2019 began with me taking 6 sessions of chemotherapy in 3 week intervals. When I was
finished and began to regain my strength we decided to take a week-long landscape
photography workshop with Andy Cook of Rocky Mountain Reflections. Rich McPeters and
his wife Janice also signed up for the course. Shirley came along to keep me company and
to participate in the evening dinners and some of the breakfasts. Because of the
relationship of the mountains to the rising and setting of the sun all of the shoots were
held in the morning. We would be out before sunrise and then come back for a hearty
mid-morning breakfast in Jackson, Wyoming. Shirley's brother Bob and his wife Janet
drove up for two days to visit with Shirley and come to a couple of our dinners.
We visited many of the most famous photography sites in the park such as Schwabacher
Landing, Oxbow Bend, Colter Bay, the Snake River Overlook and the Mormon barns in the
shadow of the Tetons. We also drove up Signal
Mountain to look out over the Snake River and the Tetons. It was very windy and cold up
there but the view was great. On the way back to Jackson we stopped at the Chapel of the
Transfiguration with a view of the Tetons in the background. One day we drove out into
the plains to the Cunningham Cabin that had long since been unoccupied but it made a great
frame for photographing the mountains. While we were there it was foggy and Rich McPeters
noticed a fogbow forming. He didn't just notice it but immediately knew what it was so
we all lined up to photograph it over the cabin. The picture below I took with my cell
phone with all of the photographers lined up. The tripod on the far right is mine.
We also stopped at the abandoned cabin that was used in the filming of the movie "Shane".
The shot out the window is reminiscent of the final scene where Shane rides off across
the plain while the boy yells "Shane, come back". Another trip across the plains was
to a ghost town with a number of abandoned buildings. The road to get there was extremely
rough. The gateway picture below was taken just below where we parked the car to walk
the rest of the way. I liked how the road led up to the gate and the trees framed the
tetons in the distance.
We stayed an extra day and with the McPeters went up to the Jackson Hole ski area where
we took the gondola to the top of the mountain. We drove some of the roads that weren't
part of the workshop and stopped when a large gathering of people was watching a moose
in the river below. The trip was extremely tiring for me but definitely worth it. A
selection of photos is included below.
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