Private Wildlife Photography Tour

SUMMER TOURS

May 1st – August 31st:

• Gardiner, MT & Sage Lodge:  5:00am
• Mammoth Hot Springs:   5:15am
• Tower Junction:   5:45am
• Canyon Visitor Center (beginning Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend):   6:15am

September 1st – September 30th:

• Gardiner, MT & Sage Lodge:  5:30am
• Mammoth Hot Springs:   5:45am
• Tower Junction: 6:15am
• Canyon Visitor Center: 6:45am

October 1st – October 31st:

• Gardiner, MT & Sage Lodge:  6:00am
• Mammoth Hot Springs:   6:15am
• Tower Junction: 6:45am

WINTER TOURS

December 1 – February 15th:

• Gardiner, MT & Sage Lodge:  6:30am
• Mammoth Hot Springs:   6:45am
• Tower Junction:   7:15am

February 15th – March 31st:

• Gardiner, MT & Sage Lodge:  6:00am
• Mammoth Hot Springs:   6:15am
• Tower Junction: 6:45am

• Full-day (8 hour) private guided tour with photography instruction
• Transportation in our fully equipped touring vehicle (we drive, you enjoy the scenery)
• Plenty of space for your photography gear and extra clothing
• Breakfast pastries and hot drinks (coffee, tea, hot cocoa)
• Healthy and hearty snacks and beverages
• Full picnic lunch spread

Gratuity is NOT included in the price of the tour. Tipping your guide is a common practice in North America, and tips are an important part of their income.

Photography Gear:

While we are happy to accept all levels of photographers, there are a few things you should know about gear as you make your plans.

Wildlife in Yellowstone seems to either be right next to the road, or a mile away from it. While you don’t need professional photography equipment in Yellowstone to get an award-winning image, at least one telephoto lens reaching 400mm is encouraged. The best lens is the one you have ready, such as a 60-600 so you can cover a wide focal distance.

Recommended Gear:

Batteries/Charger – Enough battery power to shoot the entire day (recommend 3 batteries per camera body)
Media – Enough memory to shoot the entire day (recommend 512mb split between (2) cards per camera body)
Cleaning – Lens cloths, air blower, lens solution
Filters – Clear UV, Polarizer
Tools: Allen wrenches or Leatherman type tool
Small First Aid Kit

Recommended Lenses:

800mm f/5.6 I IS
60-600mm f/4.5-6.3
100-400 f/4.5-5.6
24-105 f/4

Renting lenses is also an option at the following sites:
www.lenserental.com
www.borrowlenses.com

Rentals

Yellowstone possesses some of the most extreme changes in temperature and weather conditions anywhere. During spring, summer, and fall, temperatures can range from above 70°F (21°C) to below freezing. Temperatures on a winter tour could range from -40°F to +40°F (-40°C to +10°C). We therefore recommend plenty of warm clothes that can be layered and easily removed; therefore, allowing you to adjust and stay comfortable throughout your tour.

For summer tours, comfortable layered clothing is a must. Bring a warm hat, gloves, and jacket for cold early-morning hours, and include a water-proof, wind-proof outer shell for summer thunderstorms or all-day spring and fall rains. Consider waterproof footwear, and don’t forget the sun protection (all seasons) and bug protection (summer).

For winter tours, here is what our guides wear:
Long underwear. Starting with your base layers, synthetic or wool long underwear tops and bottoms are critical to your comfort (we can find places to shed this layer later in the day if necessary). Please stay away from cotton, which can hold moisture and drastically chill the body, whereas wool and synthetics wick moisture and can even insulate while wet.
Sweater or fleece. Ideally more than one layer of insulating layers like fleece or wool sweaters will allow for effective layering and allows you to easily shed layers as the day warms up.

Fleece or down vest. Vests are great as a layering item that can really hold in core body temperature, yet also allow for maximum comfort and mobility.
A windproof and water repellent insulated jacket is your most important protection from the biting Wyoming winds. Gore-Tex or something similar is highly advised as the best moisture/wind barrier and goose down insulation is the best insulation.

Snow pants/ski pants – Insulated pants with moisture/wind barrier. You should have long underwear thermal layers in addition.
Heavy gloves or mittens with windproof barrier.

Warm hat that covers your ears. We lose tremendous body heat from our heads. Protect your ears from the chilly wind with a wool or fleece hat.
Warm wool or synthetic socks are key to keeping those toes from hampering your good time. Be sure you have plenty of wiggle room inside your boots. If your socks are too thick and fit too tightly in your boots, you will actually reduce blood flow to your feet, resulting in cold toes, regardless of how warm your socks are.

Insulated winter boots (roomy boots are better as you do not want to restrict circulation in your feet/toes)

There are several ways you can go for winter boots: the insulated rubber “muck” boots that farmers and ranchers like. These are slip on boots that come in varying levels of insulation (up to -50 degrees). They are fine for short walks, but you would not want them for full-day hikes. For the purpose of this trip, they would be fine. Good brands there are Muck and LaCrosse.

THESE are probably the best bang for your buck.

The other option is a lace up insulated boot. There are lots of them on the market and you could spend a lot for a boot that you may never use again.
Here is a link with discussion about boots recommended for Antarctica tours.
https://www.coolantarctica.com/Shop/antarctica-clothing/antarctic-boots.php
If you need to order boots, you could have them shipped here, and we will have them on hand for you when you arrive, not a problem at all. Just let us know.
Hand and toe/foot warmers. These are lifesavers! We advise everyone to place a full-sized foot warmer inside your boots every morning before the tour. This keeps the edge off and keeps you comfortable to be able to enjoy yourself to the fullest during those hard-earned wildlife encounters! Toe and hand warmers can be used as needed
With high elevation sun, many of us burn easily, especially when we are distracted by something like watching wolves for extended periods of time.

A day pack is very handy for personal items: hand and toe warmers, water bottle, sunglasses, camera, and of course for all the extra layers you will want.

Please let us know if you have additional questions about gear.

Yellowstone Wild photography instructor guides are leaders in the field of ethical wildlife photography. Deep understanding of wildlife biology and keen observational skills drive our guides’ uncanny ability to set our photography clients up for powerful images, while truly respecting the wildlife and without causing any undue stress, discomfort or harm. The ability to read animal behavior and predict their next movements, along with an intimate understanding of the topography, often allows us to plan ahead and set up for dream shots of Yellowstone’s iconic wildlife on the stunning winter landscape.

We encourage our photographers to focus on capturing images of wildlife interacting naturally with their habitat, with each other and their prey species, unaffected by our presence. Our photo guides strive to help clients capture images that tell powerful stories of animal behavior and ecology, and create a sense of place out in the pristine winter setting of Yellowstone National Park!

Although we acknowledge the appeal of getting up-close, portrait-style images of wildlife, we are careful to adhere to our ethic (and Park Service Regulations) that if our presence is causing an animal to change its natural behavior in any way, we are causing undue stress. Life in the wild is never easy, and Yellowstone’s severe winter conditions make every day a struggle for survival for all wildlife. In fact, winter kills more wildlife in Yellowstone than any other factor. By reading animal behavior and being sensitive to their needs, we can assure that we are not making their day to day lives any harder. 

The result of honoring this ethic, coupled with proper equipment (see below), is authentic images of wildlife living their lives in their native habitat and behaving as if we are not there. This sense of place helps tell the story of wildlife existence within the harsh winter conditions found in Yellowstone – often highlighting the dramas of the struggle to survive.  These stories of the realities of life versus death in the wild offer compelling additions to any photographer’s portfolio!

Yellowstone National Park is a very large place divided by mountain ranges, deep valleys and a massive lake. The weather within the 2.2 million acres can vary widely, so checking the weather in the park can be a difficult task. We recommend checking several different NOAA weather stations around the park, and working an average of those if you’re planning to travel around the entirety of the park.
Gardiner MT
Tower Junction, WY
Cooke City, WY

It is important to remember that the wild animals we seek to observe and photograph are exactly that, WILD free-ranging animals that can roam across all of Yellowstone’s vast and rugged 2.2 million acres. The probability of locating and observing them is greatly elevated due to your guide’s intimate personal familiarity with the landscape and the animals themselves. We do not guarantee any wildlife sightings on our tours; however, we will guarantee that your guide will use their knowledge, skills, and network of other guides, wildlife watchers and photographers to do everything we can to find and photograph the animals you’d like to see. We are in the park nearly every day searching for and watching wildlife, and that consistent experience pays off in finding the animals you’ve traveled to see.

How likely are you to photograph wild wolves? Over the course of the workshop there is a strong likelihood that wolves (sometimes multiple packs in a single day!) will be visible. However, as our wolves are truly wild (they do not like to be close to people) and their movements can be unpredictable, up close portrait-style photo opportunities are rare and should not be expected.  We encourage our photographers to focus on capturing images wolves out on the vast Yellowstone landscapes, interacting naturally with their habitat and with each other and their prey species. Our photo guides strive to help you craft powerful stories through your images of wolf behavior and ecology, out in the pristine setting of Yellowstone National Park in winter!

We strictly adhere to ALL NPS Rules & Regulations as well as our own  Yellowstone Wild Code of Ethics (see below).

As a licensed Commercial Use Permit holder with Yellowstone National Park, we must follow all park rules and regulations. Additionally, as life-long proponents of wildlife and wild places, we will also follow our own ethical wildlife viewing and photography practices.

We will take this opportunity to teach you about how we can have the very best viewing and photography opportunities possible without having negative impacts on wildlife by respecting the animals’ space and movements as they go about their lives.

While on tour with Yellowstone Wild LLC, we will observe the following park rules (subject to law enforcement):
Keep at least 25 yards from all wildlife, except:
Keep at least 100 yards from wolves and bears
Avoid remaining near or approaching wildlife, including birds, at any distance that disturbs or displaces the animal.

It is our ethical responsibility as visitors to the park to make sure that our actions do not inflict undue stress or hardship upon the animals that we are observing. Wild animals in a natural setting do not have easy lives, and the last thing we want to do is make their lives any more difficult. Your guide is an expert at reading animal behavior, and the moment that our presence is bothering an animal, we MUST back off until we are no longer disturbing its natural behavior. Failure to promptly respond to your guide’s instructions to back away from wildlife may result in the termination of your tour, subject to the discretion of your guide.