The Tetons!
The Tetons – Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming – F/14 @ 30 seconds, 24mm, ISO 100, 10-stop filter, 66 MP, click photo for L
It was my 2nd day in the Southwest. I was looking at the map, Grand Teton is just 4 hours away from my hotel in Southern WY. My friend told me you don’t get assigned there that often, go drive! Hopped to my FJ Cruiser rental and off to the Grand Teton. Half way to the drive it started raining, like pouring hard. The radio channel I was listening to was having a thunderstorm warning. I did not know it was going to rain, I did not check! But I was still driving, even if I couldn’t take photos at least I could still see the Grand Teton. The rain stop like an hour left to drive, thank God!
There are still icecaps even in the summer in these mountains, amazing! It is indeed grand! Pardon my excitement, we do not have something like this in the East coast. I was in the snake river overlook along the SR-191, where Ansel Adams took his famous photo of the Grand Teton with the snake river in the foreground and the tetons as subjects. I was in his footsteps, same composition. It felt good to be where he was standing with his camera box. I could imagine how difficult it was. Nowadays, it is easy with the DSLR, instant feedback from my 3″ back display.
The sunset was still 3 hours away. The lighting conditions were not that bad, I could still take photos with an overcast skies. I used a 10-stop filter to prolong my shutter to 30 seconds to somehow capture some cloud movement. It’s not possible without the ND filter. It was not windy at all so the trees won’t be blurry after 30 seconds. These are the conditions I check when I shoot.
Anyway, after I shoot I went to my car, opened my laptop to stitch the photos and I was happy with the result. No need to do another shot or composition. I don’t change locations anymore when I shoot, I choose a good spot and that is it. Because when I do otherwise, I just screw the subsequent photos, so I rather stay in one location.
When I left, it started raining again. What a day! 8 hour drive for one photo.
I do hope I can come back to the Grand Teton but this time with my family. I’m sure they’re going to love it. Hope you can come too! Wyoming man! It’s a beautiful country.
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