For some reason there is this feeling that I get every once in a while that sneaks up on me that I can’t seem to shake. Like something that I’ve forgotten to do. Then I remember…I haven’t blogged in months.
It’s really not something that comes natural to me. I love it and I absolutely enjoy sharing my photos and telling the stories behind them but there just never seems to be enough time in the day and unfortunately it’s what gets pushed aside.
Well enough of being on the back burner! I have lovely pictures to show the blogosphere! (It helps that I am in a new state, know a handful of people, and am currently unemployed) Even so, why not now? I have had a really crazy month. I decided to move to Georgia and then almost immediately went to Montana to shoot a wedding. All together I’ve traveled to or through 6 states in the last 4 weeks and I have a ton of new adventures to share.
Typically I blog the latest adventure and skip the in between. (I tend to fall off the blogging wagon quite often) but I’m in a blogging AA of sorts and I will be working hard to share lots of fun pictures from 2013 thus far. So please be patient with me!
I want to start with the pictures on my heart and mind, and that would be my recent visit to Yellowstone National Park. I flew to Montana a couple of weeks ago to shoot a wedding and my hotel ended up being about an hour away from the North entrance to the park. I booked a couple of extra days on the end of my trip so that I would be sure to have enough time to relax and check out the park.
I was in love with Montana as soon as I saw the mountains outside my airplane window. It was definitely my favorite landing ever. SO much green. My eyes were glued to the window. Thank God for the window seat.
I landed in Bozeman but the wedding was actually at a ranch a little outside of Livingston, so almost an hours drive, I’d say. Since I got there the day before the wedding, everyone was busy getting the ranch wedding ready so I rented a car and got myself there! I got to drive a brand spankin’ new Chevy Sonic and it was so cute! I had so much fun being in this tiny little red car after driving my bus of an Explorer across the country from Texas to Georgia.
I checked on the bride and groom and watched some of the rehearsal stuff go down and then skipped out to go check out this sky!
After the wedding festivities were over and I had been on my feet with a camera in hand for 12 hours you would guess that I would be pretty tired…but no. I was like a child waiting for Christmas morning! I could barely sleep because I couldn’t wait to get to the park! I finally just got up and started my drive at 6 am! This is a picture I just had to have. Watching the sunrise in Montana is unlike anything else. I had to focus so hard to keep my eyes on the road…I finally just pulled over to take this picture!
…it’s a miracle I ever got there!
I felt like most people had a mission…not me. I had no schedule and no real plan on how I wanted to get where or what exactly I wanted to see so I just wandered. The great thing about the park is that there are shoulders on the road every other bend and I took advantage of alllllll of them. I stopped every couple of minutes to take another picture it seemed.
What was nice about not knowing what I was looking for, was that I could just follow other peoples lead. At some stops, I wasn’t really sure what I was stopping for….so I just followed the crowd. I got this shot of the river because there was a crowd of photographers standing at the top of a hill and I wanted to see what there view looked like! Glad I did!
For those of you who followed my album on my Thanksgiving camping adventure, you know that buffalo are not new to me. However, the ones I’m used to seeing are not endangering my life and and my rental car I’m driving. In the park they kind of own the road and tend to stop traffic. Of course they have their paparazzi but I just really wanted to get past them so that I didn’t have to worry about them deciding that my car was some sort of threat to them. It was basically the same size and I was terrified a couple of times. I left my camera on the seat for those moments..but I did enjoy the side of the road bison photo opportunities.
The sulfur pools were really cool to me, but hot in temperature. I sat and watched them boil until I couldn’t stand the smell any longer. Sulfur life bro.
I had such a wonderful morning and ended up deciding that instead of just doing half of the park and coming back the next day, I was up for more! This is a picture of Lake Yellowstone and the one below it is ME at Lake Yellowstone! I got to use the wireless remote shutter that Tony got me for Christmas. I just chilled out for a while and decided that since I was the only one in my park party, I was going to have to take some selfies if I was going to have any proof for my future children that I had been here!
Once I gave up at the lake, I found this crazy, cute, little pond hidden right off of the road. I just kept thinking of Walden’s pond and imagining myself there.
These little red flowers caught my attention and I couldn’t help but stop to get some pictures of them. They were only in this one part of the park!! It was amazing to see how much the terrain changed within a couple of miles.
A little after noon I got to the ONLY thing on my “I WANNA SEE THAT” list; Old Faithful. I can’t describe to you the disappointment and seething anger I felt when I walked up to see it finishing it’s spew and knowing that there was no way of knowing when it would go off again. They say it’s anywhere between 45-125 minutes and I really didn’t feel like waiting around because the park was filling up and there are not many things I hate more than traffic…
I think the turquoise pools were my favorite site in the park. I definitely wasn’t the only one enjoying their beauty though. It was pretty crowded around these gorgeous pools but I waited patiently for a parking spot to open up so I could get in close and get some shots of these super hot tubs!
I tried to get out of the crowd after that. If you look at a park map, it kind of makes a figure 8. I started out as if I was going to Old Faithful and then I cut across instead and went around the lake and back up the 8. So I got to Old Faithful around lunch time and since it was super crowded I just decided I was going to go up the other direction where I heard it doesn’t get as much traffic. The weather started getting kind of PERFECT and the clouds started rolling in, creating this super dramatic sky that makes everything look absolutely saturated and stunning!
As much fun as I was having, I did get tired at around hour 7. haha. I wanted to get out of the park before the rain hit but I definitely had to stop when I saw this hill. The scene was straight from a movie. It was gorgeous outside and I had to play for a bit!
I felt so blessed to get to experience the first national park. I had a long day..but one of the most memorable days ever. I not only got to see this beauty but really breathe it in and enjoy it at my leisure! I had so much fun. I feel like it was a dream…best dream ever! My goal for the day was to take some photographic treasure home with me that would always remind me of this day in my life. I know it’s just a day, but it was a day spent in and one with nature and I got a chance to just do what I feel I was born to do. I love these photos. I hope you do as well.
*If you are interested in seeing more photos from my trip or buying any of these images please head on over to my online gallery where you can shop til you drop! http://fromjenslens.instaproofs.com/store/
