Just some lovely light

We were in the Grand Tetons, near Jackson Hole, WY and out and about at sunset, looking for beautiful things to photograph (which is NOT hard in that area!). We pulled over in a field because these clouds were just so awesome, and I started clicking away. There was a group of photographers nearby that were also shooting this, and as we left I realized it was a workshop being led by my friend Matt Suess. He and I had met the previous day and chatted all things photography, and it was nice to run into him again the next day. Small world, huh?

View fullsize

Sunset in Jackson Hole

I caught these photos in a hurry! We were heading into the Grand Tetons area just north of Jackson Hole, WY and it was getting close to sunset. I was nervous because I always like to be in position early, in case the light gets amazing. But we were late and had a few miles to go to get there. But I saw this big lake with these great clouds, and had to stop anyway. I just can't pass up a nice view, especially when reflections are involved!

View fullsize

View fullsize

Grazing their life away

Just some horses grazing in a field in Jackson Hole, WY. Since I am generally in cities, I don't get many opportunities to shoot landscapes and animals. I just don't come across them. So when we were in Jackson Hole, I had a field day. The landscapes are just stunning, but even coming across a group of horses grazing in a field was exciting for me. I watched these horses for a while and snapped a few shots here and there. I especially love the backdrop...what a landscape!

View fullsize

A quiet winter scene

I decided to go with a winter image today, as it is a bit colder in Austin and since Christmas is right around the corner...well, it’s feeling like the thing to do! 

This is actually an old image from several years back.  I went with two buddies up to Jackson Hole, WY for a guys’ trip.  We mostly spent our time in Yellowstone, enjoying the scenery and the wildlife.  At the time, I really did not know my way around the camera, but I did come home with a few that I really like, and this is one of them. 

This was shot outside of Jackson Hole somewhere, although I can’t possibly remember where.  We were just driving around (See?  I told you I like to wander!) some back roads and saw this scene.  The snow was blowing and it was just awesome, so I jumped out and grabbed some shots.

A tree, a fence and a camera

This is actually an old image that I posted a long time ago.  No, I am not out of new photos to share - in fact I still have thousands to go, and some upcoming travel that will yield me even more.  In this case, I came across this photo and wanted to approach it a little differently than I did the first time - using Nik Silver Efex Pro - which is fairly new to me but which I have quickly decided is awesome!  

I caught this image outside of Jackson Hole, WY several years back while on a guys’ trip up there to see Yellowstone - which was amazing.  It was a fabulous trip and despite having very limited photography knowledge at the time, I came back with some keepers.  This is one of them.

Here is the originally posted version, which was in color:

At the end of a hike

I just love taking pictures of landscapes, and when you are in Jackson Hole, WY there is no shortage of beautiful scenes to photograph.  This was taken before I ventured into HDR photography and perhaps I can return again some day to capture that area in all its HDR glory!  In the meantime, I do have some wonderful shots from my trip there that I will continue to sprinkle in here and there, just to keep it fun (at least for me!).  This was taken while on a nice little hike with my buddies.  We were there on a guys trip, so what else are you going to do?  Basically, we walked around in the woods for days.  It was awesome!

This single image was taken at f/10 with no exposure bias.  I made some adjustments to Contrast in PSE and some minor color adjustments in Aperture, and that is all.

Taller

We were in Jackson Hole, WY for a guys' trip (which is awesome by the way) and had decided to spend a day in Yellowstone.  This is normally a fairly quick drive, except that we were there while the nearest entrance was still snowed in, so we had to drive for 2+ hours, briefly through Idaho and then enter the park through West Yellowstone, MT.  It was a great drive with a lot of scenery to enjoy all the way.  Shortly after leaving Jackson Hole, we were cruising up through a mountain pass which was pretty near the border with Idaho.  I saw this scene, and really liked that one tall tree standing alone.

This is a single exposure taken at f/10.  I originally was going to post this as a color version, but could never settle on how best to process it.  There was not a lot of color to work with, save for a little blue, and nothing ever looked right.  Finally I got inspired to change it to Black and White, and here it is.  I actually like this version much better than the color, since you can better see the mountain ranges in the distance.  Plus, sometimes these type of landscape shots are best presented in a very simple way, to let the natural beauty speak for itself.  Or something like that. 

Skipping stone to stone

I found this peaceful stretch of river just outside of Jackson Hole, WY - which is a great little cowboy town if you haven't been yet.  We parked and had to hike for a while to get down to the river banks, which is always worth it when you find a nice little river waiting for you.  I walked around to take some shots, and being that the water was not deep, ventured out into the river by hopping across these awesome stones that happened to be in all the right places. 

Empty and silent

I went with a couple of friends up to Jackson Hole, WY a while back during late April, which as you can tell from the picture was not springtime yet.  It was cold, snowy and awesome - very unlike April here in Central Texas.  We had no real agenda, other than to have a good time.  One day we drove around a bit outside of town, just cruising and having a look around, and came across this scene.  I really liked the big lone tree standing there, and how this fence seems to separate not much from not much.  It's a beautiful part of the country and I recommend it highly.