Watercolor effect on an image from Yellowstone (click on image to see original)
Sadly, I am not writing this post from Wyoming. Try as I might on Monday, I could not find an open path into Jackson. I drove all the way to Idaho Falls as the cold front passed over. Fairly blizzardy north of Ogden, not so bad around Tremonton, typically terrible around Malad, only to find at every exit that the roads eastward were impassible. Optimism gave way to the realization that I had finally been skunked, not just on a sunrise, but on an entire expedition.
Yesterday, instead of snowmobiling in Yellowstone, I made some demos and examples for my Blending, Fixing and Remixing workshop. It’s on offer at the Moab Photo Symposium; if you are a Utah Photowalker, you can attend the workshop preview on February 23. By preview, I mean that it will last 90 minutes instead of 5 hours, and will be free to members. It’s easy to join our Photowalking group, just hop on over to our Flickr site.
I like much about the original photo, taken on my first winter trip to Yellowstone in February of 2003. We had been wolf-watching in the northern part of the park, then took the snow coach to the Snow Lodge. I saw these trees at a stop at a warming hut as the clouds began to clear. It was -40°F at Old Faithful, cold enough that my breath froze in crystals as I exhaled, but not cold for the wolves-we saw a group rolling on the snow like on a carpet in front of the fireplace.
I will reorganize this year’s expedition, as the outfitter was really cool about letting me reschedule. Looks like there will be PLENTY of snow for snowmobiling. Just let them get it off the roads before I head out again.
