This gallery shows the Photo of the Week for each week of 2012.  The week typically runs from Saturday through Friday and I post my favorite image from that week on Sundays.  Occasionally, I may not be able to get shot during the week due to other commitments, so I will post something that is still relatively current.

January

Week of January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!!  To start off the new year, I have one of my favorite images of bighorn sheep from the year past.  In December, I spent some time photographing the Cinnabar bighorn sheep herd near Corwin Springs, Montana, just outside Yellowstone National Park.  November and December is a time of the rut for bighorns, and a time when males battle over females.  Unfortunately, none of the males clashed during my time watching them, but they did offer a few challenges, including this one.

As another male approached, this ram began displaying challenges, warning the other ram to stay away from "his" females.  The challenge went unheeded and both males postured for dominance, but none of it ended in battle.  Instead, they both went about searching for receptive females.  The Cinnabar herd has been discovered to have pneumonia, a fatal infection for bighorn sheep.  Hopefully this herd will recover with minimal loss.

Battle Ready

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Week of January 8, 2012

I'm still in Poland for another week, so here's an image from the Royal Square in Old Town Warsaw at night.  I've posted quite a few images from this part of Warsaw as it's probably one of my favorite parts of Poland.  The architecture is very interesting with unique shapes and colors.  The Royal Castle is seen in the image on the right and the square in front of the castle is a favorite place for street performers to put on shows. 

I used an ISO of 1600 in order to record this image, using a zoom lens at about a medium length of 60mm.   Notice the lack of snow.  While it snowed over Christmas in Poland, it's been rainy ever since.  That is, until this morning when we woke up to some snow falling.  Hopefully the snow will hold off now until after I fly back to the US!  The street lights light up everything fairly well, though other areas of town can be quite dark.  I would like to try a long exposure here some time too, with the people becoming ghostly blurs of movement.  Maybe next time!

Night on the Old Town

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Week of January 15, 2012

Wielka Orkiestra Świątecznej Pomocy, roughly pronounced vee-elka orkestra shvee-antesh-ney pomotsee, translates to Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity.  It is a large national, privately organized fundraiser that raises donations for hospitals throughout Poland, with a focus on medical care for children.  Last year, the organization raised the equivalent of almost $16.5 million US dollars.

The event takes place on either the first of second Sunday of the new year and is celebrated in every major Polish city with concerts, vendors, and fireworks.  This image was taken as fireworks were displayed at the town square of Siedlce.  The building in the foreground has been the subject of several images of mine from Poland and is called "Jacek" (Yas-ek).  It is the old town hall and was constructed in 1763.  The top of the tower has a statue of Atlas holding the world on his shoulders.  The building now contains a museum that shows the history of this building and the neighboring area of Sieldce.

Celebration for Charity

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Week of January 22, 2012

Winter made a return to Yellowstone this week, as did I.  I made a quick trip into the park earlier this week, though most of my time was committed to some other things.  Meanwhile, fresh snow pelted the park, though in most places sagebrush still peeks over the snow and some bare places can still be seen.  Despite the recent snows, I was surprised at the overall lack of the white stuff covering the landscape.  Animals were few and far between too. 

This image isn't recent, but, since I haven't had much time to photograph, is an older shot.  It shows a red fox as it walks across the soft snow in search of rodents tunneling beneath.  The image was taken from my car, pulled safely off the road in a pullout, using a 500 mm lens to keep myself away from the fox, limiting any chance of disturbing it or contributing to habituating this animal.  Fox are frequently seen in Yellowstone, though not a guaranteed sighting by any chance.  So seeing one is a treat, and photographing one is even more so.

Tip Toe

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Week of January 29, 2012

Wolves are often the stars of Yellowstone when it comes to winter wildlife viewing.  The snow-covered landscape makes spotting various animals easier, even at great distances, such as wolves.  In Lamar Valley, pullouts can be full of tourists with spotting scopes pointed on some distant ridge where wolves are living out their daily lives, unnoticed to the naked eye.

But occasionally, the action takes place a bit closer to the road.  Last week, a couple of days of wolf action took place close enough, barely, to get some photos.  This wolf is a member of the Agate Pack, a once large pack that is now on the verge of disappearing.  This wolf was traveling with a collared white wolf, identified by its radio collar as 471F.  With them was a third wolf, a large black.  471 and the large black had crossed the road, leaving this grey wolf alone.  471 waited about 100 yards off the road to the south.  This wolf stood on a large rock and mournfully howled to it's packmates, but was reluctant to approach the road.  This went on for over half an hour.  About 75 yards off the road, the sound of the howls were very clear, a mournful or soulful sound.  Finally, 471 moved west and this wolf followed her, both remaining on different sides of the road.  I had to leave before finding out how the drama would end.

A Soulful Song

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