Private Wildlife Photography Tour | Yellowstone Wild Tours

Quick Details

Duration: 8-9 hours
Start time: Varies by date & pickup location - see drop down menu below for specifics
Meeting Locations: Gardiner, MT; Mammoth Hot Springs; Tower Junction; Roosevelt Lodge
Alternative Meeting Locations: Canyon Visitor Center (extra $100); Sage Lodge or Chico Hot Springs (extra $150)
Ages: Ages 8+
Activity Level: Easy to moderate based on your interests and abilities

Highlights:

Private & customizable (just your group!)
One-on-one instruction on using your camera, composition, utilizing natural light for optimizing photos, and more
Vast wide-open landscapes and abundant wildlife
All skill levels welcome
Breakfast and lunch – picnic style
Interpretation of wildlife activity and behavior through observation and dynamic, engaging discussions

Spend the day immersed in photographing Yellowstone’s wildlife-rich Lamar Valley area, revered as the gem of North American wildlife photography. Yellowstone boasts the largest intact ecosystem in the northern temperate zone, and scientists believe the park is now as rich, diverse and healthy as it has ever been. Capturing images of bison in the morning light with thermals in the background or a mother grizzly bear with cubs in a sea of silver-green sage is on any photographer’s dream list and would be a signature Yellowstone image to add to any portfolio. On our photo tours, this dream can become a reality.

Exploring Yellowstone’s Northern Range, our focus will likely be on the predators and their prey, who are most active during the twilight hours of dawn and dusk. We will spend our time in the best places to find these icons of American wilderness, while discussing the ecology and natural history driving their behavior. Understanding the ecology and behavior of your subjects will help you tell their story through your photographs and will help you read and predict their movements to best position yourself to capture outstanding images.

On these excursions, we will likely encounter bison, elk, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, golden and bald eagles, coyotes, and numerous other species large and small. While not as common, based on current conditions and with the expertise of your local Naturalist Photographer Guide, you may also be gifted with the chance of seeing and potentially photographing wolves, grizzly and black bears, foxes, moose, badges, owls, and more.

Depending on the month, we may focus on seasonal wildlife highlights including bellowing bison in rut throughout July and August or the magnificent bugling elk during their breeding season in September and October. Spring in Yellowstone means animal babies abound and your day could find you witnessing a bison, pronghorn, or elk birth on the emerald-green bottomlands of the Lamar Valley in May and June. Perhaps bear cubs or badger kits are to be found scampering in a world entirely new to them!

Every day in Yellowstone is different and unpredictable, and therefore, we like to leave room for adapting to situations as they arise to fully maximize each opportunity as it presents itself. Whether it’s a grizzly bear crossing the road, a lightning storm over Electric Peak, or the array of autumn colors of aspen, cottonwood, and willows along the Lamar River, we aim to take full advantage of every bit of magic that Yellowstone presents to us.

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!

Summer Wildlife Photography Tour

Highlights:

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