Michelle Olmstead Photography

@molmstead.bsky.social

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Ethical nature photographer, natural edits. Hiker, forest wanderer, slow traveller, gardener, bird watcher, art & music lover, mom, wife ♥️ Pro Science. Healthcare is a human right! RIP democracy? I hope not. B.S. Zoology.

A small songbird looks into the feeder cam on a sunny day. This is the black-capped chickadee. It has a black head and bib, with white feathers and tawny sides.
I’m enamored with these single trees dotted throughout the landscape in Bryce. Early mornings are the best here, when the sun makes the sandstone glow with a deep orange/red color in contrast to the green conifers. I love the textures and patterns in the rock as well.
A large, yellow cottonwood tree stands in front of a towering orange/red sandstone wall in Capitol Reef National Park.
Light illuminates the bright yellow aspens and green conifers while fog and clouds engulf the snowy mountain above.
Beautiful early evening light illuminates the fall foliage on a mountainside in Utah.
Bright green aspen trees are the focus of this scene, surrounded by colorful orange and red maple trees.
A scrub jay visits a bird cam feeder. Sound up to hear him squawk.
A beautiful sunset and mountain layers with red, yellow and orange fall foliage covering the hillsides. There is a road running through the lower right half of the image.
Bright red maple trees surround tall aspen trees with white trunks and bright green leaves. They will turn yellow later in fall.
Colorful maples and aspen trees mixed with conifers at sunrise. There is a road running through the top of the scene, and a mountain in the background.
A view of the field at Oracle Park. Home of the San Francisco Giants.
I made this abstract in the blue hour on a bitterly cold January evening in Grand Teton National Park. Those white streaks are blowing snow, and the dark shadow at the bottom are the mountains. There’s a hint of orange left over from sunset. I really like how this turned out, and it’s always been a favorite image.
A damselfly on bright green foliage in Grand Teton National Park. The damselfly has a slender, metallic blue and green body with large, brown eyes. I believe it is in the family Lestidae.
Mountains and pine trees reflect in a crystal clear high mountain lake in Grand Teton National Park.
Colorful clouds at sunset light up above Mount Moran in Grand Teton National Park. Everything was so green on this summer evening in July.
A peaceful moment at a lake in Grand Teton National Park.
A bumblebee lands on a purple lupine flower to collect pollen in Grand Teton National Park.
A tall lupine flower with purple petals at the top and bluish petals at the bottom.there are large, green leaves at the bottom. Photographed in Grand Teton National Park. These large-leaved lupine are so beautiful, and I’ve only seen them in a few spots in the park. So different from the other lupine species found here. They are more colorful, much larger, and I like the color variation in the petals. Photographed with my Nikkor Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S lens.
Pine trees surround a lake with wildflowers in the foreground, and a snow-covered mountain in the background in the high Uintas wilderness, Utah. You can always find water in the Uintas, not just because there are over 2,000 lakes here, but also more than 400 miles of streams and countless little ponds and waterfalls. The Uintas receive over 40 inches of precipitation annually (mostly in the form of snow) and it rains daily in the summer.
Immigrants feed you.
A brown bench is illuminated by the warm light of sunset with vibrant, pink streaked clouds in the sky. The yellow flowered shrubs are rabbit brush. Antelope Island State Park.
A closeup of a beautiful red and yellow dahlia flower. I used my Nikon Z MC 105mm macro lens to make this image.
Rolling hills of green with yellow flowers in the foreground, and snowy mountains in the background. A winding road runs through the middle of the scene.
A long exposure of a stunning sunset on a beach in Maui, Hawaii. There are black lava rocks in the foreground and background with a powerful wave flowing over the rocks and sand toward the shore. The ocean water behind it is a beautiful turquoise color, and there is a group of vibrant green palm trees in the upper right corner.
A man with a green backpack looking at the mountains as the peaks light up at sunset.
Looking up at the blue sky surrounded by two orange sandstone canyon walls in Utah. The brown streaks on the left are called desert varnish, which is a combination of minerals, clay, and microorganisms that form a thin layer (patina) on the surface of the exposed rock in arid environments.
Early morning sun lights up the hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. Hoodoos are tall, slender rock spires, and can range in color from red and orange, to pink and white. This park has the greatest concentration of hoodoos in the world.
A lovely scene at golden hour on a lake in Grand Teton National Park. The sun is illuminating some pine trees to the left, while people in kayaks and on paddle boards enjoy the evening. The glacial lake appears green in color in the esrly evening light.
A row of pine trees reflects in a lake at sunrise with fog floating across the water in Grand Teton National Park.
A detailed image of green, serrated plant leaves made with my NIKKOR Z MC 105mm f/2.8 VR S lens.
An old bristlecone pine with a twisted trunk looks over a mountain meadow and a small lake at sunset.
An orange and yellow sunset on the Great Salt Lake. As seen from Antelope Island State Park, Utah.
New pine growth with cobwebs in soft morning light. Grand Teton National Park. Manipulating nature when photographing it by physically removing things such as cobwebs, insects, a nearby flower, or even leaf litter is unethical, IMO. Even if you think your actions are harmless, you may be upsetting the balance. There’s a mini ecosystem in there, supporting life that you can’t even see! Remove things in post processing if you wish, but don’t do it in the field. Leaving nature as is leads to a much more interesting image in my opinion.
A purple lilac blossom surrounded by bright green foliage.
A starling (left) and a mourning dove sit on a bird feeder together.
Early morning sunlight illuminates the orange hoodoos and spires in Bryce Canyon National Park.
A classic fall scene of the T.A. Moulton barn on Mormon Row with the mountain range behind it in Grand Teton National Park. The cottonwood trees to the right had just started to turn from green to yellow.
A turtle takes a rest and basks in the sun on a beach in Maui Hawaii.
Golden-hour light hits an island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. Image taken from Antelope Island State park. There are 17 named islands on the Great Salt Lake, but that number can vary depending on the lake’s water level.
A variety of sayings on various rocks.
Four sailboats on the water enjoying a tangerine sunset on the island of Maui.
A chart detailing the morning timeline of a coffee lover.
A broken down and abandoned house stands in a field of green grass with a golden strip of dead grass running through the scene. There is a mountain range behind the house covered in fog and clouds.
Located in the Kīpahulu district of Haleakalā National Park, this hike lined with bamboo is one of the best experiences you can have on the island of Maui. Most of the trail is unpaved, save for this boardwalk section through the bamboo forest.
A red sand beach on the island of Maui. The sea is pretty rough here, but an offshore reef protects the bay from large waves. The contrast between the rich blue of the ocean and the iron-rich red sand of the beach is quite striking.
A mourning dove sits on a bird feeder at dawn.
Several songbirds on a bird feeder with snow. There are 2 male house finches, which are the birds with the red breasts and heads, a male junco with a dark black head and pink beak, and a brown striped female house finch.
Indomitable The pinyon-juniper woodland is the most prevalent plant community in Canyonlands National Park. Junipers can survive in some of the mist inhospitable conditions of intense heat, cold, wind, and drought. This is due to their massive underground root system, and large tap roots. They are very slow growers and can live between 350-700 years, although some have lived more than 1,000 years. I’ve always liked this particular juniper perched on this cliff, and its twisted trunk.
Pine trees along the shore are reflected in the lake, as soft light illuminates the clouds at sunrise.
View from a room. Our hotel overlooking the ocean in Monterey California
A moody sunset off the coast of Monterey, California. There are birds on the beach, and many more on the rocks in the ocean. I like to get to know a place when I travel, not just take photos. Can’t wait to get back here to immerse myself in nature, shop and visit art galleries in Carmel, and eat! The food here is amazing and so fresh! A visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium is also a must do activity.
This image was made in Yellowstone National Park. It shows steam from superheated water rising above colorful orange, yellow, and green mats of thermophilic bacteria. These are bacteria that thrive in extreme temperatures. The colors they produce can change depending on water temperature, time of year, and species.
Morning sun lights up the peaks of Mount Moran while the mist floats off the lake in Grand Teton National Park.
A male house finch with a red face and breast, argues with another house finch while a dark-eyed junco tries to get his share in the corner of the feeder. The chirps coming from the junco sound like a stormtrooper blaster from Star Wars.
This image is one of my favorites. Superheated water pouring over the colorful travertine as steam mixes with the clouds. The colors come from heat-loving bacteria known as thermophiles. They can be bright and bold or muted depending on the light, time of year and water temperature. In this case the beautiful evening light revealed rich colors of orange and brown.
A winter scene in Grand Teton National Park. A buck-and-rail fence runs across the foreground, with frosty pine and cottonwood trees in front of the snowy mountain range. The mountains are obscured by a band of low-lying clouds, with a blue sky above.
One of the best hikes in Escalante takes you to this amazing oasis in the desert. Gorgeous Navajo sandstone cliffs, rich with desert varnish, and pre-historic rock art are some of the sights you'll see along the way. There is also a nice variety of flora and fauna here. As you get closer to the 130 ft. falls, a lush riparian habitat takes over. I love the color in the mineral-streaked sandstone, and the green from the moss and algae growing along these walls. This spot is a true oasis in the desert.
A moose stands at the edge of a lake at sunset. He is surrounded by green grass with pine trees in the background. There are streaks of orange and yellow in the sky. This image was made in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.