We received our first winter storm of the season yesterday with a storm total of approximately 17" of snow on top of Baldy (Sun Valley). Below, two bull moose linger in a sea of white on the Silver Creek Preserve.
Silver Creek Preserve
Smoky skies with a max visibility of less than two miles prevailed about a week ago. Below, is a shot taken of the Silver Creek Preserve not too long after sunrise. Fortunately, the smoke around here is gone.
Fire light and the Silver Creek Preserve.
Kilpatrick Pond Panorama
Below is a panorama--26 images in this case--of the entire Kilpatrick Pond. I took the images a couple of days ago and included both the Nature Conservancy and Purdy sections of Silver Creek. For those of you who do not know, the Kilpatrick Pond on Silver Creek has undergone a major restoration project which essentially culminated a few weeks ago with the "re-filling" of the pond. The pond was lowered to a stream level and diverted to the north while the old dam was taken out and the new dam installed. The impetus of the project was to mitigate warming water temps in the summer months by narrowing the channel and installing a dam with a bottom release in lieu of a top release. Over the summer months the water temps would gain over ten degrees from the upstream to the downstream end of the pond. A dredge was also used downstream of the Kilpatrick Bridge to pump out tons of silt and in doing so deepening the channel as well. Opening Day of fishing this year is on Saturday May, 24th.
Silver Creek Panorama.
Minimal Landscapes
It was super foggy from Bellevue, Idaho all the way down to Picabo today. Below are a few images from today.
Camera: Nikon D3s
Lens: Nikon 35mm ƒ2
Silver Creek Preserve Cabin
I took the image below on the 31st of August as The Kelley Fire near Featherville, Idaho was starting to really get going. At the same time we were recovering from The Beaver Creek Fire and the smoke in the Wood River Valley was finally gone. Fortunately, The Beaver Creek Fire is 100% contained and The Kelley Fire is at 40% containment and has burned approx 16,000 acres (this info is from InciWeb). We have had significant thunderstorms here with more slated for today.
The Big Wood River is completely blown out and is black in color with zero visibility up to Baker Creek and is mud colored all the way up to Galena Lodge.
Silver Creek Preserve
Below is a panorama of the Silver Creek Preserve. This was taken on Aug 10th and the Beaver Creek Fire started on Aug 7th. The Beaver Creek Fire on this day was picking up momentum. The good news here is that the air is getting much much better and the firefighters are making substantial progress.
Here is a quote from the Hailey Chief of Police:
From Hailey Police Chief Jeff Gunter
---
"As the news of the Beaver Creek Fire becomes more optimistic, and fire containment numbers continue to rise, here are some personal thoughts. 1st, we just witnessed a 108,000 acre fire rage through our valley that was larger than the size of Denver. 2nd, so far we only lost a few a structures, the property owners are in my thoughts and prayers. 3rd, keeping the fire confined to the west side of the HWY is miraculous. This fire had the potential to burn thousands of homes. The battle to stop the fire is ongoing and will continue for some time. 4th I thank all the firefighters who risked their lives and protected all the communities we live in. I witnessed so many acts of heroism. I also wish to thank all of law enforcement who have work so many hours breathing the unhealthy air, putting themselves in harm’s way to protect the wonderful valley where we live. Teamwork, so far has minimized the damage and I am confident this effort will continue until the fire is put out. Thank you to all the emergency services that come from out of the area to help us fight the beast, May God bless this valley and everyone who participated in this event."
Here is a link to a news story recently passed along to me discussing the economic impact fire has had this year in the west. The title is: Cost of Western blazes spreads like wildfire HERE
Stocker Road Black & White
Below is an image taken of and from Stocker Road which is the west side entrance to the Silver Creek Preserve. The cloud in the background is actually smoke from the Beaver Creek Complex Fire. A substantial size crew--an ICP (Incident Command Post) has set up camp between Hailey and Ketchum off of Buttercup Rd. This fire is believed to be caused by lightning and has grown to approx 35,000 acres and at the time of writing this is 16% contained. Here is the link to the USFS Large Fire Incident site: Here
Below is an image of Silver Creek from The Nature Conservancy section and the Beaver Creek Complex Fire.
Camera: Nikon D3s
Lens: Nikon ƒ1.8 50mm
Fly Fishing Photography
Here's an image of mine in the current The FlyFish Journal. It was taken of the Nature Conservancy section in early November of 2012. It's of the S-Turns. If you enlarge the image you can see two fishermen below the mouth of Loving Creek and on river right. They give the shot some scale.
Fly Fishing Photography Inspired By Nature
Along with three other artists, I was featured in a short video created on behalf of The Nature Conservancy that was recently on display at BAM (Boise Art Museum). Produced by ComDesigns, this video showcases four artists inspired by nature. ComDesigns donated their time to shoot and produce this short piece. As a fly fishing photographer and a fly fishing guide, I am a strong supporter of The Nature Conservancy and in particular the Silver Creek Preserve essentially located in my backyard. Without places like the Silver Creek Preserve the public would loose out on access to one of our country's premier spring creeks. Not only that, but The Nature Conservancy is spearheading a project on Silver Creek, that in my opinion will positively effect the entirety--not just the Nature Conservancy section--of Silver Creek by most importantly reducing water temps and mitigating siltation issues. Check out the Silver Creek Preserve site for more info regarding what is called the Kilpatrick Pond Project. The Silver Creek Preserve is for everyone and is one of my favorite places to photograph, guide, fish, walk, bird, canoe, etc...
Final Day On The Silver Creek Preserve
Today was the final day of the fishing season upstream of the highway 20 bridge on Silver Creek. That includes the Nature Conservancy section and the Double R reaches. Fishing does stay open downstream of the highway 20 bridge through February. The streamer fishing on this section can be stellar on warmer cloudy days...
A late season rainbow released yesterday on the Silver Creek Preserve, Idaho. A few Baetis here and there and lots of spooky hard to approach fish. Nikon D3s and Nikon 14-24 ƒ2.8 lens
A November Baetis. Nikon D3s and Nikon 105 Micro lens plus extension tubes. Converted from RAW using NIK's Silver Effex Pro 2.
Nature Conservancy Cabin
Silver Creek Preserve Cabin & Stars.
Prior to walking down to the creek to take a long exposure I took a few 4 to 8 second images of the cabin and stars. I used my headlamp to "paint" the cabin...
Nikon D3S & Nikon 14-24 f2.8 lens
Star Trails On Silver Creek, Idaho
Star Trails & Bridge. Silver Creek, Idaho
I just got back from the Nature Conservancy section of Silver Creek after taking a few long exposure images. It was about 20 degrees and windy. Just after starting my first exposure a beaver exploded at the surface and scared the daylights out of me. It was dark, and got the front element of my lens wet. I started over again and got this image. Lots to work on here, but it's a start... I used the long exposure noise reduction option on my Nikon D3S and it took roughly 90 minutes to finish processing after the shutter closed. It was an approx. 61 minute exposure.
Nikon D3S & Nikon 14-24 f2.8 lens
Silver Creek Preserve Pano
This is a 4 frame pano taken of an oxbow on the Nature Conservancy a few days ago. It's a 27 megapixel file (approx. 120 megabytes) and needs to be viewed large. We have had a few more inches of snow since then but this might give you an idea of what it looks like down there at the moment. Keep in mind fishing stays open on Silver Creek BELOW the Highway 20 bridge through the rest of February and sees little to no pressure. Streamers and midges. I am heading over to Mackay tomorrow to guide the Big Lost River...
This pano was taken at 24mm with the Nikon 14-24 2.8 and put together using Adobe's CS5 Photomerge tool.