Sunrise Grand Canyon of The Yellowstone, Yellowstone NP, © Jay Goodrich

I am not one to toot my own horn. I try to stay as modest as possible. I know as a small business owner I need to be a better marketer and since I am the only full-time employee I need to toot the horn more. So today, I am tooting on a personal level. Today is my birthday and it is not just any birthday, I am now 40, a milestone only in numbers, not life.

The cool thing is that the photo I am highlighting in today’s post was taken in Yellowstone last year on my birthday with my now 5 year old daughter. After which we sat down to a huge breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and eggs. It’s funny how you remember some things in your life so vividly and others you couldn’t pull out of the memory banks with the best recovery software. I guess the ones you remember the most are the ones that are the most important. I wonder what memories I will be creating while you are reading this? You might have to wait until next year to find out.

And since I am tooting, I am also proud to tell you that a different composition of this scene made into the finals of this year’s Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition. And, seven others made it through the semi-final round. Hopefully next year I will have even more to announce.

Above the Lewis River, Yellowstone N.P. © Jay Goodrich

Jay has just received a Bronze award in the 2009 International Aperture Awards Competition for this image that highlights the foliage re-growth in Yellowstone National Park since the 1988 wildfires. Jay took the photo from above the Lewis River, near the south entrance of the park, this past summer as a thunderstorm was clearing at sunset. This image is part of an ongoing project that we will be providing more details to in early 2010.

I have a new image that was just posted on Canadian Photographer Darwin Wiggett’s blog. To view it and read about it click here.

Eunice Lake at Sunset, Mt. Rainier N.P. © Jay Goodrich

Last week I was in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks working on an upcoming project. I shot this image at Mammoth Hot Springs. Faster than I knew, I arrived in Seattle, and began searching for images in Olympic and Mount Rainier National Parks. Stay tuned, for more posts, I will be here until the 22nd.