Two weeks after the fire, I finally returned to the trails I loved. I expected loss. I expected heartbreak. What I didn't expect was what I found among the ashes.

I am not a patient wildlife photographer…but on this cold Montana morning, I stayed long enough for something unexpected to find me.

Each spring, sandhill cranes move through the Yakima River corridor, using open fields and wetlands as temporary resting places. This visit to Barker Ranch offered a chance to observe them from a distance and work with what the landscape allowed.