A full month has officially passed in 2012. How are you resolutions coming along? Are you lulling yourself back into your habitual patterns, or are you moving forward, full-steam ahead with exciting plans to change your life for the better? Many people don’t feel accomplishing your goals is possible because of "today’s economy."

"Today’s economy" is a phrase that I typically avoid because it paints a very bleak picture with little hope for anyone outside of the elite rich. If you look a little closer though, you see much more going on than just businesses all over the country collapsing.

While you certainly do see large businesses taking a significant hit, you also see something amazing happening with individuals: sole proprietors and smaller, locally-owned businesses are thriving! Even in just photography, you see more photographers than ever successfully pursuing their passions, among many other fields. You can even see it outside of the creative realm; employees of larger companies simply quitting because the call of being self-employed is simply too tempting to ignore. With so many people making a successful transition as well, the fear of failure is also diminishing.

So what is going on here? If the economy is really collapsing, then how come so many self-employed people are thriving the way they are? It’s simple. I personally see "today’s economy" as the world simply changing the way it does business. You can see that companies that don’t fully grasp the Internet and social media are the ones that are getting left behind. What does that mean for you? It means there has never been a better time in history to follow your dreams and pursue your passion because thanks to the diversity of life on the Internet, there is now a market for absolutely any kind of niche you might have. Coupled with social media practices that, compared to marketing practices prior to the Internet, take hardly any time to learn, you have any and all opportunities just waiting for you to pounce on them. Every creative idea "in today’s economy" has enormous potential for success. Even Allen Murabayashi of PhotoShelter believes that this is the golden age of photography.

As John Muir once said, "The power of imagination makes us infinite." We’re now one month into 2012. What are you doing to accelerate your business and life? Where are you going to allow your imagination to take you in "today’s economy"?

For those of us who are either near or farsighted, glasses are a very nice convenience when you don’t feel like bothering with contact lenses, nor do they wind up irritating our eyes after a certain amount of time. Despite the conveniences though, I’ve become much more motivated to wear contacts more while shooting out in the cold after yesterday’s experience.

My plan was to drive up into Grand Teton National Park to do a snowshoe hike to try to catch a few landscapes and hope to have a run-in with a critter or two. I parked at my eventual destination and found my roommate there looking into the trees with his camera, so I knew he had spotted something of interest. Sure enough, he was fixed on a great gray owl in the trees who flew back toward the base of a hill just as I had gotten out of my car. I figured I could postpone my hike for a few minutes to try to get a good shot the owl, so I snowshoed in a bit to get a better fix on him. He had perched himself on a relatively low branch, making for great photo opportunities in that sense, but had apparently chosen to take a nap.

Being dressed more for exercise in 20 degrees rather than standing in 20 degrees, I began to feel the cold making its way through my layers, and was about ready to leave for a hike, when I realized that my roommate and I had already been standing there for two hours waiting for it to move. At a certain point, you realize you have too much time invested in an animal, so your priorities begin to shift so that you don’t miss the opportunity that you sat (or in my case, stood) around waiting for. Two hours turned into three, which turned into four. At four hours (which oddly enough seemed to go by quicker than you’d think), I opted to try to find a different angle as I saw some light breaking through the clouds and hitting his side. I was able to get a few great shots with the light and noticed his eyes eventually beginning to open, which prompted his head to begin looking around much more. Since the largest opening was back on the other side, I anticipated that he’d fly from over there, so I made my way back, and moments later he turned around on the branch, scouring the landscape that was previously behind him.

Approaching five hours now, I moved around some trees to be right in front of his path because I was now determined to get something from all the waiting. After all, seeing a great gray owl fly is a very beautiful action to witness, but watching one take a nap does tend to get boring. With my excitement beginning to build back up, I made my way nearby him, but was still close enough to a tree to not be obstructing him should he choose to fly in my direction. With my fingers now approaching numbness even with gloves, I did my best to keep them warm between getting some closeup shots and zooming out in case he would choose to fly. Over and over again I practiced feeling the buttons I would need to have my fingers ready to push to alter my settings should he fly out: AI Servo mode, focus, and of course, the shutter. I even left my lens zoomed out so I was ready in every case to catch it, or so I thought.

Finally, he began to perch up and sure enough, he spread his wings and took flight! I had everything set on my camera just right to catch him and all that practice while waiting was paying off. To make it even better, he was flying directly toward me. Despite the overwhelming optimism I was feeling, I was still able to keep everything under control in the fractions of a second that were passing as he left the branch. There was one thing I hadn’t accounted for though: with my camera pressed firmly against my left eye, my glasses began to immediately fog up. Almost as soon as the owl left the branch, the scene was a complete blur and I lost him as he blended with trees and brush in the background broken up with large white splotches of snow. The above image is the last image that came out in focus before he dropped a couple of feet and realizing I had lost him, I pulled my camera down just a bit to see what had happened and noticed out of the corner of my eye, him flying within one foot to the right of my head. It was bittersweet as the rush of getting buzzed (for the second time in a year) by a great gray owl made me giddy, but missing the best of the shots of it were a bit upsetting.

Nevertheless, I was very happy to see this shot come out beautifully, and I learned a valuable lesson about wearing glasses in freezing weather. If you aren’t blessed with 20/20 vision and you live in a cold climate during the winter, you may want to keep that in mind.

It’s easy to enjoy receiving feedback from others, and in many cases, it provides helpful tips and techniques to help us evolve. There are times, however, where we let other peoples’ opinions dictate how we should be following our passion. Consistently following their advice, no matter what their rank or recognition or how well-meaning they mean to be, can be detrimental to your work.

The title of this blog post could be misinterpreted to mean create a body of work that awes and inspires them, rather than giving them something to critique. Yet I don’t mean that at all. When I say "silence your critics," I mean let them say whatever they want, but don’t let somebody else’s subjective opinions define how you should express yourself.

You’re working in your way because you have your own voice to share. When someone says that you should follow process A, or make your work look more like Role Model B, then that completely contradicts the entire reason you’re trying to establish yourself in the art world. Every single person has their own unique way of portraying their passion through their work. When you allow others’ feedback to alter that flow of creativity, then you’re stalling on the evolution of your own body of work simply to make one other person happy. It’s ok though. Eventually you’ll learn that you can’t please that one person no matter what you do, and soon enough you’ll learn that there’s no point in pleasing anybody with your work because they’re all going to want you to express yourself the way they wish they could express themselves.

I’m not saying don’t ever take feedback. Sometimes somebody has a tip that might help you evolve in a quicker way than you would have. What I’m saying is just don’t begin creating work to please somebody else. It’s your art and your expression. Every single person is here to express themselves in their own unique way. "So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." (-Mark Twain) Do so in the way that feels the best and most appropriate to you, and you’re much more likely to leave something that lasts for ages.

I have a few good friends who occasionally allow me the opportunity to plug in to their longer lenses. During this time, it’s tempting to get as much as I can from one of those lenses, even if it might not necessarily be the best lens for the specific scene.

Prior to today, winter had seemed to be put on hold as temperatures were unusually warm, rising into the 20s and 30s, melting what little snow was already on the ground. Flat Creek in the National Elk Refuge was certainly no exception. Normally completely frozen over, an area just outside of town was mostly thawed out, attracting many birds and smaller wildlife that normally move to more open water. Otters in particular have been spotted fairly regularly now, attracting a growing fondness from Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Animals like these are particularly tempting to use the longest focal length on, but as you can see from the above image, wouldn’t make nearly as interesting a photo.

The above image was taken at 320mm on my Canon 7D, using a 100-400mm lens. Had it been taken on a 600mm, it would have completely cropped out the entire top portion of the photo, which is one of the key factors that makes this photo so interesting. The otter itself might not be as big as it would be in a 600mm, but there’s still plenty of information for you to see what it is, as well as put it into perspective of its habitat.

Before you plug into a larger lens, check a few compositions to make sure it’s the right lens.

We’re now fresh into a new year, and perhaps it’s just the energy surrounding such a point in time, but I feel, like many, to push the limits of what I was able to accomplish last year. It might be just another day, but with it representing such a long period of time, it’s used almost as a placebo to reinvigorate change in our lives. It causes many to reflect on what they did or did not accomplish in the prior year and reevaluate their goals, both short and long term.

In reflecting back on my last year, I found it to be successful, but I saw a great deal of room for improvement. While I was often out on my own, there were certainly times where I procrastinated in doing more and venturing out to find my own wildlife experiences just in case I were to get word of a specific sighting, mostly grizzly bear, from a friend in close proximity. This year I intend to go out into Grand Teton National Park with a different attitude, which is simply, you can’t rely on friends to create opportunities for you, no matter how close to you or well-meaning they are. It’s one thing if you’re on your way in that general direction, and they tell you about something you were already heading toward, or vice versa, but it’s another thing to sit around all day waiting for something to happen. Instead, life is much more exciting when you simply get out and start creating your own opportunities and experiences!

I have everything in place to make this year much better than the last by doing just that, and I have no intention to hold back on any of it. What are some things you plan on doing to make this better?

Just something to think about for the new year.

Turn pretty much anywhere and you can find hype of "the end of the world." Is there really anything to be worried about, or is it just Y2K all over again? My opinion based on what I’ve read about the Mayans (which was quite a bit a few years back) is what follows.

The world as we know it will, in fact, end on the winter solstice of 2012. However, this does not mean that the world will end, nor civilization or anything like that. Anybody who says the contrary is probably just trying to sell you a movie ticket you’ll regret accepting, or something along those lines. The accurate translation is that our fear-based way of life that has persisted for thousands of years will end, ushering in a new era of cooperation and love-based mindsets. In fact, it’s already started. Compare the last 20 years with the last 200 years. Look at all the revolutions that have taken place and the way advertising has shifted to reflect this, just to name a couple of examples.

It’s not that one day, we’re going to wake up on the winter solstice of 2012 and see a completely different world. Instead, what’s happening around us today and in the years prior is leading up to a revolution in our consciousness that will climax on that date. You can see examples all around us: revolutions in the Middle East; the Occupy Wall Street Movement, fed up with how secretive governments operate; advertising based on love rather than fear; and much more.

So, is this what’s actually going to happen? No one knows for certain. This is just what I believe based on what I’ve read and I’ve certainly seen enough evidence to account for it, but we all have our own points of view. My advice to you is, if it really is the end of the world, then live like it’s your last year on Earth. If everything keeps going into 2013 as I’ve described, or even unchanged, then you’ll not only have had best year of your life, but you’ll also have a good blueprint for continuing that enjoyment.

Pilgrim Mountain in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming rests under glowing sunset clouds.

I found myself rather unproductive in early 2011 in terms of stills. With the recent purchase of a 7D and getting it up to working order, as well as discovering time-lapse photography, my still photography became a bit stagnant. As a result, most of my work was in the form of a time-lapse and before finding a good balance of time-lapse, video and still, I even wondered if I would move entirely into video. Eventually the balance did work itself out and once I had my 7D back and functioning properly the following spring, it was full-steam ahead in every direction!

I discovered this image during that time after forgetting about it. I was looking back through a day in January where I hadn’t shot very much at all, but saw potential in a nice sunset above Pilgrim Mountain. I began to play with the cropping, and in cropping it down to a panorama, really liked what had come out.

February

Kepler Cascades of the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park

While still in time-lapse mode, I was invited to join another photographer whose work I admire greatly to the interior of Yellowstone National Park in the dead of winter, a new experience for both of us. With cloudy skies for pretty much the entire trip, I got plenty of video in addition to stills of the bison that frequented the geyser area we were staying at. My favorite shot, however, came on our way out as we were being called back to the snowcoach. To avoid vibrations and potential bumps from the groups stopped at Kepler Cascades, I waited around for them to disperse, eyeing my potential shot. By the time I was all set up, the driver began calling back to us to move on. I took a couple of quick shots, and upon my return home, was delighted to see it turned out just as I had hoped.

March

A great grey owl rests in northern Jackson, Wyoming.

With my 7D going in and out of repair (calling the repair facility rather than the regular help line proved exponentially more helpful in the end), I wound up filling nearly all of March with unusable still shots. One of the few shots that did come out was when I was able to plug into a friend’s 600mm lens while great gray owls were frequenting a particular area. Shortly after, I got to the bottom of my 7D’s issues and began using it much more effectively.

April

Earth’s Shadow settles behind the Teton Mountains and Oxbow Bend of Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

Starting in April, I began taking a friend up on her invitation to crash on her guest bed at Jackson Lake Lodge. Things were beginning to pick up in terms of wildlife and that area was a prime location, so why wouldn’t I?

During one extended stay up there, after not receiving much snow for a while, a rather large snow storm came through and gave everybody a reminder that winter wasn’t quite over yet. The result was a landscape that went from patchy snow in most places, to a scene more reminiscent of January. On a subsequent morning, I headed for sunrise at Oxbow Bend and found the water thawed in a nearly mid-winter scene. Earth’s shadow was setting behind Mount Moran and the Tetons, making a very scenic panorama.

May

The last light of the day hits the Sleeping Indian as it is shrouded in clouds above Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Wildlife was emerging and snow was melting everywhere, yet late in May, one of my favorite shots still came as a reminder of how much snow we had gotten that season. Sheep Mountain, aka The Sleeping Indian (see it?), was still buried in dozens of feet of snow and were it not for the dark hill in the foreground, could still pass as a winter shot. The snow took exceptionally long to melt away from the mountains in 2011, as mid-June looked more like mid-May. More evidence was shown to us when a friend and I hiked the Teton Crest Trail at the very end of August. While most people hike in mid-August for peak wildflowers, they hadn’t even hit their peak during our trek through at the end of August.

June

Grizzly Bear #399 nurses her three cubs of the year of 2011 in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

There’s little doubt that Grizzly Bear #399 and her three cubs had an enormous impact on my life three years prior. In 2011, she emerged yet again with three new cubs of her own and with my new schedule freelancing, I was able to keep an eye on frequently, capturing many shots that I normally wouldn’t have. In addition to #399, her daughter #610 also kept such a close proximity that while no one was looking, #399 even gave one of her cubs to her daughter to look after. As if it wasn’t great enough seeing those bears several times a week, there was even another grizzly nicknamed, Blondie or Butterball, that frequented many of the same areas.

I was able to capture this shot of Grizzly Bear #399 while a good friend allowed me to use her 500mm lens. It was after sunset and I was beginning to get ready to pack up when I noticed that I was still getting good-looking and sharp shots, so I kept shooting and was able to capture her nursing her cubs in both still and video format, among other shots of her and her cubs that evening.

July

Phelps Lake in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming reflects clouds in the sky on a still, summer morning.

As the days began to warm, grizzly bear sightings became less frequent, as did the snow at lower elevations. I began to make good use of that doing one of my favorite past-times: hiking! With trails in lower elevations finally becoming more accessible, I began exploring them as I love to do.

On my way into Death Canyon on one day, there was an immaculate reflection in Phelps Lake. While photos emerge from this particular location just about every day, I was awestruck by the reflection from the clouds in the completely still waters of the lake. It stuck out as one of my favorite shots from that month.

August

Shadow Mountain in Bridger-Teton National Forest is silhouetted in front of northern lights above Jackson Hole.

August was an incredibly difficult month to narrow down. While taking full advantage of the snow now gone, I was camping frequently, as well as backpacking into places like Turquoise Lake of the Gros Ventres, the North Fork of Cascade Canyon, and the Teton Crest Trail, all providing some of the best landscapes I had ever gotten.

My favorite shot though (at least at the time of putting this post together), came from early in the month while camping on Shadow Mountain with the expectation of northern lights that night. Sure enough, they were out before dusk had even faded, but flared up very nicely after dark, at which point I decided a panorama would be an ideal capture of the auroras in all their glory.

September

Bull Moose in Fall Foliage

With all the snow we had gotten earlier in the season, fall seemed to come early this year due to such a short window for summer. Nevertheless, it had arrived bringing yellow leaves all over the valley. Fall is more than just color in Jackson Hole though. It also provides ample opportunity to see even more wildlife as animals begin mating and preparing for winter. Moose, such as this bull, frequent cottonwood trees along the Gros Ventre River providing some of the best shots possible of these majestic creatures. With early temperatures dipping into freezing temperatures, it makes for great shots when you’re able to capture their breath as well.

October

Bison in Sagebrush

With plenty of fall colors still stretching out into October, photographers were taking every opportunity of the slightly extended season to capture what they could.

On one such occasion, I stopped to observe some bison and with them approaching, was able to come away with one of my favorite bison shots as he made a slight veer in my direction.

November

Sunrise lights up the bottom of Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

My entire month of November was spent on the road in the southwest. I passed through western Colorado, spent time in northern New Mexico, headed up to Moab, Utah and then dropped down to Phoenix, Arizona to visit some friends before heading back up through southern Utah. I came away with some shots that I was very happy with as well as experiences from both new and old places that only increased my appreciation for the Colorado Plateau. As such, it was yet another difficult decision to narrow down the shots, yet given that I was running to Mesa Arch in Canyonlands National Park as the sun was rising, I was quite happy with the way this shot came out given that I had to squeeze my way in and get everything set up just in time to click the shutter for it. I was initially disappointed that I got a few shots without the sun itself in them, but in looking at them again, I noticed that it was a much more balanced landscape that offered much better color and depth.

December

A bighorn sheep ram stands in snow against Miller Butte on the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

I returned from my trip at the very end of November, and with finding a place to live and catching up on work, wasn’t very well equipped to go out shooting right away. While I was able to make a few final observations of my favorite grizzly bears before they went into hibernation, I didn’t come away with any shots or even video worth showing. Instead, I headed over to the National Elk Refuge more often than the park to check in on the bighorn sheep since their mating season tends to run into winter. Sure enough, I was delighted to see that I hadn’t missed it and was able to watch them chase and battle for ewes around Miller Butte.

I would have expected a sparring shot to be one of my better ones, however when a ram wandered past myself and some friends in ideal light, I got several shots, later discovering that a simple standing pose was one of my favorites from the entire month.

Best Video of the Year: Teton Changes

Teton Changes was easily my favorite video from this past year. I started off the year brand new to video and not having a good sense of where I’d go with it. All I knew was that I was greatly enjoying it, but it wasn’t until I began compiling my clips into a small production that I began to really sink my teeth into the entire video experience. With each compilation I began learning what worked and what didn’t.

My last video of the year captured Grand Teton National Park during the fall season; a season that many would describe as their favorite. It’s a frantically busy time for both wildlife and photographers as wildlife is scrambling to fill up on any and all nutrition they can find before the winter sets in, while photographers are trying to squeeze as much color into each shot before leaves begin to fall off the trees.

Using a perfectly scored soundtrack by an artist called Epic Soul Factory, I was able to ideally balance the magic of the entire season to a dramatic track, culminating in a video compilation that I feel accomplishes a feat I was trying to find the balance of all year long.

I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holidays for the 2011 season!

I treated myself to a quick trip up to Kelly, Wyoming in Grand Teton National Park for the morning where I found two young bull moose in the Kelly Warm Springs runoff, one of them pictured here. With the frigid temperatures and the steam rising from the warm water, it made for some incredibly moody shots! In addition to that, I was also given my first wolf sighting of the season! This moose was certainly the better shots, but nevertheless, seeing a couple of wolves this morning definitely got me a bit more excited for some winter wildlife.

After getting life and work caught back up to normal speed after my road trip, I’ve finally been able to get out a bit more and shoot. Yesterday turned out to be a great day for it, as I joined a friend in shooting some otters right here in town. They had all but vanished by the time I had gotten there, but they eventually made their way back into close proximity, and while they were cautious of us here and there, they didn’t seem to be bothered by our presence since we didn’t pose any kind of threat. We were able to watch them find a secluded spot hidden in the grass from predators as they cleaned themselves and each other up before settling down for a nap, which we took as our cue to get out of the frigid weather and thaw out.