Back to the Tetons

The National Park Service built a turnout on the place where Ansel Adams made his iconic photographic of Mt. Moran. I stood in the same spot overlooking the Snake River's Oxbow bend, fired off 400 shots, and didn't come close. Nor did any one else there. I hope wherever his spirit is, he understands we were there to honor him, however poor our efforts.

Anyway, I'm posting all of these because I like them, I loved the view and I love the Snake River. When I hit the lottery, I will be back in the Tetons, camera in hand, in every season.

Couple of Cute Bugs

From the Cuyahoga Valley Photographic Society photowalk at the Pine Valley trailhead in Kendall Hills. Sometimes I forget how lucky it is to have a National Park right in my own back yard.

Anyway, this shiny little bug is a dogbane beetle. Round, polished, and rainbow metallic.

 

And a katydid on ironweed. There's more antennae there than bug.

The Pine Hollow trailhead is nothing much to look at during the day or evening, but on the right kind of morning, the sun catches the mist rising from Kendall Lake, and the puffy popcorn clouds, and transform the hills. Now if only I could catch that in the camera...

Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park

We crawled out of bed at 3:30 am so we could be in place for the 5:09 sunrise. Thank you, Hampton Inn, for having a coffee maker in the room. And thank you, Chuck for being a total trooper on this trip!

Love the way the sun caught this cottage's façade.

Same cottage, the evening before the sunrise shoot - 20 seconds later, it was pouring rain and we dove for the car.

Lonely buildings, just at the edge of Mormon Row.

Must've taken a thousand shots of this barn...

This, above, might be my favorite.

The mountains change color as the sun rises.

And across the way, down a little dirt road, the iconic Moulton barn, echoing the shape of the peaks in the distance.

And, finally, the unloved, rarely shot barn on the other side of Mormon Row. I like the way the light catches and outlines the porch.

June 3, 2013

Chapel of the Transfiguration, Grand Teton National Park



Still playing catch up from the craziness of June. These shots were taken the same morning we did Mormon Row. The light was pretty contrasty by the time we got there, but with a setting like this, who the heck cares?

 

The Chapel of the Transfiguration is a tiny church with a breathtaking view of the Tetons. A large picture window frames the alter, so every service is dominated by the beauty of the mountains.

 

 

This doesn't do justice to the view...

 

 

The approach to the Chapel is guarded by a rustic bell tower.

Inside the fence is all sagebrush and yellow balsamroot.

Probably could have composed this better - the brilliance of the aspens is sharply contrasted against the dark base of the mountains.

Here's on one of the Chapel's front door hinges. Look how deeply it's been driven into the wood.

 

A detail of the bell tower.

 



 

 

And the bell itself.

 

Tall Ship Lynx

I had a little bit of fun messing with Lynx. The layout below has a couple of Kim Klassen textures, a water color layer and kind of a pencil sketch layer. The font is Blackadder, which seems appropriate for this old-time sailing ship.

I hope the Tall Ships come back again soon - they are just beautiful!

A quick shout-out to Kim Klassen - she has amazing textures available, for free, on her website, along with photography, texture and Photoshop classes. Check out Kim Klassen Cafe for a dose of inspiration from a really talented artist.

Tall Ships Parade of Sail, July 3, 2013

Tall Ships arriving in Cleveland Harbor, July 3, 2013:

 

Above, Pride of Baltimore assembling for the parade.

 

Fire boat, Tall Ships, and hangers-on (really, did they not know to get out of the way of the photographers?:))

 

Above, Peacemaker.

 

 

Pride of Baltimore under full sail, above.

Above and below, Swedish ship Sørlandet entering the harbor.

 
Below is Lynx, flag streaming in the wind, one of my favorites:

Scientific Vessel (S/V) Denis Sullivan out of Wisconsin, not a state you'd think of for Tall Ships. The triangular topsail is unusual.

 

Below is Cleveland's abandoned Coast Guard station. Very cool design, the photo doesn't do it justice. Even though the clouds looked threatening from time to time, we never got rained on.

 

The Cleveland skyline from Wendy Park, below.

It always amazes me that these giant freighters can wind their way up the Cuyahoga River to dock.

 

I didn't know what we'd get from Wendy Park, but it turned out to be a great place to shoot the Parade. Thanks for the suggestion, Lisa!



Grand Teton

Just a couple for now - this place is breathtaking!

This is Mt. Moran, at Oxbow bend, the location of one of Ansel Adams' iconic photographs. We we there before five am, overcast and raining. Got some nice cloud drama, and then the sun came out, to highlight Mt. Moran.

Top of Jackson Lake, from a little turnout on Rt. 89. More snow on the mountains this year than is normal. Just beautiful!

Both shots are with the iPhone and Snapseed, might have gone a little overboard on Mt. Moran.

Love this place!