Sherman Robinson Photography - Yellowstone and Grand Tetons

I had wanted to visit Grand Tetons National Park and Yellowstone National Park even before I was interested in photography. Finally, in May and June of 1996, I was able to see these two grand locations, and they were even more spectacular than I ever imagined.

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One day early in 1996, I saw an advertisement for the "Great American Photography Weekend" in one of my photography magazines. One of the weekends was for Grand Tetons National Park with John Shaw as one of the leaders. I signed up immediately for that field trip and also made reservations for Yellowstone National Park. Much to my delight I was able to secure reservations for the Jackson Lake Lodge in the Tetons and the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone. At the same time, I

made reservations for flights to and from Jackson, WY, and also car rental at the Jackson airport. Now, all I had to do was wait! In the meantime I ordered film and prepaid processing mailers for Fuji film.

When the time arrived for us to leave Houston our flight was late, and we missed our connection at DFW but were able to get another flight to Salt Lake City and then to Jackson. The only other problem we had was our bags were not on the same plane that we were, which meant I didn't have any film! Fortunately, the plane with our bags arrived a few hours later and the airline delivered them to us at the Jackson Lake Lodge. Since I didn't want to waste any time photographing the Tetons, I bought a roll of Kodachrome 64 and used that. I did use some other Kodak film in the Tetons since Kodak was one of the sponsors of the weekend workshop. We were furnished some Ektachrome 100 film which had different characteristics than the Fuji film, and it gave some of my pictures a different look which was really quite satisfactory.

We had a fairly comfortable and convenient cabin at Jackson Lake Lodge. We arrived at the Lodge on May 26 and the weather was very nice. It was especially pleasant compared to the hot and humid climate where we live. The workshop didn't start until later the next day so we had some time to wander around and shoot a few pictures. We also discovered the Coffee Shop was a more reasonable place for meals than the main dining room. We did have dinner in the dining room on our last evening at the Lodge.

Actually, weather was varied during our stay in the Tetons. We had beautiful days with occasional thundershowers which not only produced rain but some SNOW! The temperatures were mild enough then that the snow melted right away. However, on our last night at the Lodge, following a warm day with temperatures in the 80's, a cold front came in and this time produced enough snow that it did stick to the trees and a little to the ground. That was a precursor to what we would encounter in Yellowstone.

The drive from the Tetons to Yellowstone was a short one, and near the entrance to Yellowstone, there were some nice sized snow drifts and a cold breeze! Encountering a winter scene like that was amazing to a couple of Texans. It didn't interfere with our visit to Yellowstone but it was really cold trying to photograph the Lower Yellowstone Falls from Artists' Point! We had no idea that one could find weather like that in June! On our return drive from Yellowstone to Jackson for our flight home on June 6, we had light snow falling, and we really enjoyed it. I was able to get pictures of both Yellowstone and the Tetons in different weather situations.

You will be able to see that one of my favorite places in the Tetons for photography was at Ox Bow Bend on the Snake River. The water was so calm and afforded perfect reflections of the mountains and trees. Another spot for great reflections was Jenny Lake. By visiting the Tetons in the Spring, we were able to see and photograph the mountains with a good snow covering. As far as the wildlife was concerned, the animals were shedding their Winter coats and did not look as great as they do in the fall. Old Faithful Geyser was not disappointing. We had a short wait in the cold wind and sleet but the geyser did erupt on time and pleased the crowd waiting for the event. The next day in Yellowstone the weather was better and we started out to see the rest of the sights including the bison. There are signs warning tourists about the bison and to keep your distance from them. However, as is the case everywhere, a few tourists had to try to get up close and personal with the bison. Fortunately no one was hurt while we were watching the bison graze and their calves nursing.

The trip to the Tetons and Yellowstone was well worth it. I took many rolls of slides and have posted just a small number of them on my web site. I sincerely hope you will enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

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