Grand Teton National Park in winter
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Jackson Hole airport provides a convenient access to Grand Teton National Park. One would be hard pressed to find a closer an airport closer to a National Park, since for some reason Jackson Hole airport is within the boundaries of the park ! Without yet a replacement for my totaled trusty Subaru, I chose to fly rather than drive for days in winter conditions.
Arriving in the evening, I was disappointed to notice that Thrifty had no counter in the airport. I was told to look for their shuttle. After waiting more than fifteen minutes, I tried to call them on the courtesy phone. All I got was an answering machine, with options to connect to offices in different states. I was tempted to accept a taxi ride to my motel in town , and in the morning walk to the Thrifty office, but then I noticed that the night was clear, and remembered that snow was forecast for the next days. I rented a car from another (pricier) company and went to bed quite late.
The next morning, I nevertheless woke up an hour before sunrise. I was glad I didn’t skip this sunrise session, for despite staying there for a week, this was the last time I would see the Grand Teton.
That morning was the last of a spell of unusually warm weather (that unfortunately had melted snow from trees). By the evening, winter was back in force, with a snow blizzard blanketing the streets of Jackson in less than a quarter of an hour. For the rest of my stay, it would snow almost every day, with relentless winds that chilled me to the bone.
With the mountain out of sight, I found plenty of other subjects (see more images of Grand Teton in winter), mostly trees and hills, but also man-made elements of the landscape.
Those subjects forced me to somehow change my usual way of seeing. Because I had to rely so much on line rather than texture, and because each element of the image became so more important, I could rarely find wide-angle compositions that were well balanced. As a result, I found myself trying to photograph more minimal and intimate landscapes, seeking tighter compositions than I usually do. Do they look any different to you ?
More images of Grand Teton in winter
