Friday Archives - Bliss Photographics

Posted on July 10, 2020July 2, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Two Blackbirds on a Pole

It doesn’t show there but it was very windy at the moment. Both Black birds were hanging on to their perch. The lower bird more so than the bird on the stable top lol. The pole was swaying a little with the moving atmospheric river they were in 35 feet up. I’d estimate 25-30mph winds. They were inches away from high voltage but as long as they are not a path to ground survival is assured.

Attempting to catch detail on a black bird in shadow is not an intelligent thing for a photographer to go after but electrons are cheap these days. It’s the hard drive storage that is expensive lol. The situation just seemed rife for a portrait orientation capture. That insulator is an amazing piece of work. The “Juicers” do amazing things high up in the air in the worst weather. A hearty thank you to those that fight the wires.

The BlackBirds are around here to mooch off my barn yard feed. I had one hoovering over me a few yards as I was a little too close to it’s nest just this morning. They seem to like chicken and duck feed. They are even getting used to my presence boldly staying on the ground as I walk through the group of yard birds to feed them. There always seems to be black birds around to pick up any loose pieces. Better them than mice lol. I’d rather them eat grasshoppers along with all the ducks/chickens. I’ve reduced feeding the flock by 1/2 during this infestation and have seen mobs of ducks roving around the homesteads yards and gardens. IT will be a good year for most birds here I’m thinking.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming / Montana borderlands

Title: Two Blackbirds on a Pole

Posted on May 29, 2020May 21, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Rattle Snake Ridge Twilight

With the addition of a single brush stroke thusly a forked tongue. The silhouette comes to life as the original namers of this landform imagines. I See that rattle snake certainly. Now the story is that a rattle snake den was blown up there in the 1970’s by the owner of our ranch that apparently enjoyed the use of dynamite. In the 1970’s if you owned land in Wyoming/Montana you could easily obtain dynamite for moving stumps, breaking rocks or any other legal purpose. I’m pretty sure it’s fairly difficult to obtain. Just the storage requirements would cost 6 grand (educated estimate).

The problem with Pareidolia (seeing shapes from random data) is that it is often multif-acted and complex. The snake head silhouette could also be a sedan doing a “burn out” spinning it’s tires smoke trailing behind. So many perceived shapes in random silhouettes. The shark above the snake’s head in the clouds actually has teeth under it’s snout. I can also imagine several variations of the upper dark clouds too but I’ll leave the rest for you to sort out in your own anthromorphizing moments.

The twilight that night from a veiled cloud was just adding layers of makeup to an already golden/orange alpenglow evening. We get alpenglow every month of the year as frozen ice in the atmosphere is fairly common in this region. There are BIG sunsets/Sunrises in Wyotana sharing both Montana AND Wyoming skies.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Rattle Snake Ridge Twilight

Posted on March 27, 2020March 20, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Sunset 40 Mile Ridge

Sunset 40 Mile Ridge . The Sun becomes stuck in a rut occasionally as well. 😜

The solar disk was occluded by thick clouds before this. I thought I wasted my trip out. This last minute break/slit occurred . Then it slipped under the cloud deck which allowed this very small portion of the far horizon.

Looking into the setting sun from 40 miles distant. That Ridge is in the “Red Hills”. (Their name.) The horizon rising to cover the globe of fire so delicately veiled by the shroud of clouds close to the ground this evening. The nuclear processes emitting photos traveling 93 million miles over about 8 minutes of travel time. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second so I am actually looking back in time and Space by 8 minutes.

Awkwardly, I remind you that the sun is not line of sight here but actually below the horizon. The image of the sun is bent around the earth. RIght around the curvature a bit. Distorted from below the line of sight into my view. Its a phenomena that is always happening as the atmosphere acts like a lens and bends the image. When ever light travels through medium(s) of different refractive index(s), it get’s bent. The various different temperature layers of the atmosphere work in a similar way to a glass lens of the same curvature. does with the light. It’s not until a few minutes later that line of sight catches up with reality as the sun rises above the atmosphere.

The Deep Yellows and Reds of this Image are the only colors to reach my photon capture devices (cameras). The atmospheric moisture and dust is the gauntlet to all shorter wavelengths. I carry a variety of these photon traps with me most times I venture out into the backcountry. This one was a Sony Alpha 7RIV, 600mm G Series Sony/Zeiss Telephoto with a 2X focal extender by Sony. 📷

Metadata : ISO100, f64, 1200mm, 1/500th. 3’x2′ aspect.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands (Wyotana)

Title: Sunset 40 Mile Ridge

Posted on March 20, 2020March 12, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Frosty Pine Bough Sunrise

Toward obtaining an image at -2 degrees F. There was a breeze and I don’t care how you dress, something gets cold lolol.

This Close Far perspective is a favorite way to deal with first light of morning. Fortunately this ridge had a 1/8 inch of Hoar Frost covering all the vegetation. I call these “Pine Noodles” as it just seems to fit. The earliest light as the sun is just rising has a decidedly pink color cast. Usually this is most obvious on the sky opposite the sunrise. The “Belt of Venus” which is a very pink Alpenglow phenomena reflecting said pink light back. Pine Needles coated in ice make a very good projection/reflection screen. This pink color cast is not that common on local vegetation and is usually only perceptible on the atmospheric ice.

Hoar Frost usually forms on objects disrupting air flow. The air full of moisture under freezing conditions. DIrect condensation of that vapor from supersaturated air is greater then 100%. The formation of hoar frost is similar to the formation of regular dew with the difference that the temperature of the object on which the hoar frost forms is well below 32 degree F., whereas this is not the case with dew. Hoar frost crystals often form initially on the tips of plants and or other objects. I’ve seen vehicles, fences, tires, plants and even other icicles with Hoar Frost on them. The largest I’ve seen had frost feathers/needles almost 2 inches long.

2×3 aspect to 3 feet

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Title: Frosty Pine Bough Sunrise

Posted on March 6, 2020March 2, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Phlox Flower Filter

Flowery Friday LIttle Pixie Antennas….caught them feeding I did lol……

I always use natural objects to filter out the excessive light from the sun into my camera. This particular plant sat for me so I managed to get under it and line it up. It’s getting harder and harder to get that low anymore lol. I find the only way to capture this actually in focus is to look through the eyepiece to fine tune as this close a subject (about a foot) is tricky.

Boy do butterflies like this flower around mid-summer. These plants topped by large clusters of flowers spot through out our gardens.. As a genus, they have a vibrant range of colors. I’ve seen red, lavender, white, pink purple and I hear about orange phlox. Trivia word of the day: Phlox means Flame in Greek.

All but a few of the 65 species of Phlox are native to North America. It’s presence in our gardens here in Wyoming is suspect.Human intervention may have been involved. We didn’t plant Phlox in the gardens at our homestead. I suppose a seed from a bird dropped from it’s transport. Something about 100 years of gardening around this old homestead comes to mind as the cause though lol. .

You need a HIGH f-stop number for the deep focus plus it’s reduction of light. ISO 100 (low ISO for bright light camera sensitivity), and use shutter speed to adjust for what ever lighting scenario/exposure levels you wish. Establish/ always set your main priority in this case F-stop first and adjust the other two setting (ISO and Shutter speed) as secondary considerations.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming / Montana borderlands.

Title: Phlox Flower Filter

Posted on February 28, 2020March 2, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Mule Deer Big Buck

Boy I don’t get a chance to “zoom into” a big fellow such as this very often. This is after rut so this guy survived the hunt this year. I call this a 4×5 but there are two brow tines you can’t see in this profile that you can sure hang a ring on. There are so many ways to “classify” how “good” a buck is based on his antlers. I tend to focus at the condition of the animal and this guy is one nice buck. I’m thinking it weights 275 pounds anyway.

Big Male Mule Deer go to 330 pounds and the females go to 200 pounds. The are actually indigenous to North America and are known by those distinctive “Mule” shaped ears. The hear extremely well with those big ears. I suspect they use their sense of smell way more though to detect danger. These guys are herbivores. They are survivors of what ever killed all the MegaFauna during the Pleistocene 11000 years ago.

Biologists say that a Bucks neck will swell up as showing the Mule Deer Buck Near Rut capture. They will swell up to 50 percent larger of a circumference adding more muscle mass. This is all related of course to the Rut which is the annual fight to breed. They live in a world of scents and hormones floating in the air from the does in the group.

Scientific data indicates that this growth is caused by a big surge in testosterone to the deer. That dose of steroids makes the neck muscles get big and also causes the deer to become more aggressive. I had a close encounter with a deer in my back yard a few Novembers ago.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title: Mule Deer Big Buck

Posted on February 7, 2020February 1, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Buck Pronghorn Green Spring

This Pronghorn bucks straight on look was a good portrait opportunity. Taking the time to turn sideways the camera side ways They tend to be a bit “flighty” at times and you get their white butts running away as a photo…🤣 When I go out into the backcountry, it’s always a mystery who I’m going to meet and how they are going to react to me. This healthy buck in mid-spring that was put off by my intrusion on his territory. He treated me like another animal with generally him trying to pressure me . I never try to push wildlife on my place as they don’t let me watch them again. They run away instead.

I have found that by being consistently not a problem for wild animals really helps approaching them. Acting like another grazing animal in your vehicle is my technique. I almost never get out and expose my human form to the critters. That would be un-productive. They only see my vehicle and my cameras. I’m still evaluating how these guys will react to my NEW vehicle.

The Pronghorn rut is long over at this time so most of that business is taken care of by now. All the ranches Pronghorn Have migrated with the first snows. THey walk 20 miles to the south. The Thunderbasin Natural Grasslands is a miniature version of the Serengeti Plain here in north eastern Wyoming. (Fewer Big Cats) Not so much in the summer but in the winter there are LARGE herds of Pronghorn that move there from a pretty big surrounding area to winter over the brutal conditions that we enjoy about this region. There is running water there.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Title: Buck Pronghorn Green Spring

Posted on February 7, 2020February 1, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Corriente Longhorn Playing Hathor

Corriente Longhorn Playing Hathor is a capture from earlier this winter. The orange/peach colored alpenglow accented by the cloud blush off the snow in the foreground.. This was a very good year for snow early but not so much now. This was a standoff. Me versus her. I just look brave as there as a cattle gate between us as I got down on my knees looking for the reincarnation of the Egyptian God Hathor.

The orange Alpenglow is the result of atmospheric ice refracting light. All with lots of help from the the red light that make it through that hundreds of miles thick filter. I very carefully expose in the camera that sky to match what I saw at the time. The cow here is 100 yards out for my telephoto to get both the cow and the sky in the same focal field.

This Cow is NOT a Bull, just having horns does not a Bull Make. This is a mother I’ve had 5 years on ranch. … Nothing is certain up here but Winter and brown season lol. This picture hopefully will take you back to that early winter day.

If you don’t have a 100-400mm lens in your weapons chest, you need to consider it. You guy lenses for generations while fancy camera backs last a few years. I’m still using regularly a lens I bought in 1995.

Tip of the day:

You need to use a pretty high f-stop to get this deep a focus. Distance from the closest object is your friend in this kind of image. Deep focal fields come at the expense of loosing light. Your already in a low light environment in twilight.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Corriente Longhorn Playing Hathor

Posted on February 7, 2020February 1, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Ice Road Coyote

Ice Road Coyote is an unexpected Game Trail Camera Capture. I have 4 good shots of this guy walking by here on 4 different days. (so far).

There are 8 species in the Genus Canis. The Canis we know best is Canus familiaris (common house dog). This Coyote is Canis latrans.

This is a female by the looks of it on other photos.. It’s about 4/5ths the size of a full size male. Males can weigh up to 45 pounds.. I’ve known a human raised Coyote and they are a force to be reckoned with if they focus on you.

Coyotes were “Wiley” I’ve always thought.. Hunting on thin Ice isn’t the brightest things I’ve ever seen.. This particular lake is well frozen at the moment. That ice is about 6 inches thick at the moment. If the warm weather keeps this up, it’s going to mean a cold bath if not me finding a floating clump of fur in the spring thaw. I’ve seen these guys walk on thin ice indeed in the past.

I tend to 29 Game Trail Cameras currently and plan to expand that network considerably over time. They take very little work but a lot of AA batteries over the network lol. I endorse no particular Game camera as they ALL have issues with photo quality. The way they save .jpgs drive me nuts as I have to fix each and every one I publish. The only thing you can really adjust besides 3 levels of exposure/flash/distance, is placement. Set them on a post or tree and wait. I will have cameras working all winter concentrated where wildlings actually go. Natural funnels and water holes are the easy picks.

2×3 aspect up to 36 inches wide.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Title: Ice Road Coyote

Posted on January 31, 2020January 24, 2020 by Frank Bliss

Snow Storm Missouri Buttes

The 3 Missouri Buttes (the real name) is about 30 miles drive from my cameras vantage. The wagon train pioneers called them the “Three Sisters”. They were a major sign post along the way to all places west. The tower is closer to 45 miles out. View to the southeast (the side the tourists NEVER see). That is all northwestern Crook County.

The weather during this sunset over my shoulder was a tad snowy. Those were all falling ice plates (Diamond Dust). The next morning I went up on that pass and worked that fresh snow as well. Lots of good captures on this timeline). Taken up on the pass to Rockypoint Wyoming (Trail Creek Road). The view is to the southeast. This is off the beaten path a tad lolol.

Geologic Musings:

The Exposed Volcanic Necks in this image are all related in space and time. Once deeply buried volcanic conduits to the surface. Each of the 3 (actually 4 but you can only see the 4th from above), peaks stands eroded at the surface. These pipes carried magma to the surface as lava/ash in four volcanos popping off at the surface . The rock we see here froze solid in that neck cooling slowly being insulated by the surrounding rocks. . We know this was deep as the columns of rock in the Devils Tower nearby cooled VERY slowly. This allowing the columns to crystallize in the eroded tower that the National Monument is famous for. Lots of material around them washed down the river to expose those necks. All that sand/mud is sitting in the Gulf of Mexico at the moment.

Location: about 10 miles from the Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana (Wyotana)

Title: Snow Storm Missouri Buttes

Posted on January 3, 2020December 30, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Windmill Tower Blue Sky

Perspective starts with “seeing” things from all angles. While climbing under this 100 year old Windmill requires agility lol. No choice but scrambling over panels meant to protect the structure from Cattle pressure. The sky was Robin’s Egg Blue pretty much horizon to horizon. I’m a victim of only being able to photograph what is in front of me….. Maybe in this case… what was over me lol.

Windmill Weekend (Windmill Junkies Unite). 🤛🤘 But don’t let your mother know you look at stuff like this.

I don’t take as many windmill photos in the winter now that snow is covering many of my paths. We had several inches of blowy snow yesterday up on the ridges.

From the point of view of this 100 year old windmill. (Re Pete), the sky is not constant. This old fellow is on our ranch about 3 miles into the backcountry via two track roads. I usually work my way out to this guy’s hangout where he gleefully “photobombs” my landscapes…. (It’s a years old narrative if you don’t understand lolol).

Aermotor windmills account for the bulk of windmills out there. The company started way back in the 1888 with 24 sold the first year. By 1892, 20000 had been sold lolol. The company still exists. They also sold a LOT of steel fire “look out towers” for fire watch and being a lightning target lololol.

Windmill Weekend (Windmill Junkies Unite). 🤛🤘 But don’t let your mother know you look at stuff like this.

Windmill Tower Blue Sky

Posted on December 20, 2019December 13, 2019 by Frank Bliss

Wetland Sunset in the Snow

This location is about a mile below a good sized oil field pumping 140 degree water out, treating it, holding it in ponds until it eventually freezes. With it having been below zero several times already, having an open body of water in the backcountry is an oasis. Particularly this time of year. (Imaged last week) A lot of wild birds stop by and over night here. Liquid water is always interesting to animals of all kinds in deep northern Wyoming / southern Montana winters. Numerous Geothermal ponds exist from deep oil wells in the areas surrounding my ranch but none directly on my place unfortunately.

I love geothermal pond areas for photographic trips in sub-zero weather as the steam generates huge hoar frost needles on virtually everything. The mists in the mornings can be amazing to watch the sunrise through. This is the kind of things I see driving backroads in the borderlands of Wyoming/Montana.

As I noticed this, it stopped me from 45 mph and I backed up a ways to set up for it. The speed limit up here is 45 on the county back roads. It only took a few seconds to get back to the proper position for this frame. . I rarely pass another vehicle when I drive around the backcountry. Maybe one car every three or four days of work. Mostly that would be a local rancher either going to town or tending cattle.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana border (Wyotana).

Title: Wetland Sunset in the Snow

Posted on November 8, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

Sunset ON the Bighorn Mountains

Sunset ON the BigHorn Mountains : Boy was that bright 😎

There are two ridges here. The lowest darker ridge is the top of the “Red Hills” 40 miles distant. The second ridge is the Bighorn Mountain Chain 130 miles out. The clouds and snow storms were moving across the top of the peaks. With the sun here cutting into the cloud deck obscuring the high peak on the right. . The scene was very intense and bright with all the ice in the air acting like a projector screen. . The foreground trees are a few hundred yards out on this 1200 mm telephoto shot . Sunset ON the Bighorn Mountains

This is the second evening this fall that I’ve had “Sort” of a weather window. Seeing the Big Horns such a long ways away isn’t common. I remind you that this area of the sky is about the size of a postage stamp at arms length. All the while through a 3 foot long lens. Observing this scene change by the second as the clouds moved by quickly. I was moving between trees during this shooting. I wanted to see what the parallel ridge would present as far as opportunity to frame this scene. The sun is only setting over the Big Horn Mountains for a few more days this fall. I keep moving north while the sun moves to the south. This keeps the angle until it doesn’t lolol.

Photographers notes:

Sunset ON the Bighorn Mountains was sooo bright…. F57 was the final fstop setting at 1/2000th at ISO 100 were the settings. The high fstop (maximum for this Canon supertelephoto) accounts for the trees in the foreground being in focus at all. The trees on the first ridge are in focus too but the clouds and moisture is blurring the Big Horns at that great a distance.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on November 1, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

Bumble Bee and Lilacs

Bumble Bee Gathering from Lilacs in the Spring

Bumble Bee and Lilacs on the 4th of July was occurring until July 4thin 2019. I have many photos of bees on lilacs from that day. Latest Lilacs in the 30 years I’ve lived in Wyoming that I recall lilacs in bloom. that late. There are several species of Bumblers that were working the pollen conveyer belt to the hives. I have yet to find a natural hive on the ranch but they sure are here.

We have had a large west coast honey company place hives in small truckloads on the ranch. They gather honey from the every other years Sweet Clover bloom we have here. It’s miserable for me with allergies flaring from all the clover pollen and it’s a serious fire danger. iI all that clover dries out but the honey sure is good lolol. We get a big box of honey from production each year as “rental” for the real estate the hives take up and feed from. WAY more than we use in a year.

Of course, Honey lasts way more than a human lifetime…. There is perfectly good honey found with ancient Egyptian artifacts in jars. Just heat and eat lolol. It’s full of antibacterial properties. It has been used for centuries (honey) to treat a host of ailments successfully and may be a good antibiotic I’ve heard. (rumor).

With Winter moving in early this year having had several good snows and hard freezes starting Oct 1, I thought I share an image from last spring as everyone needs some purple in their life at least once a week. I haven’t posted a bee for a while 😀 There will be a few bee shots incoming all winter as I refinish old images to meet my current higher standards.

Location: Backyard, Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Bumble Bee and Lilacs

Posted on November 1, 2019April 1, 2020 by Bliss

Great Blue Heron Landing Head On

The Great Blue Heron Landing Head On here lives in a wide range. The species ranging to exotic places like the Caribbean, the Galapago’s Islands and the Bliss Dinosaur Ranch lolol. Now why several mating pairs (6) hang out up here about 1/2 way between the Equator and the North Pole, or in the Galapagos….hummm Choices. 😂

My backyard:

These are Big backyard birds (yes I have a big backyard AND they are big birds lolol). They are 4.5 -5.5 pounds fully grown and can stand 5 feet tall with a 5 foot wingspan. I had one take some really nice KOI fish I had in a 500 gallon tank built into my deck. I had kept these Koi about 10 years outside all year. (I’m sort of an advanced aquarium hobbiest)….

That tank is heated with a trough heater in the winter. I have a LARGE choke cherry bush mostly over the deck tank. I thought it impervious to attack or being seen from above but one of these intrepid hunters saw the water under the bush. It ate about 1000 bucks worth of ornamental big KOI with each one being over a foot long. About a dozen of the (beautiful fish) disappeared I assume over a few days. I never noticed until I saw him by our barnyard pond looking for frogs the ducks might have missed about the same time I noticed he was hunting my backyard (literally). Now our back yard is sort of large at 5.5 square miles here at the ranch but we still have wading “backyard” birds hang out here.

Note: I since have regrown a dozen now 6 year old KOI in that tank currently. Waiting for the next “visit” from a Great Blue lolol. The choke cherry bush is massive overhead of the tank….better design perhaps 🙏

Heron Rookery on Ranch

Actually there are a lot of frogs and fish in the waters up in the borderlands of Wyotana where these guys nest. I don’t see these birds walking around skinny lol. As a grou of 6 pairs, I’ve seen them raise usually raise 5 or 6 chicks and then head out for places unknown. .

I can’t really see them after mid May when the Cotton Wood trees they nest in leaf out. Their nests are 50 feet up the big mature trees over a lake here on the ranch. The rookery is adjacent to a tall hill such that I can get at the tree top level about 200 -300 yards away depending on the angle. I have some serious good images of Blue Herons taken over the years. I’m just starting to scratch the surface of the portfolio with this image. I have many more to finish. This whole winter is going to be finishing images 🙂

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Great Blue Heron Landing Head On

Posted on October 25, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

One Sharp Tailed Grouse’s Flight Path

This is the modern version of a multiple exposure showing the escape and evasion flight path of ONE Sharp Tailed Grouse.

The plump prairie bird was watching me, very alert…. As I SLOWLY approached, he eventually had his personal “Line in the Sand” crossed thus began the rapid fire camera snapping him at 10 frames a second, me adjusting focus manually as I find that anything auto on a camera will usually mess me up more than not so I’m done with them…. Have been for years now📸

A tad bit of work was necessary in the digital darkroom to “edit” this series of 7 images into one. The question is, which bird image actually belongs to the grass (hint, it’s not the bird IN the grass lolol. He was there, but in a different image and I put him into that grass….. there are 7 different images of this same bird in his E+E flight.

Location: miles into the backcountry of the Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Posted on October 25, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

It Bee Approaching the Dinner Table

As this Bee Approaching the Dinner Table (Hollyhock), I had to anticipate where it was going to Bee.

Photographers notes: Everything is mostly out of focus but the bee. The focal depth at 9 inches (closest focus for this Sony 90mm Macro) from the bee with this lens is perhaps 1/2 inch deep even with a lot of light and high f numbers. Anything in that 1/2 thick plain is sharp, anything else is blurred. Somethings are ultra sharp and others not so much. That is part of the Macro game is figuring out where that zone is and waiting around at very high shutter speeds 9 inches from the “approach” angle to this flower. I was 90 degrees and focused on the center of the flower ….Hang out and wait (remember when it was warm? ) for a bee to come by at a busy landing strip…. Hold that photo-yoga position number 15 for as long as it takes.😄

This is harder than catching flies between two Chopsticks with all due respect for Mr. Miyagi.

A few more bee photos will straggle onto my posting schedules still left over from summer and some reposts over the winter to remember those warm days.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Posted on October 18, 2019November 16, 2019 by Bliss

Big Horn Mountains From Near Clearmont Wyoming

This image of the 13K feet high Big Horn Mountains was taken on the highway near Clearmont. I wonder how they picked that name? Humm…

Irrigated fields, canals, ranches over 100 years old dominate this part of the state. This is a beautiful drive on state 14/16 going toward Sheridan if you get a chance to take it.

Location: Sheridan County Wyoming.

Posted on October 11, 2019October 5, 2019 by Bliss

Bear Claw Scratch in the Sky

Here is an image that must be a Bear Claw Scratch in the Sky. It’s actually 5 fighter jets in formation over the Powder River Basin Training Complex for the US Airforce. Tip of the spear really 🙂 Probably in route from A to B and a random overflight.

If I post it here (for the last month anyway),…Landscape aspect images like this print up to 3 feet x 2 feet at high resolution.

Best way to check out a lot my art/photography from our Wyotana borderlands universe is in my ever-growing photo gallery at:

Bliss Photographics.com

Location: overhead, Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on October 11, 2019October 2, 2019 by Bliss

A Windmill in Winter Wonder Land

Here the oldest windmill on the ranch “Re Pete” is in one of my winter landscapes again. I don’t know the exact year he was installed but I think 1920’s. This brand (AEROTOR) was first built in 1888.

This was from a 10 days ago as it posts… Early snow this year, it’s going to be a long solar minimum. Take it from a geologist that that he sun is the furnace that drives our climates (note the s).

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on October 11, 2019October 2, 2019 by Bliss

Antelope Eyelashes at Dawn

I try really hard to maneuver such that I can photograph Pronghorn Eyelashes at dawn. I’d have rather had another 10 feet of elevation so I could have the rising sun behind those eyelashes but I’ll take this one. Topography prevented the desired alignment. Coulda done it if I was taller lololol.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on October 11, 2019October 2, 2019 by Bliss

Meadowlark Gathering Ready to Migrate

I’ve never had 4 Meadowlarks in one photo before. They are Gathering Ready to Migrate. Several hundred yards down a fence line, if I move closer, they will fly away .

This was taken Oct 1 with the first snow of the 19/20 winter here in the high plains of Wyotana. The Meadowlarks couldn’t find a place to land with 4 inches of wet heavy snow about and were VERY active and singing. Their songs were everywhere. I bet they are gone in a week. 🙁

Photogrpahers notes: The T-posts holding the wire are about 16 feet apart so this is a 60 foot section of fence in low light heavy overcast snowing at the time (look at the fence wood brace post). Tough to get it all in focus with that light. It was a choice between really grainy or something out of focus in the image. I went to freeze motion and deal with the focus later lol. This would make a really good square photo of just the two that are in focus. I wanted to show the gatherings were going on.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana.

Posted on October 11, 2019October 2, 2019 by Bliss

A Windmills Worst Fear…. a Twister

A Twister is a Windmills Worst Fear. Here you can see “Sneaky Pete” the windmill Quaking in his boots over this funnels off not far in the distance. He still had the state of mind to photobomb my weather photo though. I have no control over his actions….🤣📸

Three spinners, one photo lol.

This did not touch down but the two funnels rotated about each other for about 30 seconds then disappeared back up into the clouds.

Channeling Bill Paxton the actor (Classic Reference)🤔

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on October 11, 2019October 2, 2019 by Bliss

“Let the Games Begin” Sparring Between Friends

Here some friends that hang out all year together are sparring getting ready for the rut which will begin in earnest in November.
These are not huge bucks and need all the practice they can get lol Both Mule deer bucks have pristine ears (no notches and tears that the real warriors have on their ear from rutting years past. )
I know many bucks by their ears. I know this buck by his tendency to be a smaller 4×5 without the little kicker on his left horn. (left deer) named “Goal Post” and the other one as his side kick “Slow Boat”. We know each other and they understand I’m just another stinky noisy lumbering grazing animal as long as I stay in my vehicles. I get out and they are outta here lol. I’ve been within 20 feet of both of these wild animals in my vehicle with no apparent apprehension on their part as I start stop my car, move about a little, change angles and otherwise just graze like any other grazing critter. I’ve known these and quite a few other deer since they were fawns and they recognize my rig and only my rig as OK. I don’t know them all as we have our share of itinerant bucks moving through to change up the game now and then lol.

Have a great morning.

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana.

Posted on October 5, 2019October 5, 2019 by Bliss

Pillars Built by Shadows in the Twilight Sky

These Pillars are built by Shadows in the Twilight Sky of some growing thunderstorms just in the right position. Those massive growing pillars are 1/2 storm and 1/2 shadow.

“Sneaky Pete” the Windmill makes a “photobombing” guest appearance when ever I’m in the area. I have no control over his actions..🤣

This storm moved infront of the sunset and BOOM, the sky exploded in Crimson as the sun went below the horizon.

Location; Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Posted on October 4, 2019September 28, 2019 by Bliss

Incoming Great Blue Heron and Photobomber

This incoming Great Blue Heron has a photobomber in his approach. The landing pad is 50 feet up a mature cottonwood tree down in one of the ranches wetland areas. Herons are not a common bird up here but they do breed here year after year since I’ve lived here. (20 years). I’m sure I photographed these birds as fledglings years back.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on October 4, 2019September 27, 2019 by Bliss

Prairie Dog Hills Across the Wyoming/Montana Border

10 miles out are the “Prairie Dog Hills” and looking across the Wyoming/Montana border are the Red Hills off in the distance. The border is where the line of trees in the center past the haybales. The grassy /hay baled area is part of our place. Past it is as I say, another state. I own land in Montana but not that direction. More over my right shoulder lol.

Most of my photos have both state landscape or sky in them somewhere.

Location: Bliss Dinosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands.

Posted on October 4, 2019October 4, 2019 by Bliss

Sunset over Backcountry Spring Fed Pond

This Sunset over a remote Backcountry Spring Fed Pond was a beautiful locatoin/ I was trying to line this up such that the sun would set in the center of the peaks. About 4 minutes later is was setting centered in the saddle. Those are the “Red Hills” 40 miles distant from my camera.

There is a lot of wildlife around this pond. SItting up on the edge for hours at a time with a long lens is a luxury….. Unlike my water hydrant fed tanks, this nearby lake freezes over solid in the winter. The animals normally watering there in the summer tend to migrate toward water and I get to photograph them all winter. We work hard keeping water hydrants trickling all winter for wildlife which is a win win for me and the critters. Done it for 20 years (4 watering holes).

Location: Bliss DInosaur Ranch, Wyoming/Montana borderlands

Posted on October 3, 2019October 4, 2019 by Bliss

Perspective #5 Snowy Snag with a Twist

Perspective #5 Snowy Snag with a Twist is the result of a habit I have of walking around the ridge tops. I’ll drive up to the ridge but there is nothing like getting out in good near zero weather with a breeze and finding a good snag pointing at the sunset for a perspective shot with a 10 mm really wide angle close focus lens.
This series is one of my favorite to do and there are literally dozens more along this line to finish to current standards and upload to my gallery at blissphotographics.com
I’ll post again at 6 am and every three hours after that. I am scheduled 6 days ahead at the moment which is a good thing. I could literally take 6 days off if I had to and still have posting to 20 places going on with minimal monitoring for a few buggy things with the software we use. I do have to monitor it. I answer questions and respond in real time if I’m around.

Everyone have a safe and wonderful remainder of the evening.