This winter I loaded up the Jeep, drove northwest out of Colorado, and spent several days chasing light across two states. First through Wyoming’s Absaroka Range and into Grand Teton National Park, then north to Big Sky, Montana for a few days of skiing with friends. I also squeezed in a shorter trip closer to home in Summit County, Colorado. Three destinations, a lot of highway miles, and some really interesting new winter images that I’m excited to share with you!
The Drive Through Wyoming. The road to Grand Teton can be a photo trip in itself. Opting for the quiet backroads instead of the interstate, I cut northwest across Wyoming on US 287/26. Along this two-lane highway the landscape shifts from the high plains to rolling foothills and then the dramatic ridgelines of the Absaroka Range come into view. The Absarokas are one of Wyoming’s most under-appreciated mountain ranges. They don’t get the attention of the Tetons, but they are wild, volcanic, ancient-looking, and massive in a way that makes you pull over whether you planned to or not. I shot several images along this corridor, but these two outside of Dubois, near Togwotee Pass, are my favorites.
Grand Teton National Park. I arrived at Grand Teton with just enough time to scout before sunset — which, as any landscape photographer will tell you, is exactly the right amount of time. The Tetons in winter are quieter, starker, and in some ways more dramatic than their summer version. Snow-capped and stripped of the crowds, they have a severity to them that I find really compelling.
Making my way through the classic viewpoints on the east side of the park, the evening sky started out slow and lifeless, but eventually it delivered. Standing out in the cold on this winter evening I watched the sky go through several phases in about forty-five minutes – striking color as the sun emerged from the clouds and then beautiful pale gold, amber, pink, and purple as it faded behind the peaks. Here are some of my favorites:
The beginning of a colorful background sky above the Tetons as the sun emerges from the cloud cover
A fire and ice sunset view from Snake River Overlook – the viewpoint made famous by Ansel Adams in the 1940’s.
A close up telephoto image of the Grand Teton summit glowing under a unique pink and orange sky.
A near full range alpenglow panorama from Teton Point as the sun sets behind the Tetons. This one can be printed huge – up to 9′ wide!
The next morning was dark and overcast — the kind of heavy gray sky that makes you question your alarm clock. But I was already up and out early, so I scouted, and waited, and hoped. By mid-morning the clouds began to break. I drove to Oxbow Bend as the Tetons started emerging piece by piece through the gaps, and shot a full panorama sequence there —the snow-covered, frozen Snake River in the foreground, bare cottonwoods and russet-colored willows mid-frame, and Mt. Moran and the Tetons coming through clearing clouds above. It’s one of the more immersive images I’ve made recently, and it genuinely needs to be printed large to do it justice.
Big Sky, Montana. After Grand Teton I headed north to Big Sky to meet some friends for a few days of skiing on the mountain. The back road route through eastern Idaho takes you through some spectacularly empty country – scattered ranches, tiny towns, rugged mountain peaks shifting from Wyoming’s raw drama to Montana’s bigger, more expansive version of the same. The snowpack at Big Sky, like most of the West this year, was well below average but it was still a great few days skiing with good friends. And the camera came along, as it always does.
The marquee image of Big Sky is the aerial tram and the imposing 11,166 foot Lone Peak and I had a shot in mind that I wanted to capture. I positioned myself on the upper mountain and caught the tram car ascending against the rugged back drop of Lone Peak and a clear blue sky. Composing the image in black and white adds even more drama and timelessness to this winter landscape.
Riding the tram to the summit is an exhilarating experience and the views from the top are staggering – a wilderness of ridge after ridge and peak after peak extending into the distance.
Summit County, Colorado. A few weeks later I made a short trip to Summit County. On a cold, snowy morning, before the lifts opened, I set out into the forest with my camera and came away with one of my favorite, quieter images of the year. Even in a low-snow year, at elevation you can find snow that settles into the spruce and fir branches and does something beautiful on a still, cold morning. I had the trail to myself, the air was completely still, and the forest was doing exactly what it does when nobody’s watching.
Later that afternoon I positioned myself with a view of the west-facing slopes of the Ten Mile Range for sunset. It’s a compact ridgeline that doesn’t get the attention of the bigger Colorado ranges, but it has good western exposure and the low-angle winter light rakes across its contours beautifully. In a low-snow year the texture of the mountain — bare rock showing through the snowpack — actually makes for a more dimensional, interesting photograph than a perfectly blanketed slope would.
Each of the images from these trips is available as a fine art print, framed wall art, or ready-to-hang metal or canvas, in sizes to fit both cozy spaces and statement walls. A few notes: the Oxbow Bend and Teton Alpenglow panoramas really do need to go big — I’d call 40 inches the minimum. The Tram image in black and white is particularly striking on metallic paper. And the snowy forest from Summit County makes a beautiful, quieter piece if you’re looking for something more intimate than a mountain panorama. All of my new pieces are available here.
As always, if you have questions about sizing, paper options, or what might work best in a specific space, just reply to this email — I’m happy to help.
Until next time, all the best!
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