Autumn in the Tetons, 2009

I recently enjoyed several days of challenging photography in one of America's most inspiring fall colors destinations - Grand Teton National Park. My primary goal was fairly simple ... gather a collection of images from the common hot spots and popular viewpoints in preparation for an upcoming publication - hopefully under some cooperative, if not inspiring, weather conditions. Glorious sunrises, sunsets and so on in the one of more dramatic settings in the Rocky Mountains. Not surprisingly, nature had other plans. Relentless wind, snow and cloud cover dominated my entire time out there. (And aspen forest across the west had an "off year" for fall colors - but that's another story.) It was enough to drive most photographers mad. In fact, I rubbed shoulders with one or two photographers who seemed to spend more time cursing the wind and snow than enjoying the beauty that surrounded them. It was unbelievable. And it inspired me to simply have some fun.

I was thrilled at what nature threw at me. I've been known to plead to the heavens for the very type of dynamic weather conditions that drives most people indoors. It forces me to dig a little deeper into the not-so-obvious beauty of the surrounding landscape ... often into a creative mode that escapes the habits of common nature photography. Taking full advantage of the dynamic weather, I pushed my tripod around several favorite destinations within the park and surrounding national forest areas ... making the best of what I encountered. The result is a portfolio of images that seems to touch heavily upon beauty on a smaller scale, some abstraction and even a bit of experimentation with the camera. And yes, I managed to grab a handful of grand scenic images during the brief reprieves in the weather. In the end, it was one of my most enjoyable - and productive - photography outings to date.

In the interest of posting photographs sooner than later, I have quickly added this large collection of images to my photo journal without titles, location specifics and print availability. Those details will follow in the near future.

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