The Fourth of July trip. Undertaken by Daniel Brim and me. Our usual arrangement holds – we take approximately identical photos, and try not to hit any raccoons and/or rabbits.
Our destination is sunny Union County, New Mexico – by way of Beartooth Pass, Sioux City, and various other places that call into question our ability to drive in a straight line.
We fly into Salt Lake City airport, and then make a beeline to Grand Teton National Park for sunrise.
The Grand Tetons at sunrise.
Similar view, different road.
Late dawn, with foreground lighting.
Very early red light on the peaks. About a half-hour before sunrise.
We stay at this spot for the entirety of sunrise.
The bright red on the peaks is slow to arrive, due to some clouds in the opposite direction, between the sun and the peaks.
A vehicle/elk encounter that resolved itself uneventfully. The zoom lens makes the two appear much closer together than they really are.
The clouds in front of the sun.
Sudden orange activity!
Close-up of one of the peaks.
The miracle of a polarizer.
Somewhat wider view.
And one in between.
A bright spot of orange appears.
And another, on a different peak.
All together now.
Wide angle again.
The bike path parallels the main road.
Pointy mountain majesties.
One without the polarizer.
Close-up with high cloud.
And a view that’s extra wide-angle.
A pair of bicyclists.
and we leave off there… next up, Beartooth Pass!
Stellar, stellar photos. I’ve been meaning to get into photography for a while, but one quickly realizes that one can’t do much with the standard 18-55 mm lens. My goal in life right now is to spring for a telephoto, but they’re so dang expensive. Did you get any photos in Utah?
we raced out of Salt Lake City, setting cruise control on 70-80mph and stopping for little more than a food break at 3am.
on our return, we got some photos in Utah.
which telephoto are you considering? also, which camera body do you have?
Nikon D3100. I was looking at the 55-200 mm; the 18-200 mm would be nice, but it’s 850 dollars!
For what it’s worth, Adorama has the 18-200 for $780. Still a bit steep. I’m a bit surprised the prices went up (was $700 when I got mine). Maybe the earthquake/tsunami has something to do with it?
That’s still probably worth it if you can spring for one. The flexibility that you get by having a lens like that lets you really figure out what you want to do. Jake and I have both used the hell out of ours.
yeah, earthquake/tsunami has generally caused Nikon to raise prices – even items made in Thailand like the 18-200; the price increases are being used to amortize the new expenses incurred in Japan.
I use my 18-200 for about 99% of my photos, at least as taken. However, I use the other lenses for much more than 1% of the photos published!
Where did you take this photo? I’m going to be heading up to Grand Teton and would like to try to take a similar photo. Thanks!
one of the main park roads off 26/89/191. it’s very easy to find. I think it’s even called Grand Teton Road.