The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.
— John Muir
I am writing these lines as I am slowly getting back to “normal” in a way after spending almost five consecutive weeks in the wilderness, doing what I love to do the most when I am out there – photography.
It was such an amazing time spent with myself, my own thoughts, and my craft; and certainly, a time for reflection. During my time in the field in five weeks I got a chance to visit Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Utah, and Washington states, chasing light and perfect fall color all around.
Just take a look at what I got to experience on the first morning as I woke up and looked outside my tent!
Freezing, but beautiful sunrise at Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.
Next, is a lot of studio work getting all the film developed, organized, scanned, and finally processed on the computer before I can start working on prints. But, oh my!, I’ve got so much great stuff this time and I can’t wait to get all the film finally processed. So, stay tuned!
Below is just a sneak peek of what’s coming!
A sheet of 8x10” Fuji Provia 100f transparency film on a light table. Shot at Ohio Pass in Gunnison National Forest, Colorado.
During this trip I also got accidentally acquainted with few other fellow large format photographers from Wisconsin, Colorado, and Idaho, and as it turned out with some of them we have been following each other on Instagram for quite some time already, but never met in real life, especially Jim Becia and Tom Cuccio – Hi!.
After spending about two weeks photographing fall color in Colorado and Utah I decided to head up north to Yellowstone National Park and spend a week there before heading to Idaho and Washington.
Yellowstone did not disappoint, and during that precious week, I got to experience some beautiful moments of nature transitioning from fall to winter, got some really exceptional photography done as well.
Pointing my large format 8x10 camera down at the canyon of Yellowstone at sunrise from a very dangerous and “no one should ever climb down there especially in slippery snow conditions“ kind of spot…
Beautiful foggy sunrise above the Yellowstone River. It came out as one of my most favorite shots from Yellowstone, it was just glorious! Can’t wait to share the final image with you all.
Finally, the last week and a half I spent in Washington state photographing in Mt. Rainier National Park and Gifford Pinchot National Forest. On my last day in Mt. Rainier I happened to be one of the last visitors camping in the park before it got closed for the season, how cool is that!
I got a chance to photograph this unique scene as access to this spot got opened for just one day after the snow melted the day before.
The largest ferns I have ever seen, in a lush green PNW forest – I got really lucky to photograph this scene. As I revisited this location a week later, the lush green color of the creek and the fallen yellow leafs faded away.
I stumbled upon this scene literally along the road as I was driving over the mt. St Helen pass. The dusting of snow overnight transformed this scene into a truly unique composition. It took me about an hour to photograph it, but when I was done and was packing away my camera, the snow started to melt making me even happier that I captured something really exceptional.
In the last month alone I witnessed so many truly magical moments that I almost feel overwhelmed and it will take me some time to structure my memories and feelings. It is also a reminder, once again, that there is – “no going back“ concept in landscape photography, something that I’ve learned over the years. It simply means that the internal feeling about the subject at that specific point in time should be the main photographer’s driver instead of a constant chase of the ideal imaginary picture of it. Simply, because the imaginary might never occur, and in the pursue of it something truly unique and authentic will be missed. And once a truly unique and authentic photograph is made there is no going back to it, it is impossible to repeat, reproduce, or to relive it again.
In nature – there is no bad weather! One should always stay open-minded to what nature presents, should enjoy it, appreciate it, and protect it!