September 18, 2005 – 11:06 AM
September 18, 2005
Fishing Bridge Camp
Yellowstone
Wyoming
I think all the animals had a meeting last night and decided to work with me today. Great images of Bison and Elk and that is saying a lot working with a 65mm.
Have come to realize that when photographing, in the National Parks, trying to create pristine images of animals or landscapes, for that matter, that look like they are in the wild is rather passé. Leaving in the roadways, building or fire hydrants adds a key element to these images and give them a true sense of place. Took me a good part of the day fighting with the photographs until I had this epiphany and then the photographs almost made themselves.
I have yet to photograph the strangest animal in the part. The human animal walking around with tons of photographic gear. I saw one pack today but was not quick enough. I hope that tomorrow we find another pack and they will allow me to do a portrait. Very important species of the park and I hope to be able to document them.
Truly a great place to work however I am quickly running out of film find myself being a bit too conservative on how much film I shoot. Hopefully Polaroid will come through with more film soon. Have to send another portfolio to them next week.
Without the continued help of folks like Polaroid, my Private Clients (God Bless Them!) and the folks at The Gallery at The Katonah General Store, Elizabeth Larkin and Myron and June Goldfinger this trip would not be possible. Despite all my bitchen I say a prayer of thanks each night that Grandfather has sent you my way. Hokahey!
Image 1a
Image 2b
Mamoth
Mamoth 2
Heather at Mamoth
Buffalo
Buffalo and Heather
Buffalo and Child
Buffalo in our Camp
DMK shooting Buffalo
Elk 1
Elk 2
Image 1aa
Three Buffalo
Two Buffalo
Two Buffalo 1
Yellowstone River
Yellowstone Falls 1
Yellowstone Falls 2
Yellowstone River 1
September 19, 2005 – 11:05 AM
September 19, 2005
Fishing Bridge Camp
Yellowstone
Wyoming
Not a cloud in site. Spent all day at Old Faithful. Best Light is the last blow of the day, just before sunset. Have still not found the mysterious human photo animal in a large enough pack to make that photograph. If it’s sunny tomorrow we’ll spend another day and search them out as well as stop at Old Faithful at dusk. Enjoying the time here and hope I’ve made some strong image of Yellowstone. I do like the Spirit here.
Yellowstone diesel
Waiting for Old Faithful
Old Faithful evening
Old Faithful evening 1
Old Faithful evening 2
Old Faithful evening 3
September 20, 2005 – 10:20 PM
September 20, 2005
Fishing Bridge Camp
Yellowstone
Wyoming
The day started out cloudless so we decided to stay and have another go at Old Faithful. But as sunset neared the clouds rolled in so we went in search of other bits and pieces and found a herd of Buffalo by the side of the road. Did a few interesting things. Down the road a bit further we ran into the most brilliant sunset. Good end to the day and out time in Yellowstone. Tomorrow back to Cody to run film and regroup. Plan to stay at Elijah Cobb’s home and studio. One of the photographers who lives in Cody and has offered me a place to run film. Looking forward to meeting him. Have really liked the work of his I have seen in the past. Then a film drop and this weekend I’ll do my first town portrait. You don’t know about that yet, but I’ll fill ya in later. Then back through Yellowstone to Jackson to hook up with Mike and Lorene Kravit, remember them, from the Bisbee Arizona days.
All in all Yellowstone has been a magical trip. Such great country and animals, although we never did see a bear or get to photograph the human photo animal pack. Around each bend is something new and almost foreign to what we are use to. Rivers with steam and geyser all other the place. Buffalo wondering down the road and a climate that runs from warm and sunny to snow all in the same day. This is the perfect time to be here, it must be super crowed in the summer. The atmosphere is a bit restrictive though, with far too many No and DO Not and Stay Out signs but I guess it’s necessary in this day and age.. Perhaps the perfect illustration of this was the little fat guy with his family over at Mammoth Terraces.
He’s got two big rocks in his fat little hands and his wife and two kids in tow. So he walks over to the railing and says to his family “How hard you think that stuff is? And wham throws a rock- I mean a big rock right at this ecosystem that’s been evolving for thousand if not millions of years and clobbers it. Who knows how many thousands of years work of work this fool undid. So as his kids giggle and his wife smiles, as they walk off with him juggling his other rock he says, with a laugh,” well I guess it ain’t that hard”. So yep I guess those signs are necessary. Almost got in his face but what’s the point. I ain’t gonna teach him or his kids anything and besides we where all to shocked to react. In retrospect I wish I’d gotten his license plate and reported him to the rangers.
Makes one wonder what we are evolving into. For many years people lived here in harmony with this land. Now we want to “make life better” and in the process destroy all we’ve been given. Someday soon we are all going to have to reassess our priorities or suffer some heavy consequences.
Tomorrow we leave Yellowstone
September 21, 2005 – 11:05 AM
September 21, 2005
Elijah Cobb’s Home and Studio
Cody, Wyoming
Arrived back in Cody early this afternoon with a broken camera and an invite from the photographer, Elijah Cobb to park the Airstream outside his studio and use his darkroom to get my film processed.
But first the camera must be fixed. The mount that the tripod screws into has come loose ( stripped threads that hold it in place) and where can we find a camera repair guy in Wyoming. I figured a machine shop could do the jog as well and a hell of a lot cheaper so we calld Marty MacLennan owner, of Park County RV Inc. He had done such a great job on the brakes I was sure he would know of a machine shop who could fix the camera.
Sure enough there was one right across the street from him so off we went. Arrived at C&C Welding around 3pm and met Charles Wittick the owner. I showed Charles the problem and explained I was desperate need of the camera now! Charles introduced us to Jeff Marvicsin, his machine shop expert and within in minutes Jeff was at work drilling out the old screws and by 3:30 the camera was better than ever! So I high recommend
C&C Welding
North Blackburn Street
Cody, Wyoming
307-527-5729
As with Marty the folks at C&C went out of their way to get the problem fixed right away so I could keep on working.
Then it was off to meet Elijah.
Elijah Cobb came to Cody about 11 years ago after 18 years in New York and still have a great deal of the old New York City Energy, but is a gentle soul. He spends his days here doing some commercial work but has focused on his fine art work and I felt an immediate kinship with him. His studio is a whimsical place, with wildly imaginative, artistic vignettes of found objects of every description. Mummified birds, elephant skulls and a deer’s backbone with the skull still attached lay waiting for Elijah to add his ingenious colored lights to them and make his photographs.
After a brief get to know you I was ushered into the darkroom and among trays full of drying deer skulls and buckets of soaking antlers I went to work.
Jeff Marvicsin at work on my camera
fine art of camera repair
Elijah’s Darkroom
detail
Camp at Elijah’s
September 24, 2005 – 11:04 AM
September 24, 2005
Elijah Cobb’s Home and Studio
Cody, Wyoming
Been a great couple of days, here at Elijah’s. Developed over 300 sheets of 4×5 film and got to see all the images since leaving Omaha. Have done some strong stuff. I need to find a way to process film in the airstream with this cold ground water problem. It’s important to see the work as I shoot it. Would allow me to correct the problems and see how I am seeing as I go along. An excellent example of this is the Old Faithful work. I was unsure as to how much movement I wanted and sort of thought I wanted less. I ended up shooting twice as much film, so I could have it both ways. This also severely limited the amount of images I had to work with as the longer exposures where by far the best. Opposite of what I though. If I had the ability to run film that evening I could of done more with the longer exposure the following day. Must find a solution in the coming weeks
Have wondered around Cody a bit and me some very interesting people but still feel Cody is more of a one night tourist stop than anything else. For example there is no real leather shop in town to but supplies. Enjoy the folk’s we’ve met and the landscape is magnificent though and we have truly had a good time at Elijah’s.
Tomorrow I do my first town portrait.
Elijah at Sunset
The three of us
chicken
after 300 sheets of film!
IMAGES AROUND CODY:
September 25, 2005 – 11:04 AM
September 25, 2005
Elijah Cobb’s Home and Studio
Cody, Wyoming
Photographed the community of Emblem this evening! Great folks and it all came together quite well, not in an small part due to Ms. Lori French, the postmistress at Emblem. Twenty six folks showed up and it went like clockwork. Thanks to all the folks at Emblem and a special thanks to Lori!
How did this come to pass one might ask? Well, we left the Big Horn Mountains as I began to think about doing a side project of portraits of small towns and communities (under 50 population). Both Heather and I though it would make an interesting body of work and I began to churn it over. A few miles down the road we ran through Emblem, Wyoming and the sign said population 10. Seemed like a good place to start so we stopped at the post office but it was closed, after 12 noon don’t you know. We got the phone number and called the next day and talked to Lore, the postmistress. She liked the idea and she offered to help coordinate the photograph. We dropped off a flyer at the post office and Lori talked it up. Sure enough almost everyone showed up and we made a great image. Look for it in the work from the road section in the coming months.
If you have a small town or community you think I’d like to photograph please email me at dmkphoto@earthlink.net.
sign says population 10 but look at all the folks!
Town Portrait with me and Heather
detail of first Town Portrait
October 1, 2005 – 11:02 AM
Camp at Lewis Lake Yellowstone Wyoming
Henry had forgotten about snow
that’s better
oops….
stop taken all these silly pictures
Trees in snow
Tree in snow
Driving out of Lewis Lake Camp
Heather at Sunset
October 8, 2005 – 11:03 AM
October 8, 2005
Virginian RV
Jackson Wyoming
Mike and Lorene Kravit came up last week and we’ve been on a whirlwind tour through Jackson Hole, the Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone since their arrival. The day after their arrival we had heavy snows in Yellowstone so the entire park took on a new look and it was a joy to rediscover places we’d seen without the snow. This country changes so much from moment to moment as the weather changes and is truly a paradise for me and my lens. As usual the visit with Mike and Lorene was great and too short.
While in Jackson we found a great photographic gallery, Oswald Gallery and met Glenn Oswald who owns the gallery and the Gallery Director Cary Jordan. Had a good time showing them some of the images from the trip and getting to know them a bit. Was really the first time anyone has seen the work and the feedback was very helpful. Glenn also has a Photographic Gallery in Austin and I look forward to getting down there. Their website is www.oswaldgallery.com and they have a very eclectic range of great photography.
It’s time to move on down the road and get back to Omaha. The original plan was to continue west but I have come to realize that I need to spend some time with the work and get to know the images I’ve done so far. For almost two years I’ve been out here shooting, without really working on the prints and it’s time to stand back and take a good look at the work. Hope to do some large 30×40 palladium prints of some of the images and regroup for the next leg of the trip. Feels like the end of an era……
Yellowstone Gas
Mike and Lorene and Henry
Through the Grand Tetons
The Snake River
Ansel Adams photo site
Sunset 2
Mike shooting 2
Elk and Buffalo
Elk
Great buns
Mike and David shooting the Yellowstone
Lorene shooting me shooting her
Mike watching Elk
Mike shooting 1
Fly fishing on the Yellowstone
Grand Canyon of Yellowstone
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone again
Yellowstone Falls
Mike lost in Snowstorm
another shot of Mike shooting
Sunset
Heather in snowstorm
Heather and Henry at lunch
Henry at lunch
Heather at old Faithful
Sunset
October 20, 2005 – 9:24 PM
So the Omaha Journals begin and the first thing is to ask if anyone knows of a Sweat Lodge in the area? Becky and Uncle Phil are looking but I figure I’d put it out there and see if anyone is reading this and might know of a good one in the area. Looks like I’m here for awhile and do need to re center. You can send emails to me at dmkphoto@earthlink.net
Hokahey
October 27, 2005 – 11:02 AM
Hey Dude,
Hard to believe it’s been 5 years. Hope your somewhere dancing with Tymara and having a ball. Treat her right I’ll be along directly.
Hokahey,
David
