My first photography excursion with my Professional Imaging class took me through little Idaho towns, a beautiful lodge viewing the Tetons, through Yellowstone National Park and finally to a tiny resort town called Victor. Along the way I got to see an array of natural wonders and an old-fashioned gas station by a railway.
I’m not much of a connoisseur of old industrial things, so figuring out how to photograph diesel pumps and rail cars was a challenge for me. The sky was murky at the time, which seemed pretty suiting. I’d gotten my new lens right before the trip so I did some experimenting with the zoom.
We stayed the night at the lovely Sky Mountain Lodge. We’d arrived at night, so I had no idea just how pretty it was until the sunrise broke. I was so tired, but I couldn’t miss the chance to shoot the amazing scenery. Here are a few of my favorite shots!
We’d planned for some specific stops in Yellowstone National Park but found that many of them were closed off for bear watch. Fortunately, there is nowhere in Yellowstone that isn’t interesting to see, and I was able to get these shots of a majestic waterfall, a billowing geyser, and a mysterious shallow pool shrouded in steam.
Our last stop was Victor, a little resort town on the edge of Yellowstone. Victor is overlooked by a tall stone pillar that’s sort of the opposite of a stalactite or a stalagmite. Instead of being formed from the residue of water dripping down, this pillar is made from the minerals brought to the surface from the geyser beneath. Not many years ago it still bubbled and oozed, but now it seems to be dormant. Nearby, a still active geyser spills its steaming water in fascinating cascades. We used flashlights to light paint the structure after the sun went down. We had to be cautious not to move to much while our cameras maintained their long exposures because we were standing on a boardwalk that vibrated whenever it was walked over.
