Yellowstone National Park grizzly bear with four cubs.

It’s never easy to narrow down a season’s worth of images to just five, but here are the five that either I liked the best, or that you liked the best, taking Google Analytics stats into account. Most of them came from Grand Teton National Park, with the exception being the grizzly bear with four cubs up in Yellowstone National Park. Now that the crowds are dying down as well, I’m thinking about heading back up there and seeing if I can find them one more time before they head in for the winter. All of these shots were the ones that had both sentimental value for me, as well as creating a striking image that created a great response. Some were simply being in the right place at the right time, others took a bit of extra work to be able to capture properly. I was at more of a disadvantage than normal throughout the course of the season, leaving me struggling to capture all the shots I actually wanted to get.

Northern Lights glow over the Snake River in Jackson, Wyoming.

While I was up for plenty of great sunrises, I had also moved at the beginning of summer to Wilson, Wyoming, a small town just to the west of Jackson. Many people love it, particularly in the winter, for its easy access to both Teton Village and the Teton Pass. I however, still found myself driving up into Grand Teton National Park to the same spots I always loved driving up to while living in northern Jackson. The difference was that now, instead of a five-to-ten minute drive, it was now a 45 minute drive. This made catching sunrises especially difficult and made heading up their for sunsets just as inconvenient. Given the trials though, I still found myself able to come away with some really nice images throughout the three months I lived down there. Living an extra 45 minutes from the spots I love so much left me a little frustrated, and so I moved back up to the same neighborhood I moved away from just a week ago. Thus I am now ready, and especially excited for, the upcoming fall and winter seasons!

Sunrise over Delta Lake in Grand Teton National Park

One thing I was able to take away from the whole experience is that you just have to force yourself to get out there and keep taking photos. Sometimes it’s inconvenient, sometimes you’ll lose sleep over it. Whatever the excuse, if you’re not willing to push yourself a little bit, you’re going to miss the shot. It can even feel more gratifying to capture an exquisite image that you worked a little harder for. There were a couple of occasions where I was short on sleep and once sunrise was over, I went home and straight to bed. Upon waking up and looking back at the images, it was almost like seeing something I had dreamed manifested right there on my computer, which goes without saying, is a pretty exciting feeling!

Granted it’s always easier when the scene is set up for you and you just happen to be in the right place at the right time, but it doesn’t always work out that easily. There will be times when you just have to bite the bullet and wake up early, skip a meal, drive an extra hour, etc. Whatever the case, if you feel that there’s an amazing shot to be had, do whatever it takes to get it and in the end, you’ll be much happier you did than if you didn’t. There were a few sunrises this summer I had intended to get up for, but fell back asleep only to briefly wake up moments later and see a beautifully illuminated pink and purple sky. Those are hard lessons to learn. The good news is there’s always more. The bad news is it could be a long time before you get the opportunity again, and even then, it will never look exactly the same.

In the end, if you want the shot, do whatever it takes and don’t let the excuses overpower your motivation. Stick with it and get the shot.

A rainbow lights up in a thunderstorm’s aftermath over Antelope Flats in Grand Teton National Park.

While driving north along Highway 89 in Grand Teton National Park, it’s hard not to give all your attention to the west where the massive east face of the Tetons rise out of the valley floor. While setting up for sunrise the other day at Blacktail Ponds, one of the many pullouts to appreciate the dramatic view, I found for a short while at least, that the view to the north was actually much more interesting than the obvious view to the west. I wound up catching several different shots shooting north before the sun eventually began rising on the Teton Mountains. Yet another example in my array of shots that prove that the main subject you were originally intending to shoot might not be the most interesting.

My body insisted on staying in bed this morning, but it had been a while since I caught a good sunrise and I was determined to force myself to get out of bed. I headed up to Blacktail Ponds in Grand Teton National Park and rather than sticking to the overlook, I headed down into the ponds and slushed through a path to capture this photo, among many others.

Sure a bed can be extremely cozy, especially when you’re waking up early and haven’t gotten a full night’s sleep. Sleep, however, can be caught up on. Sunrises like this don’t repeat themselves. Just keep that in mind.

Last night there was a nice display of Northern Lights on the northern horizon of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Wanting some water in my shot, I headed over to the Wilson Boat Launch along the Snake River outside of Jackson, Wyoming to catch it. While I wasn’t able to get the compositions I was quite hoping for, I was pleased with the results that I did come away with. Depending on the time of year and conditions, I’m tempted to do a short hike somewhere for the next time.

While the Aurora Borealis are pretty regularly on display in Canada and Alaska, there’s occasionally a solar flare from the sun that, when aimed just right, will push them down into the northern United States, and on rarer occasions even further south. This is the third time I’ve seen the Northern Lights since moving to Jackson, Wyoming and all times they’ve been on the northern horizon.

This was one of those shots that I wasn’t in much of a hurry to process simply because I didn’t really like the way it looked before bringing it into Photoshop to see what I could do with it. After a couple of quick edits just to see what happened, however, it began taking form and I simply kept going until I had this. It’s one of those images that just brings you into the zone and then all of a sudden after a short while you find yourself pleasantly surprised with an image that you begin growing fonder of that you originally weren’t all that excited to process. This is another image from last week’s quick backpacking trip up to Delta Lake.

Delta Lake is rather unique lake in the Teton Range of Grand Teton National Park. While most high-elevation glacial lakes have a pristine, bold blue about them, Delta Lake is more of a brilliant turquoise color. What makes it turquoise is that it’s fed directly by Teton Glacier which carries minerals into the lake just below. In addition to that, the Grand Teton is directly in front of you giving you about as close of a view as you’re going to get of it without climbing up. Although after staring at it for a bit there you’ll be tempted to!

For those reasons, Delta Lake continues to be one of my favorite destinations in the Tetons, though there’s still quite a bit left to explore!

If you saw last week’s sunset posts, then you saw the tail end of the thunderstorm that ripped through Jackson Hole that I got caught in about three-fourths of my way up to camp at Delta Lake in Grand Teton National Park. I made another attempt earlier this week and in addition to finally making it up there, I had this entire scene all to myself the entire time. The only downside was that I was so exhausted that I wound up sleeping through the full moonrise. Regardless, I was awake with plenty of time for a spectacular sunrise!

I had seen the sun rising on the Grand Teton plenty of times in the past, but never so close, especially with a beautifully tranquil, turquoise glacial lake right at the base. You can expect to see more posts from this trip in the near future.

In checking the weather the other day, yesterday looked like it would produce an amazing sunrise. In driving out to Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park before sunrise however, it was apparent it wouldn’t be much of anything too unique and alpenglow was definitely out of the question as a storm system blanketed the eastern sky. Eventually though, the sun did crest the clouds casting some very beautiful light over the peaks of the Teton Mountains to the west of Jenny Lake. There were even a few other photographers out as well finding ideal spots between the trees.

From Wilson, it takes roughly 45 minutes to get out to Jenny Lake, so in seeing the sky to the west I had 45 minutes to decide whether I wanted to even bother with what looked like it was going to be a washed out sunrise. Learning to stay on course, however, is a hard lesson to learn and having learned a few lessons, it’s sunk in pretty deep now. If you’ve been inspired to go in a certain direction, don’t turn back. Keep going. It may not turn out exactly how you’re expecting, but at the very least it’ll make you glad you kept going.

As mentioned in the previous post, I was up the other day for sunrise at a nice spot I had all to myself on the Triangle X Ranch in Grand Teton National Park. I was set up just in time to see my first, true alpenglow hitting the Grand Teton and the clouds above it, as captured in this panorama.

Many people mistakenly assume that alpenglow is simply the pink light in the first or last light of the day hitting the highest peaks. It’s actually a bit more of a relatively rare phenomenom. True alpenglow is when the first or last light of the day is actually reflecting off of clouds and onto the highest peaks so that they’re lit in a pink-ish/purple glow by completely indirect light.

So now that you know what alpenglow really is, are there any spots that you remember seeing it where it stuck out?

The other night I went camping up on Shadow Mountain so that I would be up in Grand Teton National Park in an attempt to find a scenic new spot for sunrise. After a bit of perusing on Google Maps, I found a place that looked like it would work nicely up on the Triangle X Ranch. I found a beautiful spot overlooking Hedrick Pond on the ranch and was able to get there in time to witness my first "real" alpenglow (not in this photo, obviously, though).

In previous posts I’ve mentioned the importance of just getting out there and taking new shots. Moreso than that, however, it’s also important to take new roads that you haven’t taken. This not only gets you comfortable with occasionally breaking out of your comfort zone, but also shows you new sights that are often undocumented. I was driving along backroads for quite a while before stumbling upon this spot. They often take you to wonderful places that most people never come across. Keep traveling down them and you’ll be amazed at what you find, especially in your own backyard!

HDR (or High Dynamic Range) is a term thrown around the photography community quite a bit these days. If a graduated neutral density filter isn’t immediately accessible, then sometimes an HDR photo is the only way to capture the drama of a scene, such as the intense shifts in lights and darks at sunrise.

Much of the controversy around such scenes, however, result from the way the photo is actually processed. When most people hear of an HDR image, they think of the typical scene that, in my own opinion, looks a little over-processed with halos around many features of the photo. Some people love it, which is why it’s still around, however I personally prefer a more natural look. What’s happening with those images is typically, someone will take a series of shots of the same scene, 5-10 usually, all ranging from underexposed by a certain amount to overexposed by that opposite amount. Using special software, a program will read the best values of each image and merge them together to create a photo without deep shadows or blown-out highlights. A certain "look," as described earlier, has grown out of this technique that’s become the norm when people think HDR.

While I don’t use those techniques, this is, in all fairness, an HDR image. Why? Because I’ve used more than one shot, creating a high dynamic range of light, to create a final photo. My personal preferred method of creating an HDR photo, however, involves taking one slightly overexposed photo and one underexposed photo and then manually blending them in a program such as Adobe Photoshop. I find that this method, made possible with layer masks, gives me the most control over how each element is exposed and how light or dark a certain part of the photo is. Granted this could be done much easier with a graduated neutral density filter, but this works just as well, if not better, for those times when you happen to have just completely forgotten it.

The subject in question here, is of course, Schwabacher Landing in Grand Teton National Park. The light hitting the peaks and clouds was much brighter than the light in the trees and in the ponds, so without a graduated neutral density filter, blending multiple shots was the only way to preserve all the darks and lights.