YELLOWSTONE'S WILD WORLD

I remember years ago, seeing images taken in Grand Teton National Park, and staring at the beauty of the Tetons, thinking I will never take a photo so beautiful.

I had no idea that there was any place in the United States that was so jaw dropping gorgeous as the landscape that lays before the Grand Tetons.  And then one day I read about grizzly bears near the road in GTNP and suddenly found myself in the place of my dreams.

And, so, I return to the Tetons often, always in hopes of capturing the landscapes better than the last time.  This morning when heading into the park I was so disappointed to see clear blue skies because that meant no drama against the mountains.  But, at least everything was visible and so, like always, I did the best with what was before me and took a few early morning landscape shots.

And, so, as the alpenglow grew on the mountain peaks I tried a few different compositions.  Not dramatic but not bad.  I was thinking of how surreal it is to see a sea of snow leading up to those mountains, instead of sage.  In fact I can’t get over the expanse of untouched snow that is everywhere.  There are no heavily traveled areas because most of the ungulates are at the elk refuge and so, aside from a canid track here or there, the snow is free of touch.

The other reason for coming to the Tetons was to capture the wildlife in Winter – well, the idea, plan is to capture the essence of winter in the park – particularly the foxes.

Foxes have always been an elusive special passion of mine but I never would have imagined that one could have an entire library of fox photos and not have enough.  And, I never imagined that there were so many different ways to capture the essence of the fox.  Particularly one special lady that frequently walks quickly past, some times taking a moment to look – Foxy Lady.

Today was moving pretty slow and I decided to drive around a bit and there she was sitting in the middle of the road, waiting for me to come by.  I had never seen her act particularly friendly but now think that is because she despises photographers.  But, a person in a car might give her food.  Not this person but someone else might. Photographers don’t feed her and she does not like that.

She walked up to the car, glanced and then jumped up onto the snow bank opposite me and just stood and looked. I did not give her food but got the impression that she liked listening to my voice because she was listening.

And then some others came along and she decided to move up the hill, which is where I capture the first image of her, partially hidden on the snowy hill because of my angle.  I never could have imagined how many settings and poses that a fox could be beautiful in – but I am beginning to learn that the fox has infinite possibilities.  And, I am grateful to have spent a lot of time with different foxes this year, but most grateful for the challenges of Foxy Lady, who appears and disappears in seconds.