Natural Vision Photography

Photo of the Week! Temperance River State Park

2012-02-12T09:29:00.000-06:00

Nikon D7000, 12-24mm, f16, ISO 200, 3 shot HDR I'm trying to remember warmer times in Minnesota. Winter hasn't been that rough this year, we've hardly had any snow and for the most part its been in the 30-40's. However, the last few days has been much much colder. This photo is from Temperance River State Park along Minnesota's north shore. The state park system on the north shore is

Photo of the Week! Bow Falls, Without the Falls!

2012-02-05T11:28:00.001-06:00

This amazing view is from Bow Falls in Banff National Park. At the urging of Derek I went back through my Lightroom catalog in search of some photos that I overlooked. Well here it is... I overlooked this one! This was an incredible place. The falls were off to the left and there were fisherman off to the right. Of course the water color is amazing and the highway of rocks takes your view to

Photo of the Week! Gray Jay

2012-01-29T11:51:00.000-06:00

Nikon D90, Nikkor 300mm f2.8, ISO 500, f8, 1/200 Chad and I are planing on heading to northern Minnesota later this week or early next week. I thought I would share a photo from our last trip up north. This Gray Jay was flying back and forth from this perch to a much larger tree. We spend a couple of hours shooting trying various in flight and perch shots. As the light got lower and lower

Photo of the Week! Prepare for Flight

2012-01-22T16:28:00.000-06:00

Nikon D90, 150-500mm @500mm, ISO 500, f7.1, 1/1250 Keeping up with my Trumpeter Swan theme this week; I made this image in Monticello, Minnesota where the swans congregation by the hundreds each winter. There is a power plant up river keeping the water mostly free of ice. Early mornings are my favorite time of day to photograph swans because of the added fog/mist from the warm water. This

Photo of the Week! Misty Swans

2012-01-15T08:39:00.000-06:00

Nikon D90, Sigma 150-500mm @500mm, ISO 400, f8, 1/640 A couple of weeks ago I drove up to my favorite swan location in Minnesota to photography Trumpeter Swans. To my disappointment I didn't see a single swan. I have been to this location several times and on a bad day there would be hundreds, swimming, flying, and sleeping. I went home and did the next best thing, process old files. I

Favorite Photo of 2011 by Chad Griggs

2012-01-08T01:32:00.000-06:00

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS @ ISO 500, f/7.1, 1/2500 Oh it's that time of year again and this time the choice was fairly easy one. The Common Loon is Minnesota's official state bird and I always wanted to get a good photograph of one. Finding a Loon in Minnesota is not the issue. They can be found on most of Minnesota's 10,000+ lakes. The issue isn't even approaching them (for the most

Favorite Photo of 2011 by Derek Griggs

2012-01-02T19:40:00.000-06:00

Gooseberry Falls State Park, Minnesota Nikon D7000, 24mm, f13, ISO 200, 2 seconds Choosing just one photo this year proved to be more difficult than I expected. Maybe it was because last year I had a clear favorite? Or I took better photos? I'm not sure. I can say that I had a great year of photography. It started with picking up a new camera (Nikon D7000). No, its not a pro camera body,

Top 10 Photos of 2011 by Derek Griggs

2011-12-29T17:04:00.001-06:00

2011 was another great year for photography! I was able to shoot on the warm beaches of Pensacola Florida, stand in -20 degree weather in northern Minnesota, and visit my favorite shooting location: Yellowstone National Park. I have to say it was harder than I expect to choose just 10 favorites from the year, but here goes anyway! I added a short description to each photo below the image.

Photo of the Week! Bull Elk

2011-12-26T11:30:00.000-06:00

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/TC14e II @420mm, f5, ISO 500, 1/160 Another image from my fall 2011 trip to Yellowstone National Park. I was lucky enough to have easy access each day to this bull elk near West Yellowstone, MT. I was amazed at the size these animals but that sure didn't stop folks from walking entirely too close to get photos with their iPhones or point and shoot cameras.

Photo of the Week! White-tail Deer

2011-12-18T18:20:00.000-06:00

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 500mm f/4 AFS @ ISO 800 f/5.6, 1/400 I photographed this white-tail deer recently at a local park. Derek and I were in search for some big bucks, but this opportunity presented itself.

Challenge: Select your Favorite Photo from 2011

2011-12-15T09:04:00.000-06:00

Nikon D90, 12-24mm @f14, ISO 200, circular polarizer, Photo by Derek Griggs (click for full size) My favorite photo from 2010 came from Yellowstone National Park along the Nez Perce Creek. Chad and I stopped along the road to watch a buffalo graze off in the distance. I walked a short distance with my long lens and realized that the buffalo isn't what I should be pointing my camera at.

Future Natural Vision Photographer

2011-12-11T20:14:00.001-06:00

The Natural Vision Photography family is growing. My wife Liza and I had our first child last week. Mason Michael Griggs was born on December 5, 2011. Derek is now an uncle! Now the question will be, how long until he gets his first camera!

Behind the Image: Willet

2011-12-04T08:29:00.001-06:00

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/TC14 @420mm, SB 800 flash, f5.6, ISO 800, 1/2000 Ever since I picked up my new computer a week ago I have been flying through my photos. I have mentioned it before, but one of my favorite things to do is go back through older photos to see what I may have missed. This photo is from my trip to Pensacola Beach Florida last April. I woke up before the rest of

Photo of the Week! Norris Geyser Basin

2011-11-27T10:45:00.001-06:00

Nikon D7000, 12-24mm @14, ISO 125, 1/125, f8 I decided to share another photo from the Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park. Yesterday, I bought a new iMac computer and have been flying through my photos. My old computer couldn't keep up with Lightroom 3 and CS5 so I had to stop processing till yesterday. Norris Geyser Basin is slowly turning into one of my favorite stops in

Photo of the Week! Steamboat Geyser

2011-11-20T08:05:00.002-06:00

Nikon D7000, 12-24mm, ISO 125, f8, 1/20, 3 shot HDRNorris Geyers Basin was a location that I wanted to visit the whole time I was in Yellowstone National Park. I was waiting for the prefect moment, and it happened on my last night in the park. All week as many of you know, it was snowy, cloudy, and cold. As I was working my way to the Norris Geyer Basin a beautiful sunset emerged from the clouds

Photo of the Week! Bison Couple

2011-11-13T08:35:00.001-06:00

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/TC14e II, ISO 400, f4, 1/800 Just off of the Nex Perce Creek in Yellowstone National Park was a large herd of bison. This bison couple was on the edge of the herd near the creek making it easier for me to isolate. Just as I set up my camera the male picked his massive head up from grazing to stare at me. He took a moment to check me out then continued to

Photo of the Week! Hayden Valley

2011-11-06T10:58:00.001-06:00

Nikon D7000, 12-24mm, ISO 500, f6.3, 3 shot HDR This shot was taken shortly after my grizzly encounter near Norris Picnic area. Hayden Valley was absolutely gorgeous the I was driving around. The sun popped out for the first time during my trip, the buffalo were everywhere, and the temps jumped up to make if feel warmer than it had been. Sometime in the near future I'll stitch together

Elk Panorama

2011-10-30T09:50:00.001-05:00

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 70-200mm VR I, ISO, f5, ISO 640 Half of this photo is my favorite from day 1 in Yellowstone National Park. While I was waiting to catch my flight home at the Bozeman airport. I stitched two HDR photos together in CS5. I like the painterly feeling of this panorama. I really feel like it shows the viewer what the mood was like when I took the photo. I still have many

Photo of the Week! Bison

2011-10-24T08:23:00.000-05:00

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/TC14e II, ISO 640, f4, 1/800, +2/3ev This bison was grazing along the Nez Perce Creek in Yellowstone National Park. This was just one of a large herd that was gazing in an open field all week long.

Nez Perce Creek pt. II

2011-10-17T08:44:00.003-05:00

Nikon D7000, 12-24mm @22mm, ISO 200, f16 2011 One of the places I wanted to make a stop at while in Yellowstone National Park was the scene where I took my favorite image from last years trip (photo below). It's a very nondescript location right off the road along the Nez Perce Creek. I knew it was going to be difficult to replicate that magical moment from last year. This year it

Yellowstone Day 5, My final Day

2011-10-12T10:54:00.001-05:00

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/TC14e II, ISO 500, f4.5, 1/160, +1/3ev On day 5 I had limited time in the park so I could catch my flight home. At one point, I thought about not going into the park for the few hours I had. Well, I'm glad that I didn't skip out on it. My plan was to stay between West Yellowstone and Madison Junction and looking for the bull elk that had been hanging out

Yellowstone Day 4

2011-10-11T08:47:00.001-05:00

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/TC14e II, ISO 640, f7.1, 1/320 On day 4, I headed south to Grand Teton National Park. I woke up early so I could get to Oxbow Bend shortly after sunrise. Once I got to GTNP the clouds once again took over the skyline. I could see parts of Mt. Moran once I entered the park, but it was intermittently at best. I headed further into the park to find out the

Yellowstone Day 3

2011-10-09T22:13:00.000-05:00

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8, ISO 200, f5, 1/400 Day three was a long day in the park. It started early so I could make the trek from West Yellowstone to Lamar Valley. As some of you may know, Chad and I had an absolute blast out there last year. I knew it was remote that I would come across a elk carcass that was near the road that wolves were feeding off like last year, but I had to try

Yellowstone Day 2

2011-10-08T08:29:00.002-05:00

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 300mm f2.8 w/TC14e II, f/4, ISO 640 Day 2 was a difficult and frustrating one for the first part. Due to road conditions all roads in the park were closed at one point. The Rangers told me to check back in a few hours to see if road conditions have improved. When I came back to the west entrance a few hours later there was a long line of cars heading into the park. When I was

Yellowstone Day 1

2011-10-07T09:02:00.000-05:00

Nikon D7000, Sigma 24-70 @70mm, ISO 640, f5, +2/3ev, 3 Shot HDR As many of you may know, I'm in West Yellowstone right now on my fall trip in Yellowstone National Park. I have been watching the weather on and off for the past couple of weeks. The forecast for the area was rain/snow Thursday and Friday October 6th & 7th. The second that I arrived here it started snowing. I quickly checked