The big question: When you go to such an iconic place like Yellowstone, how do you make images that aren’t like all the other images of Yellowstone everyone and his grandmother have seen and snoozed over?
How do you go to, say, the Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River and make a unique image? It is pretty hard to compete with The Prophet Ansel…and all the other photographers elbowing their tripods into this often crowded vantage point…
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. 2013
When you walk among the fire and brimstone of the geyser basins, do you concentrate on the details, patterns, or textures, like this…?
Contours. Yellowstone NP, Wyoming 2013
…Or do you take a risk and attempt something more abstract, like this…?
Debris. Yellowstone, NP, Wyoming, 2013
…Or, do you play it safe and go for more of a classic look, like this…?
The Turquoise Pool. Yellowstone NP, Wyoming, 2013
Maybe you could try touch of humor. Perhaps you could concentrate on people photography–the hordes of tourists wearing perfume o’ bus diesel are an inviting target! Or the signs…How many kids have we lost to the boiling waters over the years…?
Geyser Propaganda. Yellowstone NP, Wyoming, 2013
Whatever you do, it will have everything to do with finding an interesting subject–with good light!–then going to work putting your personal style and vision into the photographs you create. It is hard not to copy others with so many classic Yellowstone pictures all over the walls in the lodges, hotels, and cabins, and on the ubiquitous postcard racks. But, try to stay true to yourself and you will be happier with the end result. At least that’s my goal!
Moonrise, Firehole River. Yellowstone NP, Wyoming, 2013
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