After the spring thaw, Yellowstone blossoms with new life everywhere. Green paints its way up the hillside as wildflowers decorate the landscape. Buzzing insects return and the songs of birds stir the morning air. Babies are everywhere. From the darling, red bison calves, to the spotted elk calves, to the fast pronghorn lambs and their zoomies, ungulate babies rule the landscape. Stumbling around and learning to be a predator, wolf and coyote pups roll around as they follow their parents. Baby black bears and their gangly bodies clamor up trees, and adorable grizzly cubs follow close on their mom’s paws. Nesting birds needily beg for food from their parents. Up in the Beartooths, pika jet from rock to rock, and mountain goat kids leap behind their parents. There is so much new life in the mountains and this workshop will focus on the babies! We will photograph the babies themselves being curious, new little lives in the world, as well as focus on parent-baby relationships and behavior. The workshop will be adorable and fascinating! We will spend much of our time in Lamar and along the Northern Range. We may go to Hayden for one day. We will go out to the Beartooths later on in the course for pika and for Mountain Goats.

About the instructor

Kate Ochsman is a naturalist and wildlife photographer based outside of Yellowstone. Kate believes in art for a cause – hers being conservation. Her artistic “why” is to help people connect with the wild, both within and outside of themselves, for we protect what we know and love. Building her fine art photography portfolio, Kate travels globally to photograph wildlife and wild places. Before her move to Yellowstone, Kate, a certified South African Safari Guide, ran an innovative program in the South African bush for college-aged participants that taught them photography, filmmaking, marketing and how to use these along with social media to spread awareness for wildlife conservation issues. She has also worked in human-wildlife conflict in Namibia. These days, Kate is focusing on American wildlife and conservation issues through wildlife guiding and photography.