Tag Archives: grand tetons

art, photography, travel

wyoming | winter wanderland

our new business ranch HAND | photographic is taking off quickly.

what began as a love for wildlife, landscape, and outdoor lifestyle photography has turned into a full-scale service that caters to the high-end guest ranching community.

we’ve already been blessed to do work for the largest guest ranch in the U.S., Vermejo Park Ranch.

so this year, we joined the DRA (dude ranchers’ association) and decided to go to the convention in cody, wyoming to get to know some new folks.

well, we did…  we are so thankful to have made a few new clients, and a bunch of new friends!

our newest client, the Goosewing Ranch in jackson, wyoming is a phenomenal guest ranch.  they offer a true western experience from late spring through the gorgeous wyoming indian summer.  they also happen to be at the doorstep of grand teton national park and yellowstone!  not too bad!

we are incredibly excited to visit the Goosewing in june and september of this year!

now, back to our travels…

since we were already heading up to cody, we had to stop by pinedale to see our friends Mike and Ellen, and my favorite mountain town.

elle got to see and walk out on to a frozen fremont lake.

the cracking sounds of the ice create an intensely eerie feeling as you walk out onto the 12 mile long, half a mile wide, 600 foot deep lake (crazy, right?)!!

winter is probably my second favorite season, photographically at least.

elle had fun sledding.

then we made our way up to cody for the convention…

there is quite a bit to see just outside of cody.  it’s beautiful country.

after a few days at the convention, we had to make our way down to telluride, co to shoot a wedding.

but first… we decided to spend a few more days in grand teton national park and pinedale again…

elk crossing the barren, frozen elk winter refuge.

big horn sheep high atop the cliffs.

bison trudging through the snow in the park.

the wild beast known as elle… making some weird version of a snow angel?

we walked out onto a frozen jackson lake.

our time was short.  we needed to make our way to telluride.  so we headed down through flaming gorge in utah.

such fantastic landscapes all the way.  and the snow adds contrast and depth that i rarely get to see.

all in all, we put 4500 miles on my subaru on this trip, and very few of those miles were boring.

i’ll look forward to sharing some of the telluride photos next post!

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2012

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art, photography, travel

leaving wyoming

my last day in wyoming, as always, was bitter sweet.  i woke up after a long night of star pictures to the fog that had rolled in the night before.

it made the tetons appear as though the were jutting out dramatically from the ocean.

i had a wonderful time, again… as always.  and though it was tough to come back to the concrete jungle with 100+ degree weather, i was happy to reunite with my wife and get home.

as i pulled through denver, a rainbow appeared over downtown.  i just had a second to get the shot, but i liked how it turned out…

i stayed the night in denver with one of my best friends Adam and his wife Emily, that i don’t get to see often enough.

it was a great end to a great trip.  now i really can’t wait for october…

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2011

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art, photography, travel

wyoming: my remaining days (part 2)

i woke up to a very familiar view.

the night before, i finished working way too late.  so i had to stay at my “secret” campsite, that i learned last year is a very active wolf and bear area…

the last time my brother and i were here (see like brothers on a hotel bed), we could hear wolves howling just yards from my tent.

not a sound that lulls one to sleep…

but i didn’t hear that sound, or any for that matter last night.  i slept great.

so i decided to scout locations during the day for my night shots.

and again today, i tried to get some shots i’d never thought of…  tetons through a moving vehicle…

blurred motorcycle with tetons…

during the middle of the day, when the light’s not all that great for shooting landscapes, i figured i’d take a nap.

and when i woke up, the clouds were really starting to gather in dramatic wyoming fashion…

so, i set up again for the first of many star pictures.  i wanted to start at the north end of jackson lake again becuase i thought i could do better than the night before, and it’s the farthest location form all the others.

well, i didn’t do better.  it’s a beautiful shot, i think, but no star trails.  so i decided to move on.

oxbow bend is a really famous spot for photographers, and for good reason.  but i usually shy away from it because of the crowds and the sheer volume of great shots there are from that spot.  but, i’ve never seen a really great star photo from oxbow.  so i found my spot, and gave it a whirl.

oh, how utterly devistated i was when i got home and saw it on a big screen… BLURRY!!!  ugh.

something must have moved the tripod during the 40 minute exposure.  ugh.  it was so beautiful too…

oh well, have to try again in october…

the next shot i tried was another very famous, very overshot point.  snake river overlook.  once immortalized by ansel adams himself, this spot is photographed thousands of times every single day.  but i am unaware of any night shots there…

i loved the way this one turned out.  finally, one of the three actually went as planned!

the fog really started to roll in over the snake river valley.  haunting.  but i was sad not to be able to see the snake as it actually “snakes” it’s way through the frame from this vantage.  oh well, guess i’ll have to shoot it again in october!

then i just wanted a classic, uninhibited shot of the tetons.  this was probably the least dynamic of the successful shots of the night.

and then the fog started to roll in.  so i kept the tripod set, and continued shooting…

though i missed the first two and came away with only two total that i liked, it was a successful night.

i learned even more about making star pictures, and i also determined a few spots for the next trip.  i’m excited about october…

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2011

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art, photography, travel

wyoming: my remaining days (part 1)

after elle left, i still had a few days to “work”.

i put work in quotations because most people with think, “work??  you call that work?”

well, yes i do.  but i sure do love what i do.

i hung around teton park for the next few days… capturing some old familiar scenes, and looking for new, unique angles.

just before dusk the first night, i came upon a bear jam!

it was a gorgeous adult female.  she checked me out for a second, then continued rolling around in the tall grass.

that evening, i perched myself at the north end of jackson lake to capture my first of many star pictures that night.

i have sort of become obsessed with night time landscapes.  partly because they are so haunting and beautiful, but also because i never really know what i’m going to get.  i’m getting more and more experienced with them, but there’s no way to ever really know what your sensor will record.

variances in the season, position of moon (or lack thereof), light polution, human light sources (i.e. cars, campfires, flashlights, etc.), clouds, etc, all can be major factors in your final outcome.  of course, the time of exposure, aperture, and film speed are all very calculated.  but so many factors go in to how i determine the exposure.  and then of course just the planning during the day to find the right shot.  it’s kind of hard to properly frame a shot at night…

anyway, i worked well into the night.  each shot was at least a 30 minute exposure.  then you add in the drive times between locations… it was a long, but fruitful night.

with the three shots from this night, i was hungry for more.

i would shoot at least that many again the next night.  this time at new locations.

i decided that i have shot enough up here during the day… now i’m going to focus on my night shots…

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2011

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wyoming: day 5

elle doesn’t have the flexibility of schedule that i have, so her time up here was short.

we had to start heading toward jackson, where she would fly out early the next morning…

we hung around teton park for a while.

then i received a stern “talking to” for some reason i can’t remember… but i bet she can!  haha.

we stopped on pacific creek road and took a nap while the afternoon showers passed.

then we decided to go for a short hike.  it was a section of the jenny lake trail that we hiked last year the day before she had to leave.

we took a spur trail off the main, and found a fantastic overlook that elle said was her favorite view of the trip.

so we thought we’d see if we could find that spot again, and enjoy the view before she had to go…

sure enough, we found it.  no more than a 30 minute hike in too… great!

she looked out at the landscape, but this time didn’t cry.

last year when we were here (see “somewhere in the middle of montana… err… wyoming“), we weren’t engaged yet.

poor girl didn’t have much to lean on regarding us.  but this time, we’re married.  and i know she realizes that we’re both in this for the long haul.

and probably the only perk for marrying me, is that you for-damn-sure will get to go to wyoming… a lot.

so she knows that this is not the last time (by a long shot) that she’ll look out over this view…

and i am comforted to know that this is not the last time that she’ll be by my side up here.

seeing what i see, and reveling in all this raw, untamed beauty.

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2011

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