Grand Teton National Park

I just returned from leading a workshop in Grand Teton National Park and it was such a wonderful experience I wanted to share a little bit with you about what we saw and did.  I’ve travelled to Grand Teton National Park every winter for the past 14 years, but only do a Fall workshop there once every few years.  This year, I decided that I wanted to see the park in its resplendent Fall colors…and it didn’t disappoint!

One thing to realize when you visit Grand Teton National Park, or Yellowstone, this time of year is that it is a peak season for them.  Lots of people flock to the parks during Fall to get one last vacation in before Summer officially ends, to see the beautiful Fall colors, or just as a final getaway while the weather is warm.  This year was no exception, there were a lot of people in the Jackson area.  Lots of brand new cowboy hats and boots on people who wanted to dress western to visit.   Full parking lots during the day at the most popular locations. And, much more people than I’m used to in Winter at the iconic photo locations.  However for my workshop, we were able to escape the crowds and photograph some amazing areas of the park with few, to no, people around!  Having years of experience in this area really paid off for knowing where to go, and when, to get great shots and some peace and tranquility.

The Icons

Of course, we had to visit and photograph the iconic locations in Grand Teton National Park.  The last time I visited here these locations were chock full of photographers and tripods.  I remember at one location I counted over 100 tripods.  It’s just part of going to a national park during the peak season. This year though, I noticed something very curious.  The number of tripods and “serious” photographers was dwarfed by the vast numbers of cell phone users, either snapping the landscape, or more often, taking pictures of themselves in front of the icons.  I won’t go on a big “old guy” rant, but honestly, seeing the number of people who were oblivious to the raw beauty, the awe inspiring landscape, the magic of changing light, etc. made me a bit sad.  We live in such a beautiful world, and country, and all these folks wanted was to strike the perfect pose along the waters edge so they could post it on Social.  OK rant over.    What did remain true though was showing up very early before sunrise.  On a couple of mornings we arrived at least 2 hours before sunrise.  Why?  Well, to stake out the best spots for our tripods.  As a side bonus, we also were able to photograph the setting moon and then the massive amount of stars overhead.   We enjoyed a full blue hour and then a sunrise at the iconic spots before seeking out more serene locals to continue shooting

Schwabacher Landing

Perhaps the most famous, or second most famous, location in Grand Teton National Park.  It’s not open in winter, so to visit here in the Fall is a treat for me.  I shot this location twice, once while scouting and then I brought the workshop here on our first morning.   The most iconic shot is at the end of the trail where there is a small pool and “V” in the trees that perfectly frame the Tetons.

 

This is a pre-sunrise shot with the stars overhead and a nice reflection in the water.

As light and color began to appear on the eastern horizon, I found a nice scene to show off the silhouetted trees and color.

Once the sun began to rise, we were fortunate enough to have a few clouds in the sky to reflect some color in to our scene.

 Oxbow Bend

One of the other “must see” iconic locations in Grand Teton National Park is Oxbow Bend.  It’s a bend in the Snake River, just downstream from Jackson Lake dam, that has a wide pool of water that creates a fantastic reflection of Mt Moran. This is a sunrise location and we arrived a couple of hours before sunrise.  Soon, many others showed up, however we had staked out our location for the optimal photo and didn’t have to worry about jockeying for position.  We just had to deal with the noise, headlights and people walking in our frame with lights during the pre-sunrise time.  Before blue hour began, we were treated to the moon setting behind the mountain, casting an eerie rim light on the mountain.

During blue hour, pre-sun rise, there was a light layer of fog that formed over the water.  Even in the warm Fall season, early morning temps dipped in to the low 30’s.  With no clouds in the sky to catch the suns color, I knew that blue hour was going to provide the best photos for us. We made great work of this iconic location.

As the sun started to rise and add some color to the Eastern sky, I walked away from the iconic shot and sought out a more engaging scene.

The fog had continued along the river, looking towards the East, and provided an ethereal element to a peaceful photograph.

Mormon Row

The most photographed barn in America is in Grand Teton National Park along Mormon Row.  There are two main barns there, however, the south barn was having some construction going on around it and wasn’t shootable.  So on one morning we set up and focused on the north barn.

After seeing this scene for years under a blanket of snow, with the peaks behind white with snow, the Fall scene is engaging, but for me, not quite as engaging.  We photographers often set up a few hundred yards away from the barn in order to get the barn, trees, mountains and clouds overhead in one shot.  As we set up this morning, there were a few other serious photographers.  However, as sunrise time neared, more people arrived and soon there was a solid line of people standing right in front of the barn, getting a close-up (and I’m sure taking selfies).  Thank goodness that our editing tools are so good at removing people these days!

Once I had a decent shot in the bag, I turned my attention northward looking to a house and barn off in the distance.  There were clouds to the East and that created a layered lighting effect on the scene and it came to be one of my favorites from this morning

 

Non-Icons

On each day, as soon as the group got their iconic shots, I quickly got us out of there to more relaxing and photogenic areas.  I had scouted the area for a couple of days and knew where the good Fall color was (and hopefully fewer people).  I won’t give a blow by blow description of each location, I’ll just share a few images.

Wildlife

Grand Teton National Park, along with Yellowstone, is also known for its abundant wildlife.  In fact, many of the people visiting the park were more interested in finding wildlife than they were in the scenery.  Driving from location to location, we would often see “wildlife traffic jams” of cars pulled to the side of the road for a chance to see some wildlife. For sure it can be quite the thrill seeing wildlife in its natural habitat!   During our visit, we managed to see bison, moose, bald eagles, coyote and elk.  We had a chance to see a mama bear and cub, but didn’t want to wait for a possible chance.

Along with the big wildlife, there were lots of swans and geese to photograph with the vibrant Fall colors.  I do tend to see more wildlife in Winter when they congregate in the valley, but this year, we had an abundant variety of animal subjects to choose from.

I have just begun processing images from this trip to Grand Teton National Park.  It will take me a while to work through a representative sample of images.  Stay tuned to my social media for more images and video from this trip.  I have a couple of spots available for my Winter trip in the first week of December.  If you want to see more information about this workshop, click HERE

All in all it was an amazing trip with an amazing group of people!  Productive photographically, but more importantly for me, a wonderful experience with like minded people enjoying an amazing location.