My photography – Photography by Rodney Martin

Favorite photos of 2019

Landscapes, Leelanau Conservancy, My photography, Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore, Yellowstone National Park

As the year comes to a close, it is a good time to look back at the year’s batch of photos and assess how I did. Ansel Adams said, “Twelve significant photos in any one year is a good crop.” I can’t claim significance for these twelve photos but they are my favorites of 2019.

Each time I look at the photos, I see imperfections, which to me is a good sign since it tells me I am learning my craft, both the field work and the post processing. I have edited most of these photos several times with the goal of attaining what I envisioned when I was on location. Hopefully, they do not look over-processed to you.

_MG_0029 BW 16x9 — The first snowfall comes to the Absaroka Range on the east side of Paradise Valley, Montana, in September.

_MG_0162-orton-2 — Sheepeater Canyon in Yellowstone National Park.

_MG_0429-Pano — Undine Falls in Yellowstone National Park. This photo is a vertical panorama, combining three photos.

_MG_1444 — The Gibbon River as it approaches the Virginia Cascades in Yellowstone National Park.

_MG_7381-bw — The granary on the Pete and Jenny Burfiend farm in the Point Oneida historic farm district of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

_MG_7407 — Pete and Jenny Burfiend bought their Point Oneida farm in 1882. They initially lived in a log cabin, but sometime in the 1880s hired Martin Basch to build this farmhouse.

_MG_7700 — Warm morning light breaks through the forest at the Houdek Dunes Natural Area on the Leelanau Peninsula in Michigan. The Houdek Dunes Natural Area is owned by the Leelanau Conservancy.

_MG_8781-HDR — The Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Montana. Mount Electric is in the background.

_MG_8840 — A huge wave hits the breakwater at Point Betsie, north of Frankfort, Michigan.

_MG_8914 — The Gardner River as it flows out of Yellowstone National Park to the town of Gardiner (spelled differently than the river), Montana, where it flows into the Yellowstone River.

_MG_9517 — I came upon this doe and her two fawns on a foggy morning near Clarksville, Michigan. They were kind enough to allow me to do a U-turn so I could shoot out the driver’s-side window of my car.

_MG_9938 — The Royal 7 Motel in Bozeman, Montana. This is a composite of several photos I made to balance the light. I wanted to capture the garish light of the neon sign and well as the warm, inviting light in the windows of the motel lobby. I loved the reflection of the sign on the wet pavement. (I stood out in the rain to get the shot.)

Intentional Camera Movement

ICM, Landscapes, My photography

Using a slow shutter speed and camera movement to create a more abstract image.

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A visit to Yellowstone National Park – Album # 2 – Mammoth Hot Springs

My photography, Yellowstone National Park

Mammoth Hot Springs is at an elevation of 6,735 feet, about 1,200 feet higher than Gardiner, Montana. We drove through Mammoth every day on our way into Yellowstone National Park. The U.S. Army had its headquarters at Mammoth Hot Springs when it policed the park. Many of the buildings from that era remain and are used by the National Park Service. In addition there is a lovely hotel.

Mammoth also has a herd of elk who snarl up traffic regularly. There always seemed to be two park rangers assigned to monitoring the herd, although their real job was to monitor people who don’t understand that the herd is wild.

Of course, the big attraction at Mammoth is the travertine-depositing hot springs. The are a massive, strange, and beautiful.

The post office at Mammoth Hot Springs is guarded by two grizzly bear statues, the only grizzlies we saw in the park.

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These houses were the officers’ quarters when Mammoth was the home of Fort Yellowstone. _MG_8660

One of the other attractive buildings in Mammoth.

The elk herd at Mammoth loves to graze on the old Fort Yellowstone parade grounds.

During the rut, the herd is always under the watchful eye of the bull elk.

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One morning as I was coming back from an early morning photo shoot, I noticed this young male elk consorting with some of the females in the harem.

It wasn’t long before the bull was on the scene to chase off the young male and reassert his dominance of the harem.

This is one of those photos that just happens. I was taking a landscape photo looking out from Mammoth Hot Springs towards Gardiner, when this head walked into my viewfinder.

Liberty Cap is a 37 foot high structure built by a hot spring that was once active in the area. Liberty Cap was given its name by the Hayden Survey in 1871. The structure reminded members of the survey of the caps worn during the French revolution to symbolize freedom and liberty.

The Mammoth Hot Springs are a huge structure, in two groups pf terraces, the Lower and Upper Terraces. You walk around the Lower Terraces on a boardwalk. You drive around the Upper Terraces.

This, I believe, is called Palette Springs.

There are signs reminding people not to get off the boardwalk. The structure is fragile and the water temperature can get as high as 163 degrees.

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The terraces stand on a base of limestone. When hot water forces its way up through the limestone it mixes with dissolved carbon dioxide to form a weak carbonic acid, which dissolves calcium carbonate, the primary compound in limestone. When it reaches the surface, the calcium carbonate forms the travertine.

My understanding is that the travertine is white. The colors are caused by microorganisms, called thermophiles, that thrive on heat. In the hottest water the thermophiles are colorless or yellow. In the cooler water, the thermophiles are orange, brown, and green.

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The textures and colors on these terraces are so beautiful and interesting, I am sharing quite a few photos. _MG_0085-Edit

The geysers in Yellowstone are the result of volcanic activity. They sit in the caldera that was once an active volcano. (It is still active just a few miles beneath the earth’s surface, which is why we have geysers.) Mammoth Hot Springs is not in the caldera. Scientists still do not know what the volcanic heat source is that fuels these hot springs.

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This is the boardwalk in the Lower Terraces leading up past the Minerva Terrace.

The Minerva Terrace.

This is looking north toward Gardiner, Montana. You can see the town of Mammoth Hot Springs at the edge of the terrace.

This is the Orange Spring Mound on the Upper Terrace.

The Orange Spring Mound is still active. Water still flows from several vents, like this one.

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Another structure in the Upper Terraces.

This is Angel Terrace in the Upper Terraces. Angel Terrace was dormant and drying up for decades, but became active again in 1985.

A visit to Yellowstone National Park – Album #1

Landscapes, My photography, Yellowstone National Park

We spent a week exploring Yellowstone National Park. What an incredible place! I have lots of photos to edit. Here is the first bunch. We spent our first night in Bozeman, Montana, and then drove down Paradise Valley from Livingston, Montana, to Gardiner. We traveled along the Yellowstone River, as it flowed north to its eventual meeting with the Missouri River in North Dakota. _mg_9975

It had snowed in the higher elevations. These mountains are part of the Absaroka Range on the east side of Paradise Valley. _MG_0029

We stayed at the Grizzly Den Cabin, an Airbnb about 5 miles north of Gardiner on the Old Yellowstone Road. (Click an image to see it larger.)

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a beautiful double rainbow. _MG_0044

In the river just outside are cabin was an island. The owner told us that bears liked to bed down on the island. But, all we saw were these elk. Within a few hundred yards of our cabin were about 100 elk in what looked like three different harems. _MG_1225

A prominent landmark near our cabin was Cinnabar Mountain, with the unusual red formation that the sun nicely highlighted in this photo. The feature was named “the Devil’s Slide” by members of the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition in 1870 and captured in a drawing byThomas Moran the following year when he was part of the Hayden Geological Survey. _mg_0218

The drive from the Grizzly Den Cabin to Gardiner was along the Old Yellowstone Road, a dirt road that traveled along the base of the Gallatin Mountain Range. _mg_1414

At 10,969 feet, Electric Peak is the tallest mountain in the Gallatin Range. Electric Peak was given its name by members of they Hayden Geological Survey in 1871. _MG_1424

I loved the texture of the landscape along the Old Yellowstone Road. _mg_0223

A pronghorn seen along the Old Yellowstone Road. _MG_0070

After traveling four miles or so along the Old Yellowstone Road, you come over a hill and get your first view of Gardiner. Montana. On the right in this photo you can see the Roosevelt Arch, the north entrance to the park. The large building in the foreground of the town is the Yellowstone research building. _MG_1293

A view of main street Gardiner. _MG_8990

I took several pictures of the iconic Roosevelt Arch. The arch was build by the U.S. Army in 1903. At the time, the Army supervised the park from Fort Yellowstone in Mammoth Springs. The National Park Service was not established until 1916. _mg_0803

President Teddy Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the arch in 1903. _mg_8789

“For the benefit and enjoyment of the people,” words from the Organic Act of 1872, which established Yellowstone as the first national park in the world. _MG_8956

The light on the arch seemed to be different each morning. _mg_8781

This bull elk was keeping a watchful eye on his harem near the arch. The harem spent most of its time in and around Gardiner. We often saw them on the high school football field. _MG_8806

As soon as we entered the park the first day of our visit, we came across on confrontation between this bull elk and another that was showing a little too much interest in this bull’s harem. _MG_0073

The rut was on during our visit and the air frequently filled with the bugling of male elk.

The Gardner River (spelled differently than the town) as it flows out of the park to the town of Gardiner, where it flows into the Yellowstone River. _MG_8914

Looking back toward Gardiner from Mammoth Hot Springs, the headquarters of Yellowstone National Park. _mg_8949

In the morning mist

Fog, Landscapes, My photography

A couple of shots taken along the back roads near Clarksville, Michigan.

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The Faust Cabin at Inspiration Point

Landscapes, My photography, Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore

If you have visited Inspiration Point on Big Glen Lake, you have undoubtedly seen the old log cabin. I set out yesterday to take some photos and learn about its history. The cabin was built for Mary and George Faust, of Chicago, in 1929, on land purchased from D.H. Day. The architect was Frank Sohm, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. Mary lived there nine months each year until her death in 1977. Her children continued to use the cabin for some years before selling it to the National Park Service in order to preserve it. _MG_9464-HDR

_MG_9472 A lily nicely framed by a basement window of the Faust cabin

_MG_9476 The basement door.

Just steps away from the cabin is this stone bench overlooking Big Glen Lake.

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Morning in the Point Oneida Rural Historic District

My photography, Point Oneida, Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore

I spent yesterday morning photographing in the Point Oneida Rural Historic District of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We’ve had so many clear blue skies lately, it was exciting to have some clouds to bring some interest to the sky. As I drove up from Grand Rapids, I wasn’t sure where I was going to start photographing, but once I saw the clouds passing by the moon in the western sky, I knew exactly the shot I wanted to start with.

The granary on the Pete and Jennie Burfiend farm in the Point Oneida Rural Historic District has a special charm and simplicity. This photo was taken 45 forty-five minutes before sunrise, and the clouds quickly moved by the waning moon. _MG_9295-2

I found my next composition in the field behind the house and farm buildings on the Thoreson farm. Here, the rising sun reaches the remnants of the “new orchard.” _MG_9372

While waiting for the light to strike the tree at the center of the photo, I noticed the setting moon over the pasture and the birches that line the road.

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I have had my eye on an old McCormick-Deering hand-crank tractor in the barn of the John and May Burfiend farm on Port Oneida Road. It always seems to be in the shadows as I go by. But, yesterday the sun was just right to light up the grill of this beauty.

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Also along the Port Oneida Road is the farm of Carsten and Elizabeth Burfiend. The farm includes two houses and a number of outbuildings. Here’ the shop and the granary.

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The barn on the Burfiend farm is gone but the foundation remains.

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A roller is among the old farm equipment left of the farm.

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Here’s the entrance to the brooder coop and a few detail shots.

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(Click on an image to see it larger.)

This house was built for Pete and Jennie Burfiend in 1893. Pete took over the farm when Carsten became too old to work it. Eventually, Pete’s son Howard operated the farm. _MG_9463

Howard and Orpha Burfiend built this house in 1928.

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The outhouse.

The Burfiend’s beach on Sleeping Bear Bay.