Glacier National Park Chat

This was January 9 2020
I've not been able to get out to the park as much as in the past.
And not at all in 2020. Last time was Christmas Day 2019.
Yesterday looked good for pics here in the valley, but turned ugly after arriving at Lake McDonald Lodge.
I had brought my skis hoping to get a few minutes of skiing in on the Sun Road since we had gotten some new snow this past week.
However, the snow on the road was rutted up and frozen solid.

While stopped at the gate checking the snow out who shows up but Bonnie and Clyde!
Christmas day they had behaved very rudely, not wanting to come anywhere near me.
Yesterday, they flew right down and landed on Jaybird before I entered the parking lot.
I'll never understand what goes on in those birds' heads

This video clip is after I had pulled into the lot.
Both B&C landed on Jaybird when I first arrived and parked up at the gate near the pit toilets.

18 seconds
https://photos.smugmug.com/Glacier-Park ... 1-1280.mp4


Not a good picture day and no skiing, so I visited with B&C for a little while before going back home.



I had just rolled to a stop when Clyde hopped up on the door.


And unlike Christmas day when they were rude and "standoffish", they were overly friendly yesterday. Bonnie is on the hood.


The both like to sit above the door window, then lean way over to peer inside my truck.



I find it fascinating to look at these birds from very close up. Just seems like one can tell there is "something" going on in their lil heads.


pete

Taken today January 23rd
I was finally able to get out again. Once more it was a lousy day--overcast and just above freezing.
No wind though so I was able to get a few snaps. B&C decided to be "friendly" today--Clyde followed me into the lot. Video clip later

Here are a few snaps.

pete

The Backcountry Office--soon to be a busy place.


These next three are from the Framing Tree beach


Same as above but a portrait view


Two frame pano. Lots of nice colored rocks


Taken down by the boat dock at Lake McDonald Lodge. No nice colored rocks here.
Since there were no colored rocks, and the scene was pretty much B&W anyway--I just converted it to B&W


Clyde likes to perch on the side mirrors if the windows are closed.
I keep forgetting to put velcro on the top of the mirrors to make it easier for B&C to perch.
Turning his head like that allows Clyde to focus that single eye on whatever he' wants to examine closely...
And at this distance, he doesn't miss the smallest detail with his superb vision.
I love the variety and different hues of Clydes feathers

Nice pictures, Pete. Especially like the b/w of the snow covered rocks on the shoreline. Hang that one on a wall somewhere!

Glad to see the 2020 thread get started! Looking forward to keeping up with your adventures this year;

Thanks for sharing your trips to the park. ~~Missy

Pete,

I like the pictures of Clyde, and really like the wet rock pano and B&W snow on the rock. Great images.

Last weekend I was in MI racing. This weekend was up the road (1:15 north) in Mora and next weekend will be in the same place. An old timer at the ski shop says it takes 3 years to get back in shape. So far, he's right. (Results are nothing to write home about, but I think they're better than last year.)

Jay

You really help everyone who likes to take photos! Thanks for this info.

http://fixthephoto.com/home-video-editing-service

NDjason wrote:Glad to see the 2020 thread get started! Looking forward to keeping up with your adventures this year;

ND wrote:Nice pictures, Pete. Especially like the b/w of the snow covered rocks on the shoreline. Hang that one on a wall somewhere!

MISSY wrote:Thanks for sharing your trips to the park. ~~Missy

Jay w wrote:Pete,

I like the pictures of Clyde, and really like the wet rock pano and B&W snow on the rock. Great images.

Last weekend I was in MI racing. This weekend was up the road (1:15 north) in Mora and next weekend will be in the same place. An old timer at the ski shop says it takes 3 years to get back in shape. So far, he's right. (Results are nothing to write home about, but I think they're better than last year.)

Jay

JamesBurkett wrote:You really help everyone who likes to take photos! Thanks for this info.

Thank you all for the comments and support.
I'll do the best I can. I'm a little more limited for now due to move to Kalispell and getting some debt paid off.
And between crappy weather and work, I haven't been able to get out as much this year.
So please bear with me

pete

I managed to get out yesterday to get some pics.
I apologize for continuing to photograph Lake McDonald over and over.
However, I've been unable to go anywhere else due to limitations I mentioned in the prior post.
I'll be going to the East side the first chance I get on a good weather day.
Unlike the past when I could travel "at will", I have to watch expenses for a while.
Cost me $50-60 minimum to drive to St Mary.

In my own defense...
I don't spend a lot of time "messing" with my images in Photoshop Elements before posting them here on the chat.
I batch resize the day's work from 6000x4000 down to about a 1/4 of that.

Then the frames I want to post, I spend about 2 minutes adjusting the lighting, color saturation, haze removal, and rarely, cropping.
RAW images and full size JPEGS are saved "untouched" in separate files.
That may be why the images you see posted here may not look quite "up to snuff".
If I decide to print an image, I'll rework it from a copy of the original RAW or full size JPEG.

pete

Taken from boat dock at Apgar. Nice clouds yesterday and a decent reflection.








Ice crystals at the mouth of Snyder creek in front of Lake McDonald Lodge.
Converted to B&W. I'm still new at that so dunno how well it came out. Same for following images.






Just a snap shot. That's Bonnie sitting up on the railing about center frame. Clyde was in a tree behind me.
They both followed me down to the lake. One or the other was watching me the entire time I was taking pictures--nearly an hour.
I have no idea why they hung around that long. Occasionally they will follow me down there but in the past they would leave after a little while.


That's Clyde in the bottom left of the picture.
He decided to drop out of the tree behind me and glide down through the frame and land on a rock on the beach over to the right.
He stayed there watching me shoot more pics from beside the little deck house.

Hey Pete,

Your photos look pretty good to me. I think doing the black and white thing will make you a better photographer. Colors tend to mask flaws. If you use B&W you'll be able to see where you mess up more and fix that.

Paul

Thanks Paul>

I went out yesterday to try a little skiing.
Snow was ok on the Sun Road but not much to look at.
Got a snap of Clyde and then I went to Great Northern Flats on the North Fork.


Clyde wishing me a happy 72nd birthday even though it was a day late


That is GNP on the other side of the North Fork.


Black and White

Happy belated birthday, Pete!!!

Hope you had fun out there. I haven’t had a chance to get out on my xc skis yet this winter.

Gloomy day on Sunday.
A customer friend of mine passed away Sunday afternoon.
So I went to the park rather than sit at home

pete

Nevermind
pete

Happy Birthday Pete. Sorry about your buddy. It makes you think about the short time we're here.

Jay (home from work sick) W