JT365

Day 72: Magpie Kick (plus bonus images)

26 Feb 2010

I rose at 5:00 AM, ready for the day, or so I thought.  It ended up taking me nearly 50 minutes to get dressed, find all my gear, load up, and defrost the car.  But I was on the road before 6 AM, and that was good enough for me.  My mission:  test out my new lenses in a more exotic environment than my front yard.

The drive through Glen Canyon was beautiful– it snowed just enough last night to coat the pines with a thin layer, like cake frosting.  The road was even more treacherous than usual, so I did not beat the sunrise before arriving in the park.  So landscapes were mostly out.  I went in search of the elk, and to my surprise, I found them in the alluvial fan, eating twigs.  I’ve rarely encountered them up among the rocks before.   But they were focused on eating and not much else, so I went elsewhere, down to Morraine Park, where I found the main herd of females.  That’s where I took the elk shot at the bottom here, which I have titled “What You Lookin At?”  She had a bit of an attitude.   Around the same time, this magpie put on a show for me right outside my car door.  Why did I buy this huge honking 500mm lens again?

Oh well– I snapped off a couple of landscape shots, even though the light was already gone, just to see what it would look like.  At 9mm, it makes the mountains look like foothills.  So I’m not exactly sure what the heck I am going to use this wide angle for– I’m not climbing those mountains to get closer shots of them.  At least not yet.