toward the south from up in Montana. They are following ancient migration routes that the cowboys used to move cattle in the late 1800’s from Miles City Montana down to Newcastle Wyoming. The local version of the “Texas Trail” runs right through the western side of our ranch. Fences are little obstacle to these animals which play the “limbo game” effortlessly. They usually do go under but I do have a few photos of Pronghorn going over fences.

I figure most of those animals that lived on ranch all summer are mostly 10 -20 miles south. They are working their way to the ThunderBasin National Grasslands where they have moving water (not frozen) and good feed. There are only a few roads through a pretty big piece of remote real estate between the Powder River Basin and the Wyoming Black Hills. Many Hundreds of square miles for herds to congregate in. Many ranchers maintain water stock tanks during the winter. This helps more on the margins but water is a rare thing up here when it’s been 30 below for a week.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Snow Dumping on Pronghorn Buck (or “Winter is coming” )