Author: David Talbot Photography

Stop and Take It All In

Posted on by David Talbot Photography

This past fall as I was starting my journey homeward, after spending the past five days in Yellowstone National Park, a thought came to my head. I asked myself why I hadn’t just taken the time and take in the beauty that this park had to offer.

This was day five of being in the park, well before the sun was up to well after the sun had gone down. I had spent the previous four days chasing the sounds of fall, the bugling elk, all throughout the park and yet I had not take a minute or two to actually stop and take it all in. Yellowstone has so much to offer, not only wildlife, but some pretty amazing scenery. I had spend the previous four days more worried about if I was going to be able to find the elk and rushing to where I had seen them the day prior, in hopes that they were still there, all while passing the amazing scenery with no thought.

Every September for the last three years now, I have taken a trip to Yellowstone National Park to photograph elk during their annual rut. This trip usually spans four to five days, with only three full days of shooting. The first day is usually traveling up to the park, and scouting a few locations where I have found elk before, and the last day is dedicated to slowing making my way home.

The Story Behind the Shots (Bighorn Sheep)

Posted on by David Talbot Photography

Bighorn Sheep in the Tetons.

From time to time I sit and wonder to myself how someone takes and create a shot of their’s, so I decided that from time to time I would share with you how I took some of my shots and the stories behind them. This time I would like to tell you the story behind the follow group of photographs.

For the last three years we have taken an annual trip to Grand Teton National Park in search of bears. As this years trip started to unfold, our first full day out into the park started with rain. I personally like photographing wildlife in the rain because of two reasons. The first being that, the wildlife is more active because of the cooler temperatures so I have a better opportunity to photograph them. Second is because of the rain there are fewer people out, thus again increasing the opportunities to photograph wildlife.

As we left the hotel we decided to see if we could find the bighorn sheep first. We have found bighorn sheep before, but they have been high up on the mountains and any photos I would have taken would not have been that good. This day was our day, they were at the base of the mountain. We first found a group of about 30 or so. We found a pullout to watch them to see where they were heading. We watched them for a good 45 minutes slowly move in our direction. I grabbed my camera and walked down the road towards the herd of sheep and knelt in the grass just off the road. Yes I was still a safe distance away from them. As I knelt there there were a group of three rams that kept inching closer and closer towards me. I knelt there even longer, and the longer I stayed there the closer they came. Then I noticed that a larger ram (the image above) was even closer than the group of three. I knelt there trying to be as still as I could, sucking up every moment of the experience. By this time the sun was starting to peak through the clouds and it was perfect to photograph the now 10 or so sheep that were around me.

As I turned around to get a shot of a smaller ram, that was perfectly lit and framed against the mountains, all of sheep that were around me spooked causing all the herd to spook and takeoff up the mountain. I had knelt in the grass a good 30 minutes just photographing and watching the herd of sheep as they moved to find the best grass. All this unfolded as my family watched from a quarter mile down the road wondering if I was going to get head butted by one of the rams. This was truly one of the best photography experiences I have had.

Why Wildlife?

Posted on by David Talbot Photography

A couple of months ago I was asked what got me into wildlife photography.  At the time I answered like I always did, with the story of how I finally bought my first DSLR camera and was lucky enough to find a barn owl in flight and was able to capture a decent image.  Since being asked, “Why wildlife photography?”  I have been thinking about it and why did I choose wildlife photography.

In the fall of 2009, I found myself in the southern deserts of Afghanistan on deployment with the U.S. Marine Corps.  Our mission for the most part was to run drug interdiction missions to keep the the drugs from leaving the country and help fund terrorism.  Time and time again we would find ourselves in the vast expanses of the southern desert chasing drug runners before they slipped into Pakistan.  This was a rush.  We would cruise through the sand and rocks with semi-sort of ease with our eight wheeled light armored vehicles and would stop and search any vehicles that could not outrun us.  We had some pretty good success.  As time went on we would run other missions besides the drug interdiction missions, and with those came the same rush as chasing down drug runners.

In the spring of 2012, I found myself at the end of my time in the U.S. Marine Corps and was just finishing my undergraduate degree and starting my family, and for the next 7-8ish years I was missing, and lacking, that rush that I once had.  If you talk to any veteran, most of them will tell you that, that rush is something they miss.  It was not until I had taken that first picture of a barn owl, that I found that rush again.  The feel of the heart pounding due to excitement, and the adrenaline rushing as the experience unfolds in front of you.

I can tell you the first time I first photographed a grizzly bear, a bull moose, a bull elk, and so on, and I can tell you that it was a rush every time I had the opportunity to do so. Recently I made a trip and decided to push the envelope and I actually chased the sounds of the elk bugling in the distance. As I inched closer and closer to where the sound was coming from, my heart rate increased and the adrenaline started flowing, but at the same time it was pure joy, pure excitement and pure fun. That mixture of pure joy, pure excitement, and pure fun, along with the fear and the nervousness, is what I love about wildlife photography. No matter how often I get to photograph wildlife, I get that rush, I get that excitement, that joy, and that fun. That is why I chose wildlife photography!

Antelope Island State Park, Utah

Posted on by David Talbot Photography

I live in the great state of Utah, and live in close proximity to a state park that has a very diverse amount of wildlife, Antelope Island State Park. I love going out there, and I can easily say that 99% of my bison photos are taken out there. But they have so much more than just bison out there to see. I once had someone reach out to me and asked why I love going out there, since every time they go out there they never see anything but the bison. I kindly replied with a list of all the wildlife I have seen out there, bison, mule deer, great horned owls, burrowing owls, coyotes, rabbits, all sorts of shore birds, all sorts of other birds, and I have yet to see the bighorn sheep they put out there a couple years ago.

Antelope Island State Park, Utah

Antelope Island is an 28,000 acre island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. It stretches 15 miles long and about 5 miles wide.

Although surrounded by saltwater, Antelope Island has over 40 freshwater springs producing enough water to support the island’s abundant wildlife.

Bison are the most famous residents. Twelve animals were brought to the island in 1893 and were the foundation for today’s herd of 550 – 700. An annual bison roundup is held each fall to assess the health of the herd and sell extra animals.

Pronghorn antelope are native to Utah and to the island. These small, deer-like animals are the fastest animals in North America and can reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.

Mule deer and bighorn sheep are the other large herbivores on the island. Predators include coyotes, badgers, bobcats, and numerous birds of prey such as owls, hawks and falcons.*

If you are ever in Utah and have the time, go out and see what Antelope Island has to offer, it is truly one of a kind. Plus you just might see me out there photographing bison, hands down my favorite animal to photograph.

All images taken on Antelope Island State Park, Utah

(*Information provided by Utah Department of Natural Resources website, https://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/antelope-island/discover/ )

(Photos are my own and available in print format, for other uses please contact me.)

David Talbot Photography

Posted on by David Talbot Photography

Welcome to the new David Talbot Photography website. I redesigned my website to make it easier to show case my work, and to make it easier for you to purchase more of my prints.

I started down this journey of wildlife photography in early 2019 after purchasing my first DSLR camera. I was out with my oldest boy and we were lucky enough to see a barn owl while out at a local nature preserve. At the time I was using a Canon SL2 with a kit lens, and I was ecstatic when I got home and downloaded my images to my computer, to see that I got a decent picture of the barn owl mid flight. Thats the moment I fell in love with wildlife photography.

One of the first images I took that caused me to fall in love with wildlife photography.

Since that first picture of the barn owl, I have been able to visit some amazing places to see things that I have never seen before. I am blessed to live in the great state of Utah, that has a wide variety of wildlife, from large mammals to small birds, and a wide variety of environments to find wildlife. I am able to drive just a short distance from my house and be in mountain forests, arid deserts, shoreline wetlands, and everything in-between. I am also only a few hours away from amazing places such as the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which in itself as a huge variety of wildlife.

Living so close to such an amazing ecosystem, it is easy to make multiple trips a year. When my wife and I ask our boys where they want to go on vacation 95% of the time they want to go to Yellowstone or to the Tetons. They have fallen in love with the adventure of going out to see what kind of animals we can find. Besides the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, I have fallen in love with a local state park, that is less than 20 mins from my house.

Antelope Island State Park is a large island located in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. It is home to a herd of Bison of anywhere from 500-700 bison. It also is home to mule deer, big horn sheep, and many types of birds. Bison hands down are my favorite animals to photograph, and having the opportunity to live so close to to a place that make them easily accessible is truly amazing.

Bison are truly magnificent animals and are my favorite to photograph.

My hope with my new website is to be able to not only to share my photography, but to share the stories of some of my images as well. I also hope that it will take you to places that you have yet to explore or to places that you have been but seen from a different perspective. So follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and of course here on my website, and join me on my many adventures as a wildlife and nature photographer.