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By Root 137 0

a wildlife photography workshop is a good solution. Workshops provide you with a great way to visit locations that have already been scouted out for the best season to visit and the hot spots, which saves you immeasurable hours of learning if you were to go on your own (Figure 5.7). If you decide to go the workshop route, do your homework to find the best fit for your style and interest. Find out how many people the workshop will host and how many instructors there are. Does the workshop focus mainly on shooting or is there some digital darkroom time allotted as well, and which do you prefer? If you admire the work of a particular photographer, try to take a workshop offered by that photographer. You’ll be able to learn more about how that photographer captures such inspiring images. Talk to others who have taken workshops with the photographers you are interested in joining to see what their impressions were. Decide if you want attention and instruction or if you would rather be let loose to shoot on your own once you arrive at a location. It’s all up to you. But the more time you spend with the instructors, the more you will get out of a workshop that you paid dearly to attend. Knowing ahead of time what to expect from a workshop will ensure that you find the right one to suit your interests and personality.

Figure 5.7 A small group is best when photographing wildlife to minimize the impact and stress on your subjects.

A Year of Seasons and Locations

Locations and subjects have a best time or season to target them. Depending on the type of behavior you are interested in, you can find a great location and the best time of year to capture images that depict the behavior you’re seeking. Just like knowing your equipment and your subject’s behavior, knowing where and when to visit a specific location for the best photo opportunities—where wildlife is abundant and easy to approach at a safe, photographable distance—simply increases your chances of a successful shoot. Let’s look at the locations I visit throughout the year, in which season I visit them, and why.

Winter

I begin every year with a visit to Yellowstone National Park. With extremely cold temperatures that regularly drop into minus double-digit numbers on a regular basis, the world takes on an icy, stark beauty that makes a dramatic backdrop of the harsh environment that wildlife must endure to survive. It’s not uncommon to find bison foraging for food around the thermal areas where the warm ground and steam melt the snow, giving them better access to the grasses. They are usually covered in snow (Figure 5.8) or frost because the moisture freezes to their coats in the cold air.

Figure 5.8 The warmth from its body, the humid air from the thermals, and the cold temps cause ice to build up on a bison’s coat.

Heavy snow in the high country forces wildlife down to lower elevations to forage for food, making them more accessible to photographers. A fresh coat of snow simplifies a composition, making wildlife easier to spot because they stand out against the bright white backdrop (Figure 5.9). Add the charm of seeing most of the park in a snow coach (roads are closed to wheeled traffic in the winter months due to heavy snowfall) and your tolerance for extremely cold temperatures, and Yellowstone turns into a winter wonderland with abundant wildlife and few people; it’s a must-visit location.

Figure 5.9 A red fox passes by, paying us little attention as he focuses on the hunt.

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Cold Weather Tips

Camera equipment can handle the cold weather just fine. With a little preparation and care, you can photograph in the coldest temperatures without harming your equipment. Here are some suggestions and some of the measures I take to keep my equipment working in cold weather:

• I always carry a spare battery inside my jacket, close to my body, to keep it warm, because the cold temps exhaust batteries quickly. When one battery goes down, I switch them out and put the cold battery inside my jacket to warm up.

• I also carry a hand towel in my bag to pat