08-OCT-2008
The Old Faithful Herd, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2008
Bison are the largest mammals at Yellowstone, some weighing almost 2,000 pounds. There are more than 4,000 of them in the park. The largest herd we saw was grazing near Old Faithful, where I made this iconic image. The massed bulk of these huge animals, aligned here shoulder to shoulder, is impressive enough. But to see them juxtaposed front and back against the steaming early winter landscape along the Firehole River, is to look back into American history itself. Bison have roamed the Yellowstone since prehistoric times, almost as long as the steam has poured from the land. To see these mighty forces of nature sharing the same frame is to see grandeur defined anew.
09-OCT-2008
The Absaroka Range, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2008
The Absaroka Mountains slice through Yellowstone’s northeastern corner.
I photograph them here from the hills of the Lamar Valley. A sweeping vista such as this one can express the very essence of grandeur – a splendidly impressive scene that shows the land in a form that is larger than life itself. I use a 200mm focal length here to reach into space and compress a series of hills that begin in gold and gradually change to olive green. The snow capped Absarokas loom in the distance under a heavily layered gray sky. There hand of man is nowhere upon the land. We see the grandeur of pristine nature all the way to the horizon, just as we expect to see it in one of America’s oldest national parks.
11-OCT-2008
Winter Storm, Jackson, Wyoming, 2008
We don’t expect to find a sense of grandeur in a street scene. Yet it is here, in this image of a single man struggling against the forces of nature. An impressive image is one that instills a lingering memory. When I look at this image, I feel the bitter winds of a winter storm sweeping through the tunnels of the covered boardwalks that line the streets of Jackson, Wyoming. I found this man trying to keep his balance. He has just staggered out of the snow and on to the sheltered, leaf-littered boardwalk. He can barely keep his footing – his head bends against the force of the wind tunnel he has entered, his hands are buried in his pockets. There is a sense of grandeur in his valiant personal struggle against the elements here. It is not only impressive. It is universal.
07-OCT-2008
Fiery Dawn, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 2008
When shooting mountain landscapes, hope for broken clouds at dawn. In this case, fragmented clouds both reveal and obscure the peaks of the Grand Tetons, leaving space for the rising sun to bathe both the flanks of the mountains and the underside of the overhead clouds in fiery pink light. The result is an image of grandeur. The mountains, which are already huge, become even larger and more impressive in the imagination, once we have seen them in such amazing light. Ironically, this play of dawn light on both mountains and clouds puts the role of a famous Mormon barn and the sagebrush in the foreground into a subordinate roll. Photographers come from all over the world to shoot this barn with the mountains behind it. But by the time the pink light reaches the barn, the mountains will be in full light and the clouds drained of coloration. As it stands, the barn is very much in the picture here, but in this case, the work of man takes a back seat for the work of nature.
