Buffalo Crossing the Yellowstone River

I drove up to Yellowstone National Park in the early morning from Jackson, WY. I saw a few photographers with their tripods set up along the side of the road, facing in the direction of the Yellowstone River. However, I couldn’t understand why they were there because the fog was so thick that you couldn’t see more than 10 feet in front of you. So, I kept driving, hoping to spot some wildlife further down the road. A couple of hours later, on my way back, the fog started to clear, and then I saw the herds of buffalo on the opposite side of the river, framed by the backdrop of trees with freshly fallen snow. I assume these photographers spotted the herds the afternoon before. I pulled over to take some photos and suddenly, one of the buffalo started to swim across the river in our direction. Every buffalo followed in single file. It was a spectacular sight and I am happy to report that almost everyone there respected these beautiful animals by keeping their distance and remaining in the pull-out area. I think this might have been a once-in-a-lifetime sight and I will always cherish it.

I have mentioned that the mission of Changing Focus Photography is to spread joy through sharing photographs. I am happy to report that the photos I took of the buffalo that day were published in an article by Buckrail News in Wyoming. Shortly afterwards, I was contacted by a Coordinator and Scientist from the National Park Service/Rocky Mountain Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit to get permission to use them in his presentations; an information service organization in Cody, WY to use them in their brochures; a Montana-based non-profit that focuses on conservation and protecting buffalo to use in their 2022 calendar; and a non-profit organization called Wyoming Untrapped, whose mission is to reform trapping laws to protect animals. It is very exciting to see that not only is the joy continuing to spread, but now these photos are being used to assist others with their very worthy causes!

T.L. Wilson

T.L. Wilson (formerly Terry Wise) has lived through a myriad of personal and professional lives, each of which has led her to the same place, with the same purpose: to provide hope and inspiration to others. Terry is the author of Waking Up: Climbing Through the Darkness, a book that offers a road map to emotional health to people who are faced with a diversity of life’s challenges (grief, depression, suicidality). Terry served on the boards of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the American Association of Suicidology and spent a decade delivering keynote speeches in every state in the United States. After happily re-marrying in 2010, Terry wrote a novel, Viewer Indiscretion, penned under the name T.L. Wilson. Terry’s most recent endeavor as a photographer is to capture and share the beauty of the world around us through a different lens—a camera lens. It is her belief that recovery from mental health challenges is achieved incrementally and it is her hope that each image will provide doses of joy to the eye and warmth to the heart. Her mission is to make the world a better place one book at a time, one word at a time and now…one photograph at a time. To view more images, please visit www.ChangingFocusPhotography.com