Winter Vacation in Yellowstone, Salt Lake Olympics

[gary_marshall]

My wife, an impatient companion, and I will be having the vacation of

our lifetime skiing in Yellowstone, after visiting Salt Lake City for

3 days for the Winter Olympics. My main purpose of this vacation is

to enjoy the events, enjoy the skiing and the scenics, with few

occassions to focus on high quality photos. I will be travelling

with the following equipment, a tripod, a brand new Nikon N80 which I

am still learning, a recently repaired spare camera Nikon 6006 with

which I am more familiar, a Nikon 70-300 4/5.6 Ed Af-d, a 24mm MF,

and a 35mm-80mm AF zoom. I want to purchase either a 50mm F1.4 or a

28-105mm zoom before I go. I will be shooting either Velvia or the

brand new Fuji NPZ 800 print film. I also carry an APS P&S with

Nexia 400 for a photojournalist log of the vacation.

 

Any tips for catching the action of the Olympics? Might bring

monopod, but limited by security.

Feb 10, Ski Jumping finals outdoors

Feb 11, Ladies Downhill finals outdoors

Feb 11, Pairs Figure Skating Finals indoors

Feb 12, Cross Country Ski finals outdoors

 

Then 4 nights Cross Country skiing with Yellowstone Expeditions near

the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. More activity based time than

photography, so any handheld advice is welcome. Will ski with one

body and one lens, no tripod. Which should I purchase 50mm or 28-

105mm zoom? I plan to keep camera and lens in my daypack. I will

keep spare batteries close to warm body. Any tips with dealing with

cold for equipment, particularly moving between warm sleeping lodges

and cold outdoors?

 

Then 3 nights at Old Faithful Snow Lodge (I will get up at sunrise

both days) Skiing during the day to Fairy Falls 1 day and possibly

Mallard Lake another day. Any favorite spots to shoot within walking

distance of Lodge for sunrise? Any other good scenics within skiing

distance?

 

Then 2 nights at Mammoth Lakes Hot Springs for Winter Wolf program.

We will be on snowshoes sometimes and have van support to Lamar

Valley. I will be shooting with my 300mm F5.6 lens and probably

compensate for slow lens with ISO 800 film. Any tips for

photographing wolves with a relatively short slow lens?

[gary_marshall]

I will also bring a circular polarizing filter and a 81b warming filter for each lens, to be used only for scenics.

[dan_smith]

Be prepared for the real possibility of major smog in SLC. Eye & lung burning smog as we have had for the past 3 weeks. Thicker than week old pancake batter.

Don't plan on taking you car too many places during the Olympics as traffic will be a major FUBAR the whole time, especially if a nice winter storm hits & dumps some good snow or we warm up & then get a really good freeze. Do you have studded snow tires? Or carry chains in the car? Some of the places you may want to drive have chain or snow tire restrictions, for good reason.

Bring or buy some of the portable hand warmer packets, they may come in very handy as you will be standing around a lot.

Other than that, enjoy the Olympic experience & watch your wife so the polygs 'on the hunt' don't try to kidnap her.

[ShunCheung]

First of all, I need to remind everybody that sports photography (such as at the Olympics) is not nature photography, but if we would like to have a short discussion about that here, Bob Atkins probably won't object.

 

I was living in Los Angeles during the 1984 summer Olympics. Before the Olympics, everybody was really concerned about traffic jams, crowds, etc. etc. on top of the horrible traffic that is the norm in Los Angeles. A lot of people decided to leave town for vacation (that was during the summer, of course). It turned out that traffic had never been smoother during the Olympics because a lot of local folks were out of town. I was a poor grad student and couldn't go anywhere but got to enjoy a relatively quiet Los Angeles. As far as smog goes, that is the norm for Los Angeles too. There was no snow though. :-)

[Two23]

I posted an answer to this one yesterday, and it didn't show up? Do I not know how to look for it? Basic advice was to get up an hour before dawn at Snow Lodge as the dining room is VERY slow and crowded. I also recommended renting a snowmobile as X/C skiing takes forever as trails are usually rough. The snowcoach tours are virtually worthless for serious photographers--by the time you get your tripod set up and take a light reading everyone else is back in the coach waiting impatiently. To get to Fairy Falls, get a ride out to the drop off road and ski back. Best place to stay when not at Snow Lodge is Chico. Don't bother with a 50mm lens, but if you have that kind of money get a 28mm shift lens instead for the waterfalls. My most used lens was the 18-35mm Nikkor with 35mm, and my Bronica 40mm (equiv. to 24mm) on my 645. Be careful using a polarizer as the sky will turn black if used to max effect. I go every year, usually in Jan., but this year I'm waiting until the end of Feb. as there isn't much snow yet. Very doubtful you will get a shot of wolves, or even see much more than tracks. Minnesota is a better bet for wolves. You would probably be better off spending the time on a snowmobile and catching the swans on Firehole River or visiting the thermals such as West Thumb. The trek to Tower Falls is nice. Bring crampons if you have them (not necessary but nice to have.) My best shot of my last trip was Fairy Falls, shot with my 28mm shift lens. BTW, it's rarely really cold there. Temps are usually in the +20's. That's 40 degrees warmer than where I live! If it's been too warm for nice ice to form, Fairy Falls might not be worth the effort.

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Kent in SD

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<I>Kent, I assume that you posted to the right thread. If it doesn't show up, it probably means it wasn't posted successfully and your message is lost, unfortunately. -- Shun Cheung</I>

[Two23]

I forgot to add that metering is very difficult there. You should consider getting a cheap incident light meter. Otherwise, carry a gray card and meter off that. Do NOT trust your in camera meter! At Fairy Falls, there is some nice gray rock up high to the right that you can spot meter from to get a reading. Learn how to use your exposure compensation before you go or you will be very disappointed. I suggest bracketing often if you are inexperienced at shooting in snow. If shooting print film, shoot one shot at meter suggestion and one at +1 compensation. Use sunny 16 when applicable. Metering can drive you nuts there! Very little is neutral. If you plan on being out all day, I suggest bringing lots of water. The air at that altitude is very dry. Get into good shape too! Don't wear any cotton next to your skin if X/C skiing as it will become soaking wet quickly and then make you cold. Thermax underwear is the best.

 

 

Kent in SD

[dan_smith]

More on Salt Lake.

Per the Mayor of SLC today on an interview. NO small planes will be allowed in Olympic airspace & any that do stray will be shot down by F16 fighters that will be patrolling the skies. NO private planes will be using the airports near SLC, but outlying areas & then driving into Olympic venues.

Expect the traffic in the valley up to Park City to be bumper to bumper every day of the competition with waits of 3 hours or more for what is normally a 45 minute drive.

Per the head of "Homeland Stupidity", SLC will be the safest place in the world during the Olympics, no matter what it takes. We have already spent over $300 million & there is more where that is from.

 

 

Maybe if some of this hot air were directed up we could get rid of the smog that is blanketing the area.

Be ready for security checks everywhere with possible hassles if you have cameras, film & long lenses. Normally normal, they are now objects of fear for some reason.

Be sure to carry picture ID from a "Government agency" or face the real threat of being detained, possibly for days, until fingerprints & proof of identification can be established. (per SLC mayors office)

 

O yes, "enjoy your visit".

[craig_gillette]

I'll assume you can xc ski, I used to a little and pushed both a Nikon ActionTouch and a Fujica HDS into the snow several times. They and I survived.

 

The 28-105 has more versatility than the 50, FWIW. There are "clamp-pods" that could be used to clamp to a ski pole and other things like trees, rails, etc. to add stability if needed.

 

The Old Faithful SnowLodge is quite close to Old Faithful and a fairly extensive geyser basin and river. I'd expect that area will be easily accessible and if it's anything as interesting in winter as it is in fall/spring, you'll have lot's of opportunites quite close to your lodging. the location of trails should allow you to position steam and geysers for direct or backlighting and there should be some animal presence in the area as well. IIRC correctly there are a couple of other falls, geysers/hot pools and river/canyon areas pretty close as well.

[jeff_nelson3]

I would much rather have a small zoom lens on a xc outing with a chest pack for those quick action shots. The ski pole makes for a good mono pod, And before I come in from the cold I put my camera & lens in a gallon size zip lock bag to protect them from condensation.

A micro-fiber lens cloth is a pretty handy item in cold temps as well. And a 1.4 tele-converter might help photographing the wolves. Sounds like a fun trip. Good Luck.

[gary_marshall]

At this point I am leaning towards the more versatile lens (28-105mm), although I am sorely lacking on my primes, especially a fast lens (such as the 50mm f1.4).

 

Now I would like to consider a 1.4 tele-converter. That would raise my slow 300mm f5.6 zoom to 420mm f8, I believe. I will be shooting in early morning light in snow. Will E200 slide film be too slow at f8? Should I just go with NPZ 800 print film? Is there any obvious things to look for in a teleconverter? I do not intend to become a dedicated nature photographer, lugging big glass. I would rather lug a 4x5 field camera for scenics in the future.

[ShunCheung]

I don't think a 1.4x TC is a good idea for a 300mm/f5.6 lens (including a zoom with that max focal length). A telephoto with a max f8 aperture will be difficult to focus, especially manually. In your case you'll most likely lose AF unless you can find some 3rd-party TC that permits you to AF, and even so AF at f8 isn't going to be reliable.

[jeff_nelson3]

I agree with Shun that the 1.4 tc is problematic in regards to the 300 5.6. And alot depends on what your planning on doing with the images when you get home. But I have gotten publishable images with a 400 5.6 with a 1.4tc. It would definatly require good lighting and a solid tripod, and you mentioned you had van support while photographing in Lamar so packing the tri-pod should'nt be a problem. I mainly shoot low speed film, 50 and 100 because I'm selling in the editorial market. What your intended use for your images will help you decide what type of film you use.

P.S. My impatient wife has evolved into my greatest support.

Good luck!

[rick_wong]

Hi Gary

We spent Christmas in Yellowstone this winter and it was great!

We were at old Faithfull for two days and I wished we stayed longer. There is just so much to see and photograph at old faithful that you do not have enough time. The first day there I started at 5 AM and headed down to Daisy to photograph the sunrise. (great location for sunrise just north of Daisy near Main Road) I was planning to go to Mystic Falls but never made because of all the sights just going there. I ended up at Biscut Basin for over three hours. I findly got back to the lodge after 5pm. needless to say my wife was kind of upset. Just exploring the boardwalk you will find all kind of subjects. I found that if you replace your camera bag with an cooler and keep the batteries in your pocket untill needed you can shoot all day in the cold.(your camera will not fogup going from warm to cold but it will going from cold to warm).

 

I also found that photographing the hot springs at mammoth up close was a wast of time. (too much steam and when the steam blew towards you your lens will ice up.) "Much like photographing waterfalls up close"

 

As for animals they are all over and pretty much near the roads. The one wolf that was within my 400mm range was near the road just before the paint pots. The rest in Lamar valley were tiny specks. The shot of the Coyote at the kill was about 50 yards off the road shot with my 400 5.6 (photo can be seen at:) http://eportfolio.studio.adobe.com/user/rickwong/7466

 

Snowshoes are great for getting you away from the roads but most shot can be made from the road. The bull elks were shot no more than 25 to 100 feet from the road. I was able to get some good shots with my canon G1 digital point and shoot of these bulls. (hint shoot at first light and be back by 10 AM to have breakfast with your wife so she can sleep in and not have to wait around for you.) Elk are all over Mammoth you will not have any problems finding them. They sleep near the hotsprings and come down to feed in the morning. If you are looking for the Big horn sheep I found them near the Boiling River. They can be anywhere near the road or up on the ridge.

 

Have fun "Later Rick"<div></div>

[dan_smith]

If you go to the Salt Lake Tribune website you can read about the SLC Airport being closed during opening and closing ceremonies during the Olympic games. "you have plenty of time to change your plans" is the gist of the commentary.

This stuff gets better every day. Arrive at a time other than opening & closing ceremonies or you may find yourself missing the trip altogether.

[brett_duval]

I'm not sure Dan's if excited about the Olympics being in Utah or not. At least you don't have my problem. I work at the U of Utah and my lab is right across the street from the olympic village. That means my car gets searched every time I go to work, along with a few hundred other cars going to work, too. I'm planning on leaving some reading material in the car.

 

 

The outdoor events you are attending should be far enough away from the Salt Lake Valley and high enough that the smog won't be a problem. If we do get a high pressure system here at that time, it will catch a lot of smog in the valley, so don't expect much for pictures there. Personally, I'd dress warm, put the 70-300 on my camera, bring plenty of film, batteries, and hot chocolate with some peppermint schnaps in it. Even if you don't get great pictures you should get some pretty good memories. Be patient and try to enjoy yourself.