Long Week at the Ranch

So sorry to not have posted for some time now but life gets in the way.  This week has been filled with wrapping up projects here on the ranch.  We are so close to being done with the gallery we are almost done.  The Boss made a few more changes that included putting up more walls which JW and I made on Saturday and will go up first thing in the morning tomorrow.  Then we just have 4 more prints to mount and hang.

I learned a good bit of information about electricity this week without even getting shocked.  Who's impressed?

Went horseback riding and saw a moose on our little adventure.  It was a Big Bull Moose, sorry no photos of the moose, was too focused on keeping from falling of my horse.  Did I mention I fell off the horse after the ride was over?  No big deal he wasn't moving, but i have a really cool gash on my forearm from where I made contact with Earth on my headfirst, 5 foot fall.

 Anywho, I also learned how to put up a wire fence.  If anyone wants to send me a come a long (its a poor man winch with a crank lever used to pull you out of the mud) thats rated for 2.5 tons I'll be happy to take it.

 We are officially in MUD CITY - rain, snow, sleet and ice have made it all sorts of mud on the ranch.  Also we had two days off because of the holiday, so I took to working on some images and posted 11 new images on my Imagekind page.  See the link listed below for your enjoyment - all the images on this blog are available to purchase.  http://Jason_Speer_Photo.imagekind.com/Yellowstone

Teton and Yellowstone

Mama Grizzly and her cub.

So normally Erin and I work on Saturdays; but not this Saturday.  We got a full weekend off so we decided we would drive to Jackson Hole.  For those of you who don't know where that it is, it is located just south of Teton National Park.

Sleepy Buffalo at Yellowstone Lake.

So this morning at 5 am we were up and moving, leaving the ranch and on the way. Why so early, you ask?  Well Sylvan Pass which is located on the East Entrance of Yellowstone is only open from 6am to 10am due to a BIG avalanche that happened last week.  Also it is about 3 times as long if you don't travel through Yellowstone.

Another Grizzly, checking something out near Yellowstone Lake.

We could not have asked for a more perfect morning.  All sorts of wildlife was out and even though it was kind of gloomy there were breaks with big blue sky and tons of low lying clouds.  So we saw three grizzly bears this morning in about the first 20 minutes we were in Yellowstone National Park.

Bison on the road.

We ventured through Yellowstone and had a very interesting lunch at a diner with a lot of funny, America-touring senior citizens ( see Erin's blog for the full story).

Then on to Teton where all the hiking trails are closed but the roads are all open and we were able to see some cool things.  Tonight we stay in Jackson and then on the way back through Teton in the AM and finally back to the ranch via the long way but I'm sure I'll get some great photos.

I will be posting some more images (mostly pano's) when I get back to the ranch in a few days.  Also check in later in the week I'll be uploading some of these images to Imagekind ( which is my online
gallery).

Here comes the SNOW

So today I spent most of the day learning all sorts of interesting things about electrical work.  I learned how to solder as it was one of the many steps to make our custom made lighting for the gallery.  I also learned about junction boxes and transformers.  Now here is the crazy thing - we are combining AC and DC for our lighting.  Our custom lighting has two junction boxes with 2 outlets per box, 1 transformer and a dimmer switch mounted upside down so we can control the lights from the ground. All components are mounted to a 1 x 6 and will be screwed into the rafters, each will support 8 lights and light two pictures in the gallery.  It's ok it confuses me too, but it works and should look awesome once we are done.  Stay tuned for more photos of the gallery.

It is supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow on the ranch.  Yay for some stormy weather.

Its better with time

Shoshone National Forest

Hey all - just wanted to say thank you to all of you who follow this blog.  Sorry I have been dropping the ball lately life is getting busy.

Well today is a good day to finally pay some attention to the H3 since its in the title of my Blog (Indy Me and the H3) and its a major factor in where I take my pictures.  I thought I would take some time to talk about the car that goes everywhere.  Well the H3 loves the ranch  - it's always covered in mud.  I wash it off about once a week but lets face it there is mud everywhere and it gets on the car.  The H3 is my baby or at least I treat it as such.  I hope to still be driving it in 2020 with about 250,000 miles on it.  The reason for all the love is a tri-fecta of reason.  First off it looks cool and is built tough.  Second it expands your world.  You want to go across that river, through 2 feet of snow, sink up to the axels in sand? No problem it will keep moving.  Third, it's become a member of the family like the wife and the dog, Old Reliable, I call it.  This weekend we took the H3 off-roading up a rocky, mud-filled road to about 9000 ft and it was really cool. We found a river cutting through the mountains and took a short hike (bear spray included). It put me in a great mood to go off-roading and get off the ranch for a few hours of fun and freedom.  Its really amazing at how something so simple as, off roading, can have healing powers for your soul.

So enough about my car and on to some serious stuff.  As an artist you have ups and downs.  This week was a down week. I felt like alot of my images were crap and that I had wasted my time in Yellowstone.  I was very unhappy with my camera.  It's not the camera's fault, it's getting old (its about 5 years old and thats some way old tech for a digital camera).  It was not the technology or the craft that was getting me down it was more or less the opportunity.  I look at so many portfolios from different artists and critique and compare my own work against theirs.  Numerous times I come across work that is similar to mine and very good.  As an artist it is hard to hang in there when you are having a shit day and you see people who are not really better than you but have just been given more opportunities whether it is better camera gear or more time off to travel to those places you covet or those who just have your dream job and are using the camera for a living.  I keep telling myself just work harder and keep pushing; but sometimes you just need to feel validated.  Well no validation yet but my mood has returned back to the glass is half disposition.  Here is hoping that this summer produces great results.



Here are my wildlife photos from Yellowstone.

Wolves on the prairie.

Baby bison in the snow.

Chicken Coq Au Vin with Polenta and Ratatouille

Awesome day at the ranch.  I worked hard out side with the Ranch Manager setting out fence posts today.  Im sore and have a sunburn; but all is good.  But enough about that here are some more food pictures. Bon Apetit !

YELLOWSTONE

Finally I made it to Yellowstone.  Oh man was it awesome.  It was everything people said it would be and more, my expectations were met and then some.

As a photographer you draw inspiration from various sources whether it's people who inspire, landscape that invigorates the spirit, or man-made structures that boggle the mind.  I was completely inspired and shot almost 500 photos yesterday.  It was a great day for shooting it was overcast and cloudy - great for black and white images (of which I have a few).

 You are always hoping for good looking images and a good rule of thumb used to be you got a decent image per one roll of film ( 24 shots for those of you who don't remember what film is ).  Well things have changed with digital, people in general I feel shoot freely at anything without thought of composition, subject, or plan.  Just firing away in the void of the landscape, praying for that needle in a haystack scenario.  I too am guilty of this sometimes. I still compose and think about the shot; but am I really slowing down to appreciate the landscape?  Sometimes yes and sometimes no. I am guilty of the rapid fire pano from time to time; but when I am truly inspired I find I get some good results.

 So here are my photos of my one day in Yellowstone let me know what you think.  How did I do?

FYI  : Panos and Wildlife Photos to come tomorrow.

Living high on the hog

Well our chef is here.  Everyday we are treated to two special plated meals.

 Lets just say Erin is the happiest person on earth and getting really spoiled.  I do my best to make good things that are gluten free but lets face it, I'm no chef. Tony our chef makes Erin friendly food everyday!

 So today we had a great french onion soup for lunch with a fresh salad.  This evening was even better roasted herb chicken on a bed of polenta with asparagus covered in a roasted tomato beurre blanc.  Its amazing and I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to live with Erin after she is being so spoiled.

 I also found out from the Boss that it is my new job to photograph the food.  Im excited about my new job. I only hope I can make it look as good as it tastes.

Let There Be SHEEP

Well its busy here on the Ranch.  I am retouching everything in sight it seems like.  Well I may be exaggerating, but its a lot of work and the end is in sight.  The gallery is about 2 weeks from being done. Images are selected, and soon we will be mounting them to aluminum.  Did I mention that we have prints that are 9 feet plus by 4 feet.  Its gonna be real hard to mount those things straight.

 The rest of week is gonna be awesome, cinco de mayo, is here and the tacos will be coming and the tequila flowing.  I am excited about getting to go to yellowstone this weekend.  Looking forward to actually setting foot inside the park after being foiled for the last 3 weekends.

Did I mention that the sheep are out and about, all over the roads, the ranch, and landscape everywhere. Took a few snapshots last weekend of these sheep just standing out in the middle of the road.  Also they have signs posted that say, " Don't stress the sheep".  Did I mention we are living in a national forrest.  How does one stress the sheep?  Well I got out of the car and walked right up to them almost.  They were calm as Hindu Cows.  I think the sign should be changed to say don't hit the sheep with your car.  Sheep don't move not even when you honk, not happening!