“Easy” Scenery
This article is the another in a series of articles that I’ve called “About this photo” to draw attention to a few of those memorable photos that may be hiding in a shoebox or on your hard drive.
Sometimes it seems like you have to really work hard to capture a photograph that’s been bouncing around your head for a long, long time. Then, there are other times when you hardly have to work at all.
For my two selected scenes below, I think that anyone with a camera couldn’t miss capturing great photographs of these two gorgeous places.
Both were taken in the Grand Teton National Park area this pas. The first was taken at the Jackson Lake Overlook and the second at Oxbow Bend.
This panorama shows you an overview of the area at the Jackson Lake Overlook. You’re looking at a pretty dry Jackson Lake in the foreground. Ordinarily, it’s covered with water but at this time of the year it’s quite depleted in this part of the lake as water has been released during the Spring and Summer months into the Snake River for irrigation of farms in adjoining Idaho.
Most of the scenic areas in the Tetons are well known to all of the visitors.
When I arrived at the overlook there were already a group of photographers in various stages of picture taking.
This day was overcast which added a dramatic feel, I didn’t have to do any hiking, climbing or setting up here.
I walked 100 feet towards the edge of the lake (driecd at this point) and calmly admired the majestic view, waited a few minutes for the clouds to position themselves in front of the distant peaks and clicked.
No muss, no fuss to get this photo. I’m sure that these other visitor had as easy a time as I did capturing the scene.
This panorama shows you the view at Oxbow Bend. Here the Snake River makes an abrupt turn creating a pretty water foreground view with the Tetons in the distant background.
Yes, this too is a popular place. It’s one of the busiest places in the park and on this day there were dozens of visitors with loads of photographic equipment just itching to get their keepers.
These photographers are standing along the shoulder of the highway that runs though the park.
For this photograph, I walked about 25 yards down from the highway to a place closer to the level of the river. But that was about all the work that I had to do here.
On this Fall day, the sun was shining over the river and brilliant trees making everything sparkle. The thick, billowy clouds were perfectly positioned behind the Tetons. All I had to do was click-click. The scene was “picture perfect” – perfect for anyone to record the beauty.
It’s not always necessary to hike five miles uphill in 100-degree heat to capture that iconic gallery wrap. There are plenty of places that lend themselves to “easy” scenery. And easy doesn’t have to mean a “me too” photograph, a little patience and variation can help you set your photos apart.
Written by:
Arnie Lee
