Light Shining Down
After the wedding I attended in Jackson, I awoke the next morning … tired. Instead of riding a van all-day and heading off to Yellowstone, I decided to stay and rest after all the non-stop travel I’d been doing and have a chill day at the motel recovering from my tired-over. Eventually, I’d rested enough and was ready for action. I hopped in the rental and drove out to Mormon Row. The day prior, I’d driven past it and noticed some lone trees in the area that I wanted to shoot. As I was driving up the light was mediocre, but I knew that in this area the light was fickle and changeable, and the wait began.
Location:
Grand Teton National Park
Date:
October, 2023
Camera:
Fujifilm GFX 100S
With my telephoto lens out I was waiting and waiting. I wasn’t sure how the light would manifest and then this beam began to form. The light shining down pierced the thick layer of cloud engulfing the scene, and began dividing the landscape into three distinct parts. There was dark mountains and shadow in the distance, dark grass in the foreground and everywhere the light went an almost blinding brilliance. I followed the light with my telephoto hoping it would hit the tree I had been watching and when it did – euphoria.
This is the part of landscape photography that I can’t get enough of – the chase. I didn’t know when I set out that day what I’d see, but I knew I would be happy going out and of course, I was. This image is my favorite from the light display, however I got another I was quite proud of facing the opposite direction, called The Disciples of Mormon Row (that link will bring you to Flickr to check out the image).
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