I just couldn’t find a better way to title my post for today than to steal it from Cat Stevens, one of my favorite singer/songwriters while growing up. The words resonate through the image and tell a simple story not unlike my own; wanderings which find me lost, the answers which arrive in my viewfinder. I suppose it’s all in how one applies it. “Miles from nowhere, guess I’ll take my time…”
This is a follow-up post to All that Remains, primarily because the former didn’t include images of what actually remains on the site. There’s one other section of low wall and another hydrant, but that’s all that is visible from the access I have now. I still haven’t been able to make direct contact with the landowner, who apparently resides in Texas, but I’m getting closer. Can’t wait to just stroll around this place someday…maybe.
Note on the second image - it’s a very rare instance where I used flash. Natural light, even when there seems to be little or none, is far more pleasurable to me than flash/fill/fake light. That’s not to say there isn’t a place for it; the main reason I don’t use flash is because I’m a landscape photographer and the lighting of a large scale scene just isn’t feasible. Also, it seems appropriate to cast nature in a natural light, but maybe that’s the traditionalist in me. My preferred method is a longer exposure with dodging and burning when necessary, but I figured I could get away with it today because the subject is man-made.
Stopping along an icy creek in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park, I found myself lying at snow-level taking images of this rock with its frosty crown. I’d say it has a most favorable view of the Absaroka Mountains…
Happy New Year everyone! My best to you and yours…
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I hope you are all enjoying time with family and close friends, appreciating those things which bring happiness into your life.
Like whispers of a forgotten past, today’s image comes from the site of the former Hunters Hot Springs here in MT. Now an empty field in the middle of nowhere, it was a center for social gathering in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Boasting one of the state’s largest geothermal flows, it took a massive fire and a poor rebuild to bring this chapter of Montana history to a close. Beyond a few ancient fire hydrants (which didn’t seem to do much good), this is all that remains. I’m in the process of trying to track down the landowner, so hopefully I’ll be able to go back and explore the area a bit more thoroughly for a follow-up post.
I’ve been posting quite a few duotone photos lately, so why not a spot of color… Taken during my latter trip to Grand Teton National Park this fall, the composition of this image is quite different from a lot of my work. The colors, layers and skewed geometry all lend to a teetering balance of seasonal change on an unseasonably warm day. With temperatures in the -15F range this past week, I can only dream of how pleasant it was outside then, wandering lost through the trees with time and a camera in hand…
The area around the Rosebud River here in Montana is one of those locations that is so beautiful and not too far away, but I rarely think to make the drive over. A vast expanse of rolling grassland leading up to the base of the Beartooth Mountains, the gravel roads here are as fun to photograph as they are to drive. Next spring should find me returing to this location much more often…
