Ozark Images Blog

New project in the works

Mark Hardgrave — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:24:33 +0000

Sometimes life is so busy that I don't have a lot of time to go out and photograph. My wife had mentioned that I should just photograph in our own backyard. Well I do have 12 acres of all kinds of things to photograph, so I decided to do that project. Starting next week I will be posting from "My Back Yard" project. We will see all the things I come up with. I will start some posting next week and we will see how it goes.

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Tea Kettle Falls

Mark Hardgrave — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:16:09 +0000

Bob and I had been talking about going to photograph Tea Kettle falls for some time now and Sunday we had had enough rain to give it a try. This is not the best image of the falls, but I wanted to show a wide angle view of this great area. The falls flows through a hole at the top of the cliff and there is a ledge just below the hole that projects the water out like a "Tea Kettle", thus the name. It is easy to get to, but bard to get down to the bottom to get a photograph. Follow the direction in Tim Ernst's book and you will have no problems.

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More Mom and Cubs images.

Mark Hardgrave — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 01:52:58 +0000

Here is another mom and cub image. After eating and playing they like to do some resting and mom is watching us carefully to make sure we keep our distance.

More bear and cubs.

I love this family shot of the bears together. The young cubs hang close to mom.

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More bears to look at!

Mark Hardgrave — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:20:31 +0000

At McNeil it is always a joy to see the bears with cubs. While this could lead to a dangerous situation, most moms will keep their cubs away from trouble. It was several days before we saw this group. Moms will sometimes keep them away from the other bears if there are lots of males around. Males will often attack and kill the offspring. It should be noted that there is no documented case of a male bear eating it's own offspring. They will kill the competition's offspring. Anyway, here is a nice family portrait on the beach.

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Have a salad today!

Mark Hardgrave — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:15:38 +0000

To start the year off right I will be joining my bear friend here and eating some salad this year. Of course, he just eats the tasty grass till something else better comes around. In my case I could always find something that tastes better than grass! I am working on images again today. I have a slide show to do in Feb at my studio and will need to get some images ready for this small group. I need to get busy, so I may post a few images through out the day today and tomorrow. Hope the new year is good to you.

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Sunrise under the Buzzard Roost Arch

Mark Hardgrave — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 01:54:04 +0000

Up today at 3:00 am to go catch the sunrise under the Buzzard Roost Arch. Bob and I had a failed attempt Friday when the weather was real foggy. We took the chance and went anyway and took photos of the Arch in the fog. I'll post some of those images in a few days. It was 24 degrees when Bob and I headed out for the hour drive to get to the trail that leads to Buzzards Roost. Not another sole around as we head down the trail to the arch. There was a light snow on the ground and a full moon to our backs. What a great morning to be out in the woods. This is the kind of weather that my good friend Tim Ernst would be wondering around in. I wondered if we would see him, but I am sure he and the rest of the Ernst bunch are getting books and orders out before Christmas. Here is a quick image of what you guys missed while you were sleeping!

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Thursday's image

Mark Hardgrave — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 03:47:09 +0000

I really get a smile out of watching these guys play. I shot a video of them, maybe I can edit it and upload it for you to view. I am going after some images in the morning and hope to catch sunrise through the arch at Buzzard's Roost tomorrow. We will see if the weather is good to me. Enjoy!

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Some images from Wed night.

Mark Hardgrave — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 03:44:37 +0000

Again I am doing some more image processing and have a few more images for you tonight. Most all of these images are from my second trip to McNeil and most of them are up on MikFik creek. This is the clasic green sedge that the bears munch on before the salmon run. They can eat a lot of this stuff in a day, but they would prefer some fish or other meat. Enjoy!

Can you keep a secret?

Mark Hardgrave — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 03:37:55 +0000

Cubs will be cubs and they love to play. These two played with each other for about 30 minutes before moving on down the river. This image I call "Can you keep a secret?" and it kind of fits. It is so fun to watch bear cubs play, and they can get into some trouble if mom does not keep an eye on them.

More McNeil Bears

Mark Hardgrave — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 04:17:45 +0000

Night three of looking through my images and getting them ready for printing and for a slide show sometime in 2008. My camera amazes me, as I look at the images I can actually see mosquitos flying all around the bears. Considering how far away we were from the bears, that says something for the Canon 300 2.8L lens as well as the 1Ds. More pics to post in a few days. enjoy them and if you have any comments please leave them.

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Just peaking through the grass.