Good morning! I’m resurrecting the blog to share a little behind-the-scenes info about the recent video I created, Morning in Yellowstone.
Summer in Yellowstone
This summer, I’m working for Yellowstone National Park. Unfortunately, the position I was originally offered was canceled due to COVID-19. Instead, I’m working as a member of the wildlife monitoring crew! We travel all over the park to study different bird species. I’m new to wildlife monitoring, but I joined the team with an open mind and an eagerness to learn. I work full-time and entirely outdoors, hiking with a spotting scope to count songbirds and look for raptor nests. So far, it’s been two months of unpredictable weather and strenuous hiking, but also breathtaking mountain views, spectacular wildlife-watching, and once-in-a-lifetime backcountry experiences.
Early Morning Schedule
My job requires a much earlier schedule than I’m used to — it’s challenging but rewarding. During May and June, we began our workdays just before sunrise in order to catch the full morning chorus of songbirds. My earliest alarm was at 3:30 am MT — oh those long days leading up to the summer solstice! Before this job, considered myself more of a night owl, so adjusting to the earlier shift was difficult — but only at first. Once I experienced my first Yellowstone sunrise, that early alarm became a little easier.
The mornings in Yellowstone are quiet, tranquil, and colorful. Some critters are more active at dawn, giving you a better chance to see them. But the absolute best part? From what I’ve observed, significantly less tourists start their day before 8:00am.
Although the United States is in the middle of a pandemic, many people are still visiting national parks — and Yellowstone is no exception. Since about mid-June, the park has experienced average to above-average visitation compared to summer 2019 stats according to the NPS. Visitation numbers continued to rise through July, despite the absence of big tour bus groups (tour buses brought 70,461 visitors in June 2019). Most international visitors will likely be absent this summer, too. This is my first summer in Yellowstone, so I don’t have a true baseline to compare this year’s visitation to. All I know is that often it gets too crowded for my comfort level — another reason I still get up early to visit the park on my days off.
No Shortage of Beautiful Views
Once I knew I’d be working outside all day, I realized I had to bring my camera everywhere I went to take as many photos as I could. I had to figure out how to keep my camera clean and dry, yet 100% accessible for those blink-of-an-eye wildlife sightings. Luckily, my camera — a very compact mirrorless interchangeable lens camera — is quite lightweight. I have two lenses: a fixed 12mm wide-angle lens and a 75-300mm basic telephoto lens. I decided to keep my camera and two lenses in a waterproof bag at the top of my backpack. So far, I’ve been able to capture all the shots I hoped for, although I did miss out on a curious marten near Pebble Creek :( Rather than dig for the camera, I decided to simply watch and take a mental photo instead!
At the start of many early mornings, I found myself humming the song I featured in the video: 5a.m. by Millenium. I first heard this song a few years ago, when I was much better at digging up random music and creating my own specialty playlists. I love everything about the song, but I don’t think I really understood it until I saw 5 o’clock in the morning for myself. I knew that this song would be perfect to describe how I felt every morning in Yellowstone these past two months.
Stitching Everything Together
I shot most of the footage using my digital camera + two lenses. I created the animated text using an Apple Pencil and Procreate for the iPad Pro. Logan Clark captured the clips of the Great Horned Owl and owlet using his Nikon Coolpix. I then used Adobe Premiere Pro to stitch all my footage together. Most of the footage I gathered while on the job, but I did spend one day off collecting the last of what I needed to fill out the three-minute song. I have worked with Premiere Pro in several projects during college, but I’m new to animation. The biggest challenge with this video was learning how to properly insert the animation I created. After I figured that out, the rest of my time was devoted to syncing up footage with the music as perfectly as I could.
This video is the first I’ve created that’s 100% my style and direction, no strings attached. I’m quite proud of it. It’s not perfect, but it feels very personal — almost exactly what I was going for. Also, there’s no shortage of gorgeous views in Yellowstone. Need I ask for more?
I would categorize this video as “dreamy American escapism B-roll.” That was not a readily-available category on YouTube, so I settled on “Travel and Events.”
Morning in Yellowstone
Rise before the sun
See the sky changing colors
Dream while you’re awake
You never know what you’ll see when you start the day early in Yellowstone National Park. From May to July, I filmed between 4:00 am and 7:30 am at many locations all over the park, but mostly in the northern areas (Yellowstone is huge, I did not capture everything).
If you plan to visit Yellowstone before sunrise, be especially mindful of wildlife while driving; bison often use roadways and are difficult to see in twilight lighting.
Video Credits:
Filmed by Lauren Utykanski and Logan Clark
Edited by Lauren Utykanski using Adobe Premiere Pro
Music by Millenium and Columbia Studios, copyright 1968