Tag Archives: Wolf

Breakin’ The Rules

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Breaking the rules. Breaking all of them. Photographically that is. That’s what I do anyway. Break ’em, worry about them later. This image breaks almost every rule of photography there is, yet it is one of my most favorite images that I have ever taken. I say almost every rule only because I know there’s a rule somewhere I’ve forgotten but I know I broke it anyway. This was not a premeditated decision on my part. I didn’t decide to fly in the face of convention just to be a rebel it was more along the lines of, I want this picture and I’m going to get it even if it means breaking the rules.

If you Google ‘Photography Rules’ you will come up with about 105,000,000 hits for rules. That’s a lot of damn rules. Granted not all 105,000,000 hits are different but even so, Geezum Plutz that’s a lot of rules. That’s one thing we do pretty good as a species, making rules. Here are just a few examples of collections of rules.

10 Top Photography Composition Rules

5 Easy Composition Guidelines

18 Composition Rules For Photos

The 10 Rules of Photo Composition (and why they work)

9 Top Photography Composition Rules You Need To Know

And there are folks out there that will tell you “Don’t you go breaking any of those rules.” if you want to be a photographer. You can’t be in our photo show if you don’t follow these rules. “Hey Bozo, I saw your work. You need to follow the rules, man.” Seems like everyone is an expert when it comes to rules, especially the guys that make them.

There are real photographers out there looking at this image right now that are gnashing their teeth and raining curses down on my head for deliberately showing this bollixed up, rule breaking image as if I had a right to. Which I do by the way. I’m one of those artist types that believe once an image is completed it exists. It doesn’t matter how it was made, or what was done to it afterwards, or whether it was Photoshopped or not, an image is an image and it stands on its own for better or worse. You can shoot it holding the camera behind your back and jumping up and down, or put little red hearts all over it, or draw, paint or step on it with muddy boots then sign your name. It doesn’t matter, an image once it’s finalized and put on display is there and it’s up to the viewer to figure out whether they like it or not. Or even consider whether it is art or not.

Look in the back of any photography magazine on the newsstand and you will find dozens of highly trained, apparently successful photographers willing to take you on workshops and teach you how to make beautiful pictures by sticking to all the many rules in force that will make you a successful photographer too. Unfortunately I’ve always had a certain degree of difficulty in following rules. Some of them anyway, but especially those that say you need to create in a certain way. I guess it’s because that I, like Mick Jagger, don’t keep regular hours, so my outlook is different from most.

So getting back to the picture, “What’s wrong with it?” you ask. It’s an image of a wolf swimming across the Yellowstone river late in the evening in mid-may back in 2006. The sky was overcast, it had been raining just moments ago and this wolf was one of the dominant members of a pack in the Hayden valley. They had killed an elk on a small tributary called Alum creek which feeds into the Yellowstone and were gorging themselves until they could barely move. She, this was a female, was the first to leave because being the alpha she had fed first and was ready to return to the den which was located on the other side of the river. The problem and the first of many rules that were broken to get this image, was that she was way too far away for this to be any kind of decent shot. The rule says you have to be close and fill the frame with as much wolf as will fit in it to make this any kind of acceptable picture. The wolf of course didn’t know she was breaking the rule and I couldn’t get any closer before she jumped in the river and began her swim across it. I said the hell with it and took the picture anyway.

My equipment then was somewhat limited. The camera was a 6mp Nikon D70, a woefully under-powered camera by todays standards, and my lens was an inexpensive telephoto which was all I could afford at that time. There’s another rule shot to hell so to speak. Good photographers always use the best most expensive equipment available.  NO exceptions. The limits of the equipment I had, because of its measly megapixel count, meant that when it was time to print this image it wouldn’t be adequate to be enlarged so that you could see the wolf in all it’s perfectly focused clarity. They are absolutely right, those rule makers. It is kind of blurry and out of focus looking because I did stretch the limits of the image and now it has a kind of painterly pastel looking feel to it, not at all what a good photo should be, but I like it. Maybe you do too, or not.

 I remember exactly how things were the day I took this image. How cold it was, how the air smelled like damp grass, the sounds of the river flowing by and the huffing of the wolf as she swam across the widest part of the river she could have chosen to take. However there is a characteristic that rule makers leave out and that is that intangible feeling one gets when you see an image that you like regardless of whether or not it fits into the Follow the rules category. There have been an awful lot of pretty good painters that didn’t follow the rules, and people tend  to think very highly of them, myself being one of them.That’s what makes breaking the rules work for me. Had I followed them I wouldn’t have taken this picture and I wouldn’t have this image to remember the experience or to share with you, my friends. If you ask me I’m going to tell you to break the rules, break ’em all. It’s worth it.

So as far as rules go I’ll probably continue to break them, as the image is more important to me than various opinions. In case you’re wondering I do take technically good images where many of the rules are followed but I am never one to shy away from gathering what I see and putting it into a viewfinder regardless of what the rules say, after all art and the image are what I most care about.

Just for grins I’m posting the original image below, as it was taken straight out of the camera, to show you how and where the image above came from.

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Pancho and Lefty

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It is slowly turning to Spring up in Yellowstone, things are greening up, Pancho and Lefty are on  the prowl and that means Saturday night dances at the Long Tooth Saloon in Blacktail Flats. These two have just had a tough day of eating dead buffalo, laying around in the grass, drinking out of the pond, hanging out, talking crap, eating dead buffalo and deciding on how early they want to get to the dance tonight. They need to look sharp because everybody and I mean everybody is going to be there and if there is ever a chance of hooking up with some fox, I mean wolf, tonight’s the night.

Pancho is asking Lefty if he’s sure he wants to wear that collar as he might look like a total dweeb. He doesn’t want to get stiffed because his wingman looks like a dork. Lefty says It’s cool, back off and they’re on their way. It’s Saturday night in Yellowstone and things are going to get wild.

On Confronting A Wild Thing

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On ConfrontingAWildThing9999Grey Wolf Yellowstone River                                        Click to enlarge

Sometimes the wildness of nature will come right up and smack you in the face. When you’re out shooting in a place like Yellowstone where the animals are plentiful but not necessarily habituated you get the impression that they’re not as wild as the brochures say they are. They are wild. They weren’t kidding around about it.

Now it is common sense that the animals here are not pets or tame or even human friendly regardless of what the wildlife shows tell you, after all the editors of those productions all have their own agendas, but not all of the creatures give off wild vibes constantly. You expect it from the apex predators but you’re rarely close enough to them to pick up on it.

There have been times when a grizzly walked by way closer than expected, his choice not mine, and he will give you a short glance letting you know on no uncertain terms that he is very aware of your presence and it is barely tolerated. That exchange of information however brief, will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck and everywhere else for that matter, and then you realize what wild really means. It is one of those things that could take pages of explanation to give you a vague idea of the experience and only milliseconds to understand if it happens in person.

This wolf was feeding on a buffalo carcass on the other side of the Yellowstone river that the pack had brought down and was being watched and photographed by many photographers on the other side. We were all safe as far as that goes because of the river was probably 50-75′ wide and fairly deep at that point, so if he decided to come over everyone had plenty of time to get to their vehicles.

Everyone was excited, there was quite a bit of conversation going back and forth between the shooters and it was like the usual carnival atmosphere at one of these shoots when you’re photographing a big dangerous animal and everyone feels safe and secure. It is more like a social event than serious business.

Then the wolf stopped feeding and began looking at the crowd. It didn’t just glance at it. It seemed that it was deliberately making eye contact with individuals. It ‘s glance moved down the row of people and when it was your turn you felt the direct contact it was trying to make. It was uncanny. Suddenly the noise level was a fraction of what it had just been. It wasn’t intimidation as such just a reminder that this was its life and it was serious business. After making its point it turned and walked away. There was a momentary stillness before the crowd suddenly came to life and everyone burst into conversation about the experience.

When you come into direct contact with a wild thing it is a profound moment. You will feel differently about them afterwards and it is something you do not forget. That is if the grizzly hasn’t eaten you.

Life’s Little Problems

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Remember that big job you left on your desk to finish after the weekend. Well it’s after the weekend. And now that big job has spawned a lot of little jobs to compound your misery. Individually the small jobs are fairly easily dealt with, but collectively they present a much bigger problem. Kinda of like when your check doesn’t clear and it was the one you wrote to the credit card company to pay the minimum payment on your credit card, and suddenly there’s the OD charge at the bank to deal with plus a huge fee on your credit card statement, and the hours spent and all the other crap it takes to clear that up with the credit card people, and what was just a simple little problem now involves the Consumer Credit Protection Act with the word plaintiff before your name. Not that that has ever, ever happened to me but I’ve heard of it.

You must deal with the small stuff before you can get back to the big picture, which is exactly as you left it Friday, except now you’re down a half a day or better, you’ve only handled one or two of the smaller things and you still have the rest of the flock to deal with and they’re beginning to sense your weakness.

My strategy in a situation like this is to run into the flock, scatter them, then drag the big problem over to someone else’s desk when they off screwing around at the water cooler, and take a break. When you get  back amidst all the chaos, sit down calmly as if everything is under control and read the Entertainment news on CNN to see who just split up. Everyone else will be trying to figure out how you manage to keep it together and you can leave for an early lunch. Just make sure there is enough stuff piled on your desk so that no one can stuff a big problem on It while you’re gone. OK then, problem solved, see you tomorrow.

Checking In

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Things are still slightly chaotic as the various organizations struggle with reopening after the shut down. It’s not just a question of taking down the yellow crime scene tape and  throwing open the gates. The various groups that had been dispersed have to re-gather, check in and get their new assignments. Their new id cards have to be issued and duty schedules have to be worked out. Late arrivals have to be tracked down to make certain the pack is up to full strength and to make sure they’re all present for the final muster before they turn the tourists loose in the park. Logistically it’s just another screwed up monkey dance to get the place up and running again.

Felony VonLupus, master-at-arms of the Hayden pack is seen returning after getting the word out to some of the stragglers that hadn’t checked in yet. She has been working tirelessly to get the pack reformed so they qualify for their elk allotment. If the pack isn’t at full strength they won’t get their kill authorization for their full allocation of elk and buffalo and with it being this late in the season they’re going to have  to work double-time to bring down enough animals as it is, to make it through the winter. Plus this whole shut down thing meant that the instructors, being government employees, had to cease training so they didn’t have sufficient time to get the young wolves up to speed in elk killing let alone how to bring down a full grown buffalo. So they’ll have to spend valuable time on OJT, or on the job training, to turn the youngsters into proper killing machines. There’s going to be a lot of ripple effects from this fiasco.

But problems or not, they’re ready to open this place up for business and get everybody back to work. At least for the next month or two. So I feel better, don’t you?

If I Was A Wolf

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First off I’d spend a lot of time just looking around, checking out what’s going on, see who’s doing what and generally keeping up with the daily grind out here in wolf land. If you don’t know where the elk are and more importantly where your buddies are, you are not going to be eating warm elk meat this evening. You are going to be shivering your tail off in the snow and hungry to boot.

The next thing I’d be doing is making sure I always kept my wolf face on. Looking like I mean business, squinting a little keeping that Eastwood thing going, the ladies dig that stuff, but staying cool at the same time. It also keeps that young son of a bitch, Render, from getting too cocky. You got to watch the young ones, they’re always hungry and I don’t like the way he’s been sniffing around Misdemeanor either.

Also I’d be working on my image, keeping all that PR going about ‘Wolves are Good’ and having a positive image like what’s-his-name, the one in Dancing with Wolves, man, dead space in my head, I need some protein, oh yeah, Two Socks, that’s it. Now there’s a wolf that’s done some good for the community. I understand he got plenty of bones for that gig, and a t-shirt with this picture on it too. That’s cool.

The other thing I would most definitely do is have the batteries charged in my GPS so I knew exactly where the park boundaries were at all times. It is getting dangerous out there. I heard there were two wolves from that DunRoamin pack that left the building and now no one has heard from them since, not a peep. They’re a different bunch up there in the north end, they name their kids weird and I heard they would even eat Bighorn sheep when they could catch them. The story goes that Ray Everett and Curtis Leroy, two of their better take down guys, went off the res to find mulies but came across some Herefords instead, (first rule in Wolf Law, first one, never, ever, even think about cows) and wolves being wolves, especially dumb ones like these two, probably did what they should never have done. We don’t even talk about it down here. And cow owners being cow owners probably did what they do and that is follow the ‘3 S’  rule which is Shoot – Shovel – and Shut Up. There is plenty to eat around here so teach the young ones like Coppola said, ‘Never Get Out of the Boat’ because there are tigers out there.

Finally I would pack into each day every ounce of joy I could into just being a wolf, spending time with Misdemeanor, nuzzling the pups, especially that little fat one that likes to bite my tail, hanging out with the buds, figuring out the best way to bring that elk down so you don’t get kicked in the jaw like Drooler did, and just letting the incredible experience of life wash over you. That’s what I’d do if I was a wolf.

Wolf Pack

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I don’t know how many of you have ever seen a wolf pack up close other than scenes from TV or a movie, but it is an entirely different experience in person. Wild things look at you differently, they treat you differently, and unless you are an overt threat they don’t seem to care that you are a human. They are willing to co-exist with you as long as there is mutual respect. This pack is known as the Blacktail Flats pack as it includes the Blacktail flats area in the northern part of Yellowstone National park in it’s hunting range. The pack was fortunate to come across a buffalo carcass near one of the many ponds that are in the area and spent several days taking full advantage of this large meal. This photo shoot took place about 75 yards across a small pond on what turned out to be the last day they were there. That was because there wasn’t anything left to eat when they left late that evening. This grey kept a close watch as it came down for a drink.

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Since this pack had been feeding on this carcass for several days, they came and went as they felt like it. Occasionally most of the pack would be there and sometimes just one of them.

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The carcass is being whittled down by the constant feeding. They eat everything, from bits of the hide to breaking the bones open for marrow.

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Sometime the younger wolves need to be shown who the bull duck in the pond is. This is usually a short lesson.

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When they get down to the point where there is nothing left but the big main bones in the carcass it takes a little cooperation to get them separated. With both wolves pulling from opposite directions something finally gives and somebody gets a nice big juicy leg bone. That seems to be the end of the cooperative spirit as they don’t share well at that point.

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They have been eating a lot, almost non-stop, so every so often they take a break and go goof off. Its time to run, roll in the grass, teach the young to behave themselves and just generally work off some of that buffalo.

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Even when everyone else can not eat one more bite there is always one who can fit in a little more. After all they don’t know when the next meal is coming so one more bite can’t hurt.

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OK, enough fooling around, there is still some buffalo left so this job’s not done.

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The carcass is almost gone. You can see by their stomachs that they have been giving this their all. There were five wolves at the most on this kill during this shoot. There were more wolves in the pack but since all this was taking place in about two hours the entire pack wasn’t there. Supposedly there were anywhere from seven to as many as twelve wolves in this pack.

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It is very nearly done now. Some of the more experienced members of the pack are taking away pieces of the buffalo for eating later. All that remains is the hide and horns and blood stains in the grass.

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Starting from a fairly respectable amount of buffalo when the shoot first started there is little left. Some of the younger wolves will come back over the next day or so to glean what ever small parts were dropped and lick the grass. Hopefully the ravens and other scavengers will have missed some.

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The last wolf leaves with one more small meal and the feeding is over. It now a little past 8:00pm and very nearly dark, in fact we needed flashlights to get back to the cars. The originals of these images are very, very dark, so much so that without the miracle of Photoshop you would have a hard time making out any detail at all. The experience of sharing a meal (so to speak) with these wolves has been a once in a lifetime opportunity and simply incredible.