My demise has been greatly exaggerated! I’ve been very fortunate to visit seven states during August and September while on the road photographing for a total of five weeks.

Here is an image I made late September in Grand Teton National Park. The aspens were golden, the elk bulls were calling and gathering their harems, the air had that fall early-morning edge requiring hat and gloves, and there was plenty of space for all the photography groups I saw lined up at the traditional spots.

Over the last two months I’ve tried very hard to capture a different look than what I have seen in my social media feed — places that have been photographed again and again. I smiled as I traced worn footpaths through the sagebrush, more than likely by photographers attempting to capture the “iconic shot.” I usually took an iPhone shot for posterity but quickly moved on to other compositions with the infrared cameras.

The Tetons resonate with me most of all the places I visited. Like a string of pearls along the Jackson Hole and Snake River, they rise majestically from the plains. It’s been a very long time since Ansel Adam’s iconic shot of the Snake River and the Tetons beyond. The trees have grown tall obscuring the view he captured (wait for it) almost 75 years ago (1942), no doubt standing on the roof of his automobile as he often did.

And the Teton clouds! These low-flyers remind me of the clouds in New Zealand (Aotearoa — the Land of the Long White Cloud accordingly named by the Maori). Clouds and infrared are partners for life.

The sky is blue but it is the altitude (and the sun to my back) renders the sky jet black in infrared. No filters or processing tricks are needed!

More t/k …