From the beginning, when I was planning the design of my website HogbatsPhotography.com, I wasn't convinced I should include a gallery for wildflowers & butterflies.  Wind River Canyon and Wyoming does have an abundance of both, to be sure, but it didn't seem as important in the planning stages of my wildlife website.  I've spent enough time on my hands and knees in the dirt, with the bugs, to now be convinced by certain friends to start including some of these colorful personalities of the Wind River Canyon.  For the moment the Wildflowers & Butterflies gallery will be a bit sparse, but that too will change as I capture photos that are worthy for the world to see.  It's all part of the first documentation, of all living things, of this amazing and magical canyon.  

     Earlier this week I was up high in the canyon with our sled dog, when I spotted one of the most fascinating flowers in all of Wyoming.  It's a little early for this particular flower to bloom, but the weather has been exceptional for an early Spring in the Wind River Canyon.  You see, we could just as well be up to our butts in a blizzard, instead I've been working on a "farmer's tan."  

     These flowers are called Shooting Stars, and are blooming in a small area on a northern facing slope, maybe 20 by 40 feet is all.  They are only half and inch in length when they open like fireworks on the fourth.  They are hardy early bloomers that grow in places prone to dampness, and no direct sunshine; the Latin name is Dodecatheon pulchellum and are a member of the Primrose Family; the scientific name for them is American Cyclamen and are native to the western United States.  Around the canyon they're pinkish to purplish in color and start to open as a bell, then explode open like a shooting star; growing to only a four inch height in the Wind River Canyon.  Native Americans used an infusion of the roots as a wash for the eyes, or gargled for cankers.  

     Being crazy careful to avoid any damage to the blossoms, I photographed many of the flowers on my knees or just sat down in an appropriate spot and shot away.  I used the Canon 300mm f/4L as a long macro lens; it has a minimum focus distance of 4.9 feet, and gives a greater working distance from a delicate subject than a short macro lens would.  I had plenty of good light, but thankfully no direct sun, and after some experimentation I used a manual setting of 1/800 and f/8 with an ISO 400 to hit the sharpness head-on without any chance of wiggling the shot wrong; then an exhilarating hike down the canyon trail.

Wildflowers, Shooting Stars - Wind River Canyon, WyomingWildflowers, Shooting Stars in Wind River Canyon.       The RAW files selected were worked, as usual, in Digital Photo Professional, Canon's great supplied software, then off to Adobe Lightroom in a TIFF file to give the one digital file some professional finish.  And for those of you that have a need to know, I added meta-data and the watermark in Lightroom.  

     I have actually photographed Shooting Stars for years, and never was satisfied with the results, till now; which was the motivation for creating the Wildflowers & Butterflies gallery.  The 11 by 14 print off my Canon printer is sharp and colorful, and shows these beautiful Wyoming Wildflowers to their very best.  

May you also have such a fine and warm Spring day.

Thank you for reading my blog this week!  And get out of the house this Spring and try your hand at photographing wildflowers, the fresh-air will do you a world of good.

Michael John Balog - Hogbats Photography - Wind River Canyon, Wyoming.

HogbatsPhotography.com