Wild Sheep - YETI presents "Wild Sheep" Table Top Book

One of Tony Bynum’s many images published by YETI in the book, “Wild Sheep”

Yeti Presents “Wild Sheep” a brand new oversized, full-color tabletop book about wild North American sheep and the people who pursue them. 150 plus pages of stories and incredible photography by Tony Bynum, Adam Foss, and many more.

2014 is history. It's been a great outdoor photography year - I'm blessed. What makes a great outdoor photography year? To start, both myself and my family all are happy and healthy. Beyond that, the rest was about the experience of the adventure and living life to it's fullest. In brief, here are a few exerts from the past year's adventures, followed by a few photographs and at the end of the blog, a list of 10 things I learned this year.

200,000 individual moments of time were turned into digital data from adventures across the globe; I witnessed extraordinary wildlife action in extraordinary places.

Wore out a couple of Nikon cameras; broke more than $5000 worth of gear - some completely and beyond repair;

I used the third string lens to complete a commercial shoot; trashed a half dozen pair of pants and blew the crotch completely out of one;

left some of my own clothes with people on other continents who would appreciate them more than I would;

sent a 50 inch canvas print of a man and his wife to him weeks after she suddenly passed away - I'm grateful I was there to capture the moments before her passing;

I tossed in the trash three pairs of boots because they were done being useful; logged more than 50,000 air miles and I have no idea how many on my pickup;

pulled thorns out of my legs and ass on two continents;

swam naked across an Alaskan glacial river in the dark with just a headlamp while the gear and guns were left behind;

slept overnight, outside, in a wet down sleeping bag - twice; stood in front of a young man holding an AR-15 . . . for 20 minutes - we did not speak the same language - that was interesting;

I get to live in a place where for at least half the year I can keep ice-cream outside without it melting; watched our kids play violin, and sing during and after school programs; shoveled snow; stacked fire wood;

witnessed the sun come up more than 250 times; and, I'm busy, I can't remember a moment when I did not have something enjoyable and fun to do.

I love my life! Here are more outdoor photographs from 2014:

Hunters on a cliff warming by a fire while looking for game overlooking a large open mountain valley in the Rocky Mountains, United States.

Young Bushmen boys walking in warm light, Namibia, Africa

A young cowboy ropes his first calf in Montana

Cowboys wrestling a large white calf on the ground in Montana

Beaver airplane lands on a beach in remote Alaska, USA

Hunting in Alaska, looking out into the open wilderness

Truck crossing the Namib Desert, Namibia, Africa

Hunters in Sonora Mexico, walking across an aroyo, near the Sea of Cortez.

Cowboy on horse back, roping a running calf on the grasslands of Montana, USA

Hunter in Africa, with guides watching though binoculars

Hunters on a ridge backlit by sun, backpacks hiking

Safari vehicle winching up rock face in Africa

Snow blowing along Highway 2, Blackfeet Indian Reservation

Hunters looking for animals - Sonora Mexico

Herd of elk grazing in a meadow mountain background with rainbow

Large bull elk chasing cow elk during the rut

Bighorn ram in meadow with mountain backdrop

Bull elk with huge rack, antlers in grass meadow with fir forest background

Bull bison in meadow against a mountain background

Black bear sow and cub in fall grass and trees

Giraffe walking in front of the rising sun, namibia, africa

After all of that, I'd like to share a few things I learned -

1. Stay focused on the goals.

2. Pay attention to details - every singe one!

3. Clean your sensor - often!

4. Have two but preferably three back up plans.

5. Things will go wrong - again.

6. There's time for work, and there's time for play - don't confuse them and don't get too distracted by either one.

8. Most of all, it's a lot better to be happy than it is to be right . . .

9. Success is a team effort, you can't make it alone. . .

10. If you're not making mistakes, you're doing something else very wrong!

If you've gotten this far, thank you. What photographs or adventures do you remember from 2014 and do you have any advise of your own for 2015?

Here's to a happy new year 2015!

Tony Bynum

Photography Quotes - 10 photography quotes that you should read

Photography quotes help to remind us of the most important aspects of photography. I'm always trying to distill photography down to as simple a terms as I can. Having rules and remembering small anecdotes and quotes helps me stay focused. There is one quote that stands out to me, more than any other. I"ll share it with anyone that's inclined to ask me about photography. Here's is my favorite photography quote.

"The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can't be photographed. You just have to keep doing it." - Eliot Porter

Here's a list of 10 photography quotes, with author's, that I like. This list includes some quotes about capturing photos, while others are focused at the business of photography.

10. "There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are." - Ernst Haas

9. "It's more important to click with people than to click the shutter." - Alfred Eisenstaedt

8. "If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn't need to lug around a camera." - Lewis Hine

7. "Light glorifies everything. It transforms and ennobles the most commonplace and ordinary subjects. The object is nothing, light is everything." - Leonard Missone

6. "Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera." - Yousuf Karsh

5. "Sometimes you can tell a large story with a tiny subject." - Eliot Porter

4. "One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind. To live a visual life is an enormous undertaking, practically unattainable. I have only touched it, just touched it." - Dorothea Lange

3. "A photograph is usually looked at but seldom looked into." - Ansel Adams

2. "Photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place . . . I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them." -Elliot Erwitt

1. "The more you photograph, the more you realize what can be photographed and what can't be photographed. You just have to keep doing it." - Eliot Porter

If you have a quote you like, post it, with the authors name, and tell us why it resonates with you.

Tony Bynum

Two Days with Montana Photographer Tony Bynum - once in a lifetime opportunity

You have until Friday evening to get your bids in for two days of private photography with Montana Photographer, Tony Bynum. Tony Bynum is donating two days of private, one-on-one photography to the Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA) to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Anyone can bid. Better hurry, winner awarded Friday night, at the Professional Outdoor Media Association's, National Conference in Knoxville, TN, March 21, 2014! You can put your bid in here, or bid on any number of other items, at this link http://conta.cc/1lGT8ky . Other items include a fishing trip with Jim Zumbo, a privately catered meal from Bill Miller Outdoors, Optics, outdoor gear from Alps Outdoors, an African Safari, an Argentine Dove Hunt, and much much more!