The wintertime in Wind River Canyon can be brutal; temperatures of thirty below zero with winds blowing at sixty-plus miles an hour can be expected, or the weather could be like it is now, mid-forties, and clear mountain-blue skies.  We had a snowdrift years ago that was nine feet high and over seventy feet long!  Try moving that with a shovel!  We've been stranded for days here at our cabin, with no phone or mail delivery.  But last spring my wife put in satellite internet, so I could build my website HogbatsPhotography.com , now I have something else that blizzards knock out of service.  Living in the Wind River Canyon is at times, "....just like living on the Moon."  

     Not that I'm complaining one bit mind you, because in the winter I get to chase wild Bald Eagles around with my Canon 7D.  Bald Eagles eat fish, and have a large range in which they hunt in these mountains.  Just this morning at 7:30 the local mating pair were flying the Wind River Canyon together going north.  They were playing Bald Eagle acrobatics as they flew down river.  Around the bend in the Canyon they flew, wingtip to wingtip, their white feathers glowing in the early morning light, while I stood there in my underwear wishing I was outside with my camera....and a warm coat.  

     Photographing Bald Eagles in winter Wyoming is a challenge to say the least; it's very cold and batteries and fingers freeze easily.  In November my fingertips were blue, and the Canon 7D camera had slowed down to a crawl, by the time I could get back inside.  Thawing them out is a pain that's indescribable, yet I'll never hesitate to grab the camera and dash out the door the next time I see them....when I'm not nearly naked that is.

    The Bald Eagle, in this week's blog, was photographed last Wednesday morning as he was leaving one of his favorite trees.   As a side note, in Raptors the females are usually always larger than their mates.  I was hand holding the 300mm L-series lens, plus the 1.4 extender, photographing this eagle and trying to keep myself ready for everyone's favorite in-flight picture.  When he took to the air I fired a burst @ 1/1600 second, @ f/10, ISO 400.  I had eight frames in a second, but only two that were "just right."  Out of sixty-five frames shot that morning, only this one was what we call "sponge worthy."  Of course it was a RAW file that was worked in Digital Photo Professional,  a newer copy of Canon's "free" software and then finished with a pro-look from Adobe Lightroom 5.  I wanted to give this eagle picture an artsy fartsy treatment, so I let myself go a little wild this time.  The photography requires strength of concentration, and lots of patience, and a little serendipity doesn't hurt either; the digital darkroom requires several hours of decisions to make the picture yours.  Good luck in your quest for Mother Nature's wild beauty, and remember to always keep your camera ready; in case aliens land in their spaceship you'll need your camera.  

Bald Eagle in Flight, Wind River Canyon, WyomingBald Eagle in Flight @ Wind River Canyon, Wyoming - HogbatsPhotography.com