Spring School Portraits!

Are you tired of those same old boring school portraits? How about a 20-minute mini session for only $35.00! All images are professionally retouched and uploaded to a password-protected gallery for ordering...you are not obligated to buy packages full of unneeded prints!

 Call 605-641-2335 or email Jana at jmthompson@spe.midco.net for details!

Sharp-Tailed Grouse

It has been a lot of fun watching some new visitors to the neighborhood recently...several sharp-tailed grouse have been foraging through the trees looking for berries, spending quite a bit of time in my crabapple tree right outside my office window.

Once a sharpie sets up a territory, they are usually a permanent resident, so it will be interesting to see if these beautiful birds stick around for a while!  Several more game bird images can be viewed at Thompson Photography ~ Game Birds.  All of these images are available as fine art prints in a variety of sizes and can be ordered with mats only or matted and framed.  All custom framing and matting is done locally by Les Voorhis of Focus West Gallery, using a variety of American hardwoods, so you can be assured you are receiving a high-quality product handmade by South Dakota artists!

A Couple of Black Hills Raptors!

It was so beautiful out this afternoon, I had to get out of the house and go for a short drive!  Every morning, my husband is seeing at least 10-15 ferruginous hawks near St. Onge and Whitewood, so I headed that direction to see if I could get some good pictures.  I had only gone a couple miles when I found my first hawk, but he didn't stick around long as soon as I started to slow down!

Just around the corner, there was a kestrel having some lunch!

I got some great photos of him enjoying his lunch, and then headed towards Whitewood to see what else I could find.  Although I saw at least 10 more hawks, they were all busy hunting and most of them were too far from the road for photos.  That's okay though...it was a wonderful afternoon to get out of the house and go for a short drive!

A Visit from a Flock of Bohemian Waxwings

Every year, I get a visit from some of my favorite birds, a huge flock of Bohemian waxwings!  Although everything I read says they are rare in the Black Hills, they are a yearly visitor to my crabapple tree...usually stripping it bare within about 15-20 minutes and then traveling on.  But during their brief visit yesterday, I was fortunate to be at my desk with my camera ready, and I was able to take more pictures of waxwings than I will ever need!

These birds are so much fun to watch as they frantically eat every berry in sight, taking flight as every car drives by, then flying back in as a flock minutes later.  They had my tree stripped in no time and then were gone...leaving me with a memory card full of the antics of these colorful, entertaining birds!

Basketball Season is Upon Us!

Winter is here, and that means BASKETBALL season!!!  I started out the season with an 8th grade girl's game Thursday night at Spearfish Middle School between the Spearfish Spartans and the Douglas Patriots.  Some game highlights are below, but all of the images can be viewed and purchased on my website at Thompson Photography.

My Third Day in the Park

Today was terrific!  Full of bears, otters, swans, elk, and more bears!  I started off before daylight heading to the West Entrance, hoping to possibly catch some bull elk in the morning light in the Madison River or on Gibbon Flats.  I did find some big boys, but they weren't doing much; evidently they had been up most the night and were already down for the day.  The hot days were really messing things up for us photographers, with most of the wildlife not becoming active until after the sun was going down, and bedding down earlier in the morning than usual.  They were already sporting their winter coats, and they were not enjoying the 80-degree days!  I did luck out and find one beautiful park inhabitant that wasn't affected by the heat...a trumpeter swan out for a morning swim!

Trumpeter swan in the Madison River

After getting a few shots of the swan, I headed back towards the center of the park.  I hadn't gone far when I saw quite a few cars stopped by the river, so I pulled over to see what they were watching.  River otters!  However, it appeared the show was over, as everyone but two guys were heading back to their cars.  I went ahead and grabbed my camera and headed over to where they were, and they said the otters had headed into the grass on the other side of the river.  Well, I sat down with them, and it wasn't a couple minutes later and the otters were back, quite a ways downstream.  We grabbed our cameras and the chase was on!  The three of us proceeded to photograph the two little clowns for about 20 minutes, probably packing our big lens about half a mile downstream, but it was worth it to watch their antics! 

Pair of river otters in the Madison River

After hiking back to my truck, I heard on my scanner that there was a grizzly on a kill in Hayden Valley, so I headed that direction, hoping to get some good grizzly shots.  However, once I got there, even my 600mm lens with an extender wasn't enough for a good shot, as she was still just a brown lump in the picture.  Oh well...there were a lot of spotting scopes set up and it was still cool to watch her! While there, the park ranger said there was another grizzly on a kill that he had just taken from some wolves at Indian Pond, and he was a lot closer, so I loaded up and headed off once again! I only made it to the edge of Hayden Valley when I noticed a little coyote hunting right on the side of the road, so I had to stop and watch him for a while.  He was so pretty in his winter coat!

Who has the beer and pizza?

Now this was more like it!  He was still pretty far away, and when I first got there, he was lying in the shade, so the light was terrible, but I set up camp with all of the other bear watchers, and we waited for the show to begin!  As the time passed, so did the sun, and the light moved onto the bear...eventually warming him up, and waking him up! 

After moving into the shade a couple of times, standing and watching us, as we were watching him, he finally decided to go for a swim to cool off.  He played in the water for about 20 minutes, splashing, diving, and swimming!

He finally got out of the water, headed around the pond, crossed the road, and wandered off through the trees.

 It was getting late, and since I was almost to the east entrance and had to go all the way back to Mammoth, I decided it was time to call it a day and head back to camp.  With over 600 pictures on my camera from the day, I figured I had made up for barely taking any yesterday!  As I drove back to Mammoth, I passed a bear jam at Petrified Tree, but seeing it was the scruffy little yearling, I just drove on by, figuring I would get more of him the next day! As I pulled into Mammoth, I stopped before heading down into the campground to call Tom, as the signal is stronger, but I had to talk over the bugling elk to be heard! I finally gave up and headed to camp!

Day 2 in Yellowstone Park

After fighting the crowds in the park on Saturday, I decided to head out of the park and take a drive to Cooke City and up to Beartooth Pass.  I was fairly tired from my last few days, and I figured a day of relaxing and just taking a beautiful drive (and not packing around my 600mm lens!) would get me rested up for a few days in the park! I think this was the day I took the fewest pictures, as I was just enjoying the day, relaxing, and taking in all of the sights of the breathtaking drive on the Beartooth Highway.  This is one drive that I never tire of, no matter how many times I make it!

 After spending some time in Cooke City, I stopped at a beautiful little pond near Colter Pass for a short hike, some lunch, and a nap.  In spite of the signs warning of grizzly bears, with myself and my cooler safely in the cab of my truck, I fell asleep rather quickly!  

 Fall colors on Beartooth Highway

 I took a short hike to Chain Lakes

Crazy Creek Cascades

I turned around at Beartooth Pass and headed back to camp, happy and well-rested after spending a day just relaxing and wandering around aimlessly!