Broad-tailed Hummingbird, (f), 1st Place, 50th Cody Art Show - Photographed in Wind River CanyonBroad-tailed Hummingbird "Landing in Wyoming" in the Wind River Canyon. This photograph won 1st Place in the Professional Division @ the 2015 Cody Art Show----Cody, Wyoming. This is a black &white selenium print by Michael John Balog. Black-chinned Hummingbird, female, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming - 1st Place, 49th Cody Art ShowBlack-chinned Hummingbird, Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. Winner of the 1st Place Award at the 49thCody Art Show! Rufous Hummingbird, Wind River Canyon,Wyoming - 1st Place - 48th Cody Art ShowHummingbirds of the Wind River Canyon, Wyoming, 1st Place-48th Cody Art Show. Wyoming Hummingbird, Young Male Rufous - 2nd Place 2015 Cody Art Show - Photographed in Wind River CanyonHummingbird born & photographed in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. This picture won 2nd Place in the Professional Division @ the 2015 Cody Art Show.

     In the heart of the Wind River Canyon, where I live 24-7, the weather is unusual, even for the surrounding area.  As a friend said, many years ago now, "You live in the mountains!"  This causes all sorts of strange meteorological effects, and this week was absolutely no exception to this Wyoming rule.

     The town to the south of our cabin is Shoshoni (pop. 650), and it's only 20 miles away; they got no snow at all this week.  The town of Thermopolis (pop. 3038) is just 12 miles to the north, a few miles outside the canyon; they got ten inches of snow this week.  Right here, in the heart of the Wind River Canyon, we got two and a half feet of snow this week!  We had drifts over four feet high that were driven by fifty mile an hour winds.  It's definitely going to be a white Christmas in the canyon.

     In fact, this year's weather was memorable in many crazy ways.  The most historical event was the landslides here in the canyon.  They happened Sunday of Memorial weekend, and no one alive had ever seen anything like it, or hopefully ever will again.  I personally witnessed massive mudslides right across the Wind River from us----they shook the ground like an earthquake; the road north was closed for four days.  There were so many landslides in the canyon, I could not begin to count them all.  They will alter the Wind River Canyon forever, but not the abundant wildlife that make their home here.

     My website, HogbatsPhotography.com, was featured in the March 2015 issue of Shutterbug magazine; the article written by the notorious Joe Farace.  I won a first place award at the Cody Art Show again this year for one of my hummingbirds in flight; this makes three years in a row my hummers have won me firsts.  And in between all this insanity, an art lover purchased a massive portrait of the Bighorn Sheep I had done on aluminum.  A thirty-percent commission kind of takes the high out of that sale, but I still haven't wiped off the grin yet; thank you.  

     But you can't do wildlife and nature photography for the money; I get paid mostly in sunshine and exercise.  Awards and a few sales don't pay the bills, my wife does----thank you, sweet cheeks!  Why do I do this then?  People need to see the wonderful things, that are unseen, in the Wind River Canyon.  This place is so alive and vital it's intoxicating, yet the abundant wildlife and hummingbirds had never been documented; the locals knew nothing about this amazing and isolated ecology.  I try to reach out and teach the only way I know how, through my art.  I know that I've already made a difference, and that alone is more pay than anyone deserves.

     I've been writing this Wind River Canyon Blog every week for 30 months now; we had several minor hardware failures.  The knowledge I've gained, and tried to pass on through my work, is far more than everything I ever wrote in nearly six years of college!  Every day I learn a little more about Mother Nature's rules, and myself by proxy.  But this blog has never been a lesson on good grammar or punctuation.  I'm proud to be able to open some of Mother Nature's beautiful secrets.

*Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone that has appreciated my art this year, read this blog, or helped my friends the Hummingbirds.  So I can spend some uninterrupted Holiday time with family and friends, my Wind River Canyon Blog will return January 2nd, with a lecture on creativity and a brand new Hummingbird picture!  

Very Sincerely...........Michael John Balog.  

MjB