Wyoming - Yellowstone National Park Day 4

The pools at Mammoth Hot Springs at the NW corner of the park are pretty spectacular.  This was another early morning outing.

Our campsite was just outside the park in Gardener, Montana so it was an easy 15 minute run up the hill at 5:30!  Tom dropped me off to do my thing and he went back down to the Mammoth Campground to wait in line for a camp site. It's a first come first served until they're full.  Many of the campgrounds inside the park were filling up by 8 am!  So this was our chance, and he was successful.

Daybreak.  The sun hasn't quite cleared the far hill.

The Canary Springs portion of Mammoth Hot Springs was my target for the sunrise.  The cascades face the east, and generally the breeze is also from the east pushing the steam away.

When shooting landscapes or other scenic, stationary objects, the photographer has a lot of time to set up the shot.

But, also, he or she has very little time as the light changes so quickly in the mornings, more so than sunset shots.

A black and white version.

And then, just when one thinks they've got the perfect shot... the other photographers show up, clomping down the boardwalk, and not being very aware that the others might be doing long exposures and need them to walk very, very softly, or not at all!

I was successful in getting the shots that I wanted, but I did have to eliminate a couple due to vibration from all the walking around.  That part is frustrating, especially at o'dark thirty in the morning!  We have one more early morning planned to go look for more animals......