Sunspot

Trying out my solar filter for a second time I noticed a dark spot on the sun. I checked some NASA stuff to make sure it wasn't dust on my lens or sensor. Used my Sigma 150-600mm lens at 600mm and cropped a little. https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2017/nasa-s-sdo-sees-a-stretch-of-spotless-sun Scroll down a little to see a video of the sunspot rotating into view of the earth, dated today July 12, 2017.

#sun #sunspot #solarfilter

Steptoe Butte

Got up at 3:30am to get to Steptoe Butte a little after sunrise. If I arrived earlier I would have had the lighting I wanted but these still turned out nice. I took a lot of panoramas. It was fun to see the crop duster flying low.

The crop duster.

#steptoebutte #washington #palouse #cropduster

Lightning Storm

Had a pretty nice storm tonight with lots of lightning though most was in the clouds. I got a few decent shots but noticed my lens was pretty dirty and needs to be cleaned.

#lightning #storm #weather #longexposure #dirtylens

Tautphaus Park Zoo

I haven't been to a zoo in a really long time and today the zoo in Idaho Falls opened. Unfortunately a fair number of exhibits were closed since it was still a bit too cold for some animals. It was still a fun visit though.

#zoo #idaho #idahofalls #tautphausparkzoo #tiger #lion #lemur #goldeneagle #vulture #flamingo #peacock

A Grand Roadtrip

I got up at 5am to get to the Grand Tetons by sunrise. I didn't go into the actual park, just visited the areas on the side of the road you can pull off on to view the mountains. I mostly used my 150-600mm lens to get close to the mountains to see some of the details better. And I took a lot of panoramas. This photo below is my favorite and can be bought at https://fineartamerica.com/products/a-grand-morning-matthew-hodge-art-print.html

Some more shots of various features.

This photo was taken at the Snake River Overlook and is where Ansel Adams took his popular photo of the Tetons. The parking area was fine but the short walk to the actual overlook was through deep snow. On the way back to my car I was constantly sinking up to my knees or a little deeper, but it was fun and I got some nice shots of the mountains.

#tetons #grandtetons #grandtetonnationalpark #roadtrip #wyoming #mountains #mountains #snowcoveredmountains

Bears and Wolves

A couple of the Bears at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center were wrestling each other for a while and I took a bunch of photos. It took a while for the wolves to get up and moving around, they were sleeping when I arrived at 8:30am.

Some shots of the wolves. One of the photos I took because the wolf looked like it was getting ready for the Super Bark from the movie Bolt.

#bear #bears #wolf #westyellowstone #grizzlyandwolfdiscoverycenter

Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center

Visited the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center today. Got there right when it opened at 8:30 am and stayed for a couple hours. Almost filled my 16 GB card up with photos and some videos. A couple of the bears were playing with each other for a while so I took a bunch of photos of them playing. The wolves were cool to see up close but weren't as active as the bears. I'll miss the chance to see the birds when they bring them out later in May. I recommend going to visit, I might visit again soon.

#grizzly #wolf #wolves #westyellowstone #yellowstone