Day 1

Day one found both Ben and I up 30 minutes before our alarms. We had camp broken down within mere minutes and then we were already on our way to the morning’s shooting location. We arrived at Oxbow Bend while it was still dark and still, we weren't the first ones there as we planned; we were third at best. Regardless, the spots we wanted to shoot from were available. We were set up to shoot 1.5 hours before sunrise. Eventually, we were joined by 75 of our closest strangers.

I carried my gear for the first time since my summer adventure in the operating room. It was very heavy, that’s for sure! Luckily, I didn’t have to go far from the vehicle.

As normal, there were a few individuals standing in almost everyone’s composition. I get it tho. The individuals who were down on the water’s edge were likely looking to get a reflection without the brush in it as I have in my composition. When I go back, I’ll likely be down that way as well having already shot the composition from above on the hilltop.

The morning’s shoot went great! I chose to pan across the scene in order to capture a wide view encompassing all of the mountains. The autumn colors were definitely nice, tho I found it odd how some trees were already “done” with autumn and some hadn’t even started. The clouds and sky even cooperated with the high-altitude clouds lighting up pink in the background and the low-level clouds coming in a bit purple just on the edge of the image. There were quite a few people in the image that I had to edit out. I left one individual as I liked how he was looking out over the water. The sun did eventually light everything in the scene including the foreground, but once this happened the mountains were in a very harsh light. Other than that, it was off to breakfast.

Ben made camp breakfast burritos which were a hit. After breakfast, we went searching for moose. It wasn’t very difficult to find them, tho I wasn't impressed with the compositions they afforded. I chose not to shoot. Ben, meanwhile, went off to shoot the moose. I sat and warmed myself in the morning sun still thinking about the amazing sunrise that I witnessed this morning.

After leaving Grand Teton National Park, and even Wyoming, we crossed into Utah where we had plans to do quite a bit of shooting over the coming days. We headed into the wilderness searching out compositions with the iconic Utah autumn scenery.

The Corbitt House, UT Prints Available

Along the way, we came across an old homestead that was roadside. A Facebook user, named Tracy Hatch, later identified this structure as the Corbitt House. She mentioned it being “the most photographed building that [she] knew of.” I can see why as it is quite photogenic! I chose to shoot it in black & white as a nod to its historical elements.

That wrapped up the day’s photography. Ben cooked up some parking lot spaghetti and we began setting our sights on tomorrow.