Frosted

Winter is my favorite season in Yellowstone National Park. I have spent over ten weeks in the park during winter since 2011, and countless hours trying to capture this scene that had lived in my mind over the years there. I always wanted to capture a herd of bison that could take the viewer back to the days when bison roamed the majority of the west. In addition, I wanted to capture the insane cold that I experience there. On this day, everything came together as two feet of snow fell in the park with temperatures of -25 to -32 degrees Fahrenheit. For some reason, the colder it is in Yellowstone, the more I love the experience. It is hard to describe the feeling of solitude in a snowstorm with such harsh conditions while alone with a herd of bison. Watching the snow fall and stick to their fur as the bison literally struggle just to survive another winter season is a feeling I never forget and can never get enough of. As a photographer, I don't always know exactly when I have the shot I want, but on this day, I knew. It felt like a timeless painting and I knew I had finally captured what I had been working toward for a few years.