I just got back from a trip to Yellowstone National Park to test out the Nikon D500, Nikon D5 and Pentax K-1 DSLRs (reviews to be posted soon) and I wanted to share my experience, specifically my frustrations with visiting and photographing this amazing location, which has been my top spot for many years for photographing both wildlife and landscapes. I spent a week in Yellowstone and my original plan was to stay there for longer if needed, depending on how much wildlife I would encounter. But I had to cut my trip short, because I was just getting tired of seeing the same behavioral patterns of park visitors over and over again – to the point where it was just getting absurd, abusive and downright stupid.
NIKON D500 + 300mm f/4 @ 420mm, ISO 800, 1/200, f/8.0
First of all, I like visiting Yellowstone for two reasons – one is to see and photograph the amazing wildlife the park offers to see such as wolves, black and grizzly bears, antelopes, sheep and many species of birds including birds of prey such as owls and eagles. The other reason is to photograph the stunning landscapes that include geysers, streams, rivers, mountains and colorful canyons. My intention for this trip was to photograph both, since my camera gear covered everything from wide to super telephoto. While Yellowstone typically attracts large crowds for its wildlife, many visitors also love the park for its other rich photographic opportunities, so you will find a great number of people in all areas of the park, especially once the travel season kicks in.
PENTAX K-1 + HD PENTAX-D FA 24-70mm F2.8ED SDM WR @ 48mm, ISO 100, 1/4, f/8.0
Speaking of the travel season, this year the travel season in Yellowstone started really early. According to park rangers and other sources, the park experienced a heavy increase in the number of visitors – anywhere between 20-30%, which is a lot! Part of the reason is cheap gas prices, which allowed many Americans to take road trips and visit the park, but the other reason in my opinion is the visibly larger attraction of international tourists. In fact, having visited the park a few dozen times, I have never seen this many tour buses in May. They usually start pouring into the park in the summer during peak season, but boy, things were quite different this time around. Hot spots like Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic Spring were simply overcrowded. This might be good for the park, but it does present a few challenges for the park rangers to make things manageable.
NIKON D500 + 300mm f/4 @ 420mm, ISO 1600, 1/400, f/8.0
My biggest frustration with photographing wildlife was the literal harassment of wildlife by the park visitors. I can understand folks who want to take a closer look at bears, wolves, bison, moose and elk, as long as it is done with respect to park rules. Yellowstone is one of those places where you will find numerous signs about wildlife being dangerous and guidelines on how close one can get are clearly specified in park maps and ranger-led programs. However, despite all the warnings, people seem to not care. What’s worst, is that by doing so, they endanger their very own lives. The recurring patterns are pretty much the same all around – people approach both elk and bison at extremely close distances for those precious selfie moments. Aside from large tour buses making stops by bison herds, there is also a smaller fleet of vans, which can offload 15-20 people almost instantly at any location that offers a good view of wildlife. People get off from tour buses and literally rush in to take pictures with their cellphones and cameras, since there are so many of them. And they all must have that one picture of them and the bison right behind. And with each tourist, it seems like they get closer and closer, since the mentality is – if the beast did not attack the last tourist, it must be tame! I watched a flock of Chinese tourists with their selfie sticks posing literally right next to a large bull lying on the ground. Some of them got as close as 5-8 feet, which is just insane. It seemed that given the chance, they would literally climb on the bison for those pictures.
NIKON D500 + 300mm f/4 @ 420mm, ISO 400, 1/500, f/5.6
And forget about the 100 yard (91 meter) park requirement for watching bears. If it was not for park rangers, the number of bear attacks would surely sky rocket! To see what bears can do to people when they are too close, have a look at this page please. Park visitors armed with a kit 18-55mm lens or their cellphones take desperate measures to capture images. On one occasion, I watched a group of people get charged by a black bear since they got too close to make the bear uncomfortable. Gladly, the bear only charged for a very short period of time to warn the picture-hungry tourists, but after they all ran back, all I heard was laughter – they found running away amusing and fun. The words “natural selection” flashed in my head for a short moment, if one of those idiots got mauled for real…
On another occasion, I stopped on the side of the road after spotting a black bear, lying literally right next to the road – probably around 25-30 feet away. I lowered my window and took this picture:
NIKON D500 + 300mm f/4 @ 420mm, ISO 800, 1/40, f/5.6
Yes, that’s a black bear sow that I could not even fit in the frame of the Nikon D500 with the 300mm f/4 VR @ 420mm (1.4x TC). At such a close distance, there is no way in the world I would be getting out of my car. But pretty much as soon as I stopped my car, I watched a van full of teenage girls pull over right in front of me. About 10-12 of them came out with their iPhones on their hands, ready to take pictures. They all got in front of my car to take pictures, getting as close as they could. Within the next few minutes, it was impossible to leave the area, because the road was blocked on both sides with heavy traffic. People were stopping their cars on the middle of the road, getting out to take as many pictures as they could and as close as they could. It turned out that the bear was a sow, trapped under a tree where two of her cubs were. Thankfully, a park ranger showed up shortly after and forced people back into their cars and cleaned up the traffic. I observed similar situations a number of times in the park, since bears were hungry and very active in May and early June, after the long and cold winter.
PENTAX K-1 + HD PENTAX-D FA 24-70mm F2.8ED SDM WR @ 31mm, ISO 100, 6/10, f/5.6
After more or less giving up pursuing wildlife, I moved on to photographing some landscapes. And while I enjoyed the process much more due to the fact that I did not witness nearly as many similar situations, I did get surprised by how badly visitors treat the park. It was pretty sad to walk on the boardwalk of the Grand Prismatic Spring to find plastic cups, plates and other junk everywhere. While I understand that things like baseball caps often end up landing in all kinds of places due to strong wind, seeing food items, newspaper, cigarette butts and other junk like umbrellas in both Grand Prismatic and Excelsior Geyser was quite disappointing, since those are not easy to clean up.
When photographing the Morning Glory Pool, I was quite shocked to see footprints all around the pool, despite the big sign on the boardwalk that says “Fading Glory”, explaining how the tourists trashed the pool and threw all kinds of junk into it (there is even a picture of the clean-up process there). Despite the park efforts, people are still trashing this beautiful pool by tossing coins into it, or exploring and photographing the pool up close:
X-Pro2 + XF10-24mmF4 R OIS @ 10mm, ISO 200, 1/105, f/8.0
Very sad indeed and this is not just happening in Yellowstone – similar behavior can be observed in many other national parks and landmarks all over the world. If we don’t work on preserving our national, state and other public parks, we will have nothing to leave for our future generations. Please photograph responsibly and discourage the destruction of all world landmarks.
Thank you!
just saw this article and i can tell you that it is the same if not worse in yosemite and sequoia/kings canyon national parks. i live close to all these parks and i go when i think the tourists will be at lower levels. on numerous occasions i have had my camera on tripod, 4×5, hasselblad or dslr and some jackass will walk with their friends right in front of where i am shooting with the stupid selfie stick. i don’t know how many people i have yelled at to get out of the fence area around the sherman tree (the worlds largest tree) in sequoia np, because they wanted a selfie next to the tree. in other areas of the parks i have seen people climb over fences around giant sequoia trees and than climb the trees to take selfies. i wish all selfie sticks were banned from national parks just like drones.
I just came across this article today. I know it’s older but still relevant since travel and tourism season is upon us! I ranted about this very thing the other day. I have a new bridge camera and wanted to try it out. I am not a professional by any means, but I do like to take pictures for my own enjoyment and to make exercising out of doors more interesting. I have never been to Yellowstone but have some nice wildlife areas at my disposal to try to photograph wildlife, flowers, etc. One of the best is a wildlife center with a rare, delicate chert glade near Joplin, Missouri. They have signs up that tell people that the trails are not for jogging, skateboarding, or biking. They also say that no dogs are allowed within the boundaries of the conservation center property. (There IS a park adjacent to it for that, and it has signs saying dogs are OK if on leashes.) Well, I wasn’t there even ten minutes, when I was nearly knocked off my feet when I was hunched down doing a macro shot of some flowers along the trail by a man jogging with his dog! Then I saw two teenagers going through an area where a lot of little lizards and small newly hatched water turtles crossed. (There is a reason why they say NO skateboards and bikes!) They came through just seconds after I had photographed a small skink. which fortunately had disappeared back into the weeds. Then when I was getting ready to leave, there was a woman who headed that direction with two small unleashed dogs. The wasn’t going to the area where they were allowed, she was going toward the area where it was not allowed.
It’s one thing to take photos. It’s another thing to break rules for those photos.
I have some fairly close up photos of geese, that look like I was right on them, but actually, made use of an excellent zoom lens! I never saw the point in doing a selfie with a large, dangerous animal. I can go on vacation and not take one single selfie! I prefer to take my own personal snapshots of the things I see.
Was just there–nice pics. I saw the same behavior–people stepping in front of me to take pics..huge buses of Chinese and their selfie sticks mostly. You do alot of driving to see few animals (excluding the bison which are plentiful in Lamar Valley close to the road)..so I think on the rare chance you see an animal, people get overly excited. We saw 3 bears, elk and wolves. Bring a scope and your trip will be more memorable.
Shannon
Yes, it never ceases to amaze me that people will travel half way round the world to see a natural wonder only to defecate on it – sometimes literally.. as I witnessed at Angel Falls in Venezuela.
We also were there the beginning of May, the tourist buses had already started coming in. I think now there should be a limit on all the tour buses in Yellowstone! amazing the total disregard for the wildlife and mother earth people have!
We too noticed the amount of garbage in and around the springs! horrific in my opinion,
I have noticed all around America that the trash is building up fast! from along side the hwy. and in our national forest, its everywhere! Something needs to happen! maybe Yellowstone should implement a no food past this point area, and if you get caught littering it will be JAIL for you! build a jail in West Yellowstone to replicate the old west!
I agree entirely with the sentiments in your piece — I live near Richmond Park in London, where “the public” seem far more interested in themselves; getting a selfie come what may and happily go about without even being aware that walking very close to a 16 point stag is quite dangerous including in the Rut.
At least Red Deer are domesticated – In my last 4 trips to Kenya and Tanzania I have seen genuinely stupid behaviours by selfie hunters — badly guided their vehicles are driven far close to feeding lions; then occupants hang out of windows or the top of the vehicle to obtain that so important self. I saw a lioness take a swing at the wonderfully long blond hair of some girl that was swinging just a few feet above her head. The lioness was clearly bored with the whole thing, but her “space” had been invaded and she was sending a message.
But none of this matters — the fools who do this may well loose a body part or two and thats no loss. What does matter is when humans start throwing rocks at their subjects just for fun or just to get them to move. For example, I witnessed a group of kids on a picnic lunch on the Mara River get up from table and then start throwing stones a a group of female hippos and their new born kids – scattering the group. This is mindless vandalism and needs to be prosecuted.
” I witnessed a group of kids on a picnic lunch on the Mara River get up from table and then start throwing stones a a group of female hippos and their new born kids – scattering the group. This is mindless vandalism and needs to be prosecuted.”
I agree, but the guide nothing?
He could lose his licence if reported.
Recently read your article and comments. Unfortunately, what you describe applies to some photographers, even serious “photographers.” I recently read an article about how wildlife biologists who use radio collars to study animals are becoming concerned about their misuse. The article was from the Conservation Biology Journal and pointed out how the data from these devices is vulnerable to hackers, poachers, and members of the public who use use it in “unethical” ways. This is an excerpt from the article as it relates to photographers:
“The research article, entitled “Troubling issues at the frontier of animal tracking for conservation and management,” reviews several cases of scientific tracking data going astray. Biologist Stephen Cooke says there have been cases of wildlife photographers in Banff National Park intercepting the signal for the tracking collars. (In Banff the collars are on a herd of 18 reintroduced buffalo.) They’re able to essentially tune in on the animal that they’re after,” he says. “If you see a grizzly bear at the side of the road you just stand there long enough, and keep turning the dial until you hear, ‘beep, beep, beep.’ And then forever more you’re able to find that animal when it’s away from the town site in more natural environments.” That phenomenon led Banff to ban radio receivers for members of the public entering the park grounds.
In Yellowstone hackers have used the collars to track wolves for hunting purposes and in India poachers attempted to hack into information about Bengal Tigers. So we now have a new term, “cyber-poaching.” For photographers it’s more about disturbing the animals in order to get “that shot.”
Edward Abbey was right all along. If you haven’t read ‘Desert Solitaire’ than I demand you put your phones down (I know, I know….impossible for many of you) and read it. He disagreed with the park services making it so easy for the lazy dipsticks to just drive up to the arch or canyon or what have you. He hated the idea of paved roads in the parks for the very reasons noted on this website.
Too old to hike? FU, look at National Geographic. Too lazy? FU, go suck on a Dreamsickle. He wanted the wilderness to stay the wilderness.
When I went to Badlands (April and hardly anybody there!) I got upset that there were so many STOP signs and roads blocking the beauty. And my shot. So I got off my butt and hiked into the backcountry and found numerous photo ops and places of beauty all to myself, without any roads or signs or destructive humans.
But of course I saw a couple dashing from their cars to every point of interest, whip out the ole’ Selfish Stick, take a quick photo to post on InstaIdiot, and bolt back to their cars. They missed so much by not spending a few minutes looking at the area they were in. And their stupid fat heads in the photos they took most likely covered up much of the beauty.
‘Look at me! Look at me!’
Louis Lewis
I couldn’t agree more.
Well said.
Very well said. Let the wild be the wild uninterrupted by signs and park rangers.
Link to article about “Yellowstone National Park tourist fined $1,000 for walking off boardwalk”.
Good, but the fine wasn’t big enough.
pay the fine and be happy ….. from Snopes.com the June 2016 death of a Portland, Oregon man who wandered off the designated path at Yellowstone National Park and fell into the water near Noris Basin Geyser made headlines because of its gruesome and unusual nature. His sister — who was walking with him at the time and saw him fall in — contacted authorities immediately, but due to the heat and acidity of the water, they were unable to find his remains.
My wife and I were just there too maybe the same time you were? We were there before the buses of tourists came in that had no clue about wildlife acting like idiots with the Bison. We never saw any bears but did get to photograph and see a lot of wildlife. We were not at the geysers when the person fell in, we didn’t go near that area because there were so many people and cars all over that area. Glad we weren’t around for that…