Oxbow Bend’s aspens basking in Autumn morning light, Grand Teton National Park – Wyoming, USA

Perhaps some my regular readers remember my first Grand Teton post, Pre-dawn Stillness on Oxbow Bend, where I described how I waited on the bank of the Snake River in darkness? This is one of my favorite shots from my last Grand Teton trip. In a span of five days, I saw this grove of aspens turned from light yellow to deep orange. They were on fire in the soft morning light.

I shot this photo two days after my I recorded my previous two Oxbow Bend images. The first morning, I saw a few ducks breaking the pristine glass water surface, but wasn’t in position to get the composition I wanted. I returned to the same location two days later and waited for a duck to swim across my frame.

I hope my viewers who have not visited Grand Teton look at this photo for a while and imagine what it would feel like to be there in person soaking all of this in … and for those who have visited Grand Teton, perhaps next time, linger around a little longer to catch those fleeting moments that can only be experienced only if one allows oneself to feel motion in stillness instead of rushing through the park.

Twilight sky over the Tetons at the Snake River Overlook – Wyoming, USA

I shot this sunset over the Tetons near the same location Ansel Adams shot his famous, “The Tetons – Snake River“. Although countless aspiring photographers have attempted to locate Ansel’s tripod holes near the Snake River Overlook, I couldn’t resist trying my own version when I saw this blazing sky over the Tetons. It was unfortunate that the fine folks at the national park service decided to perform controlled burns during my visit. I wished that they waited another week to start the prescribed fires. The smokes did enhance the sky colors; however, it also obscured the details of the Teton range. I am not too happy with the composition nor the exposure for this shot, but this was the best sky that I saw during my trip.

Sunrise light on the Tetons and the Moulton Barn, Grand Teton National Park – Wyoming, USA

The morning after Oxbow Bend Autumn Moon Companions, I decided to give this famous (a.k.a, over-photographed) Moulton Barn my own interpretation. I haven’t seen too many square format compositions of this iconic barn, so I thought I’d try my own take on this rather cliche’ subject.

I visited this weathered barn standing on a meadow against the stunning backdrop of the Tetons earlier during the day before; then returned before sunrise, setup my tripod and waited patiently for the light. What makes this shot unique for me is the light on the foreground grasses. The soft morning glow on those tall grasses lasted for a couple of minutes – just long enough for me to record six exposures. As with most of my other photographs, I always try to tell a story in my composition. There was no stone in the water for my “classic” composition, so I replaced my usual “stone in the corners” with a few foreground grass blades.

Autumn morning on Oxbow Bend, Grand Teton National Park – Wyoming, USA

I shot this image about 45 minutes after my previous shot, Pre-dawn Stillness on Oxbow Bend. At this point, most early morning photographers had left the scene. I stayed and watched countless other folks arrived with cameras in their hands, hurried some shots, then rushed of to else where. I wasn’t in a hurry to chase the next best thing. As I grow older, I’ve learn to slow down and to appreciate life as it unfolds instead of spending my present time anticipating and searching for better moments that I might have. I believe that even if I am living on borrowed time, I don’t have to live on trespass-ground. So, there I sat on this Snake River bank for hours, looking through my view finder to find a composition that speaks to me. It is nearly impossible to capture a unique photograph of Grand Teton since every inches of this place have been photographed to death. One of my goals for this trip was to bring home images that contain a part of me. As I drank my cold morning coffee from my aluminum canteen and contemplated on what compelled me to linger out here instead of searching for my next scene, I realized that I was observing a distance moon watching over two floating reeds drifting in slow motion on a mirror water surface reflecting the iconic Oxbow Bend landscape …

Pre-dawn colors and reflections at the Oxbow Bend, Grand Teton National Park – Wyoming, USA

I decided to dust off my camera and spent a few days in Grand Teton to find the motivation and inspiration to return to photography. I shot this image during my very first sunrise at this classic Grand Teton location, the Oxbow Bend on the Snake River. This is a fifteen seconds exposure made before first light reached Mt. Moran.

I love to photograph colorful sunrises and sunsets, but on this occasion, the quietness and the stillness of this scene resonated deep within me. I wasn’t looking for brilliant colors; I wasn’t looking for dramatic lighting; I was searching for a place that I could loose myself, and I found it. On this cold Autumn morning, although I shared this river bank with a few other photographers, I felt like I was the only one out there on this misty Snake river, breathing the cold morning air, watching the pre-dawn pink sky slowly revealing the surrounding landscape on a perfectly still water surface. I exposed a few different compositions, then sat down and waited for first light. In front of me, autumnal aspens waited for their turn to bathe in the warm morning sun. Above me, a late moon-set lingered on a muted pink sky. As first light struck the mountain peaks, I returned to my camera. Soon after, the river wildlife awoken and broke the silent dawn…

PS: I am still going through the selection process to decide which images to share. I don’t have time to post every day, but will do my best to post more often.

Mt Grinnell Alpenglow – Many Glacier, Montana.

Sunrise light on Mt Grinnell and Mt Gould. This image was taken few minutes after Sunrise Cloud Movements over Swiftcurrent Lake. I much prefer the clouds in the first shot, but I do like the alpenglow here.

PS: I’ve been too busy lately … trying my best to find time to post.

Sunrise cloud movement over St Mary Lake – Glacier National Park, Montana.

I spent a sunset and two sunrises here on Wild Goose Island, and each time, the light was different. A few minutes after I took this shot, the sky colors disappeared as rain clouds blanketed the eastern sky. It would have been perfect to get this sky and the same alpenglow light that I saw a few days earlier. This is a single exposure shot with three GND filters.

We ended up hiking in the rain to a couple waterfalls later that day to finish our trip. There are still some more photos from this trip that I might post later when I find the time, but this is the last good photo that I took during my trip. If you follow my series thus far, I hope you enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed capturing them. Glacier National Park is very beautiful, and my photos don’t do it justice.

The Garden Wall and Going To The Sun Road in the evening light – Logan Pass, Montana

Didn’t think I’d get good sunset light to work with on Hidden Lake, I left to find a better spot and found this scene near Logan Pass: The setting sun illuminated the Garden Wall, revealing the Highlight Trail above Going To The Sun Road.

This image is a digital blend from a single RAW exposure shot with a two stops soft edge GND filter. Getting this shot was a good way to end a productive shooting day: the previous five images I posted came from a single day of shooting from sunrise to sunset. I wished everyday in the park could be that fun, but it rained half of the time we were there.

Hidden Lake and Bearhart Mountain – Logan Pass, Montana

The Blackfoot Indians refer to this part of the Rockies on the continental divide as the “backbone of the world”. I thought it’s a fitting title for this image showing Bearhart Mountain towering above Hidden Lake.

After a morning hike to checkout Grinnell Lake, we went up Logan Pass to see Hidden Lake. The Hidden Lake trail is one of the prettiest walks I’ve done: blooming flowers, running water cascades, imposing mountains… There was even a small ice field for those wanting to get off the trail for a little climb. After spending about an hour up there watching the mountain goats in their natural habitat, we left early. If there were more clouds, I would have stayed until sundown.