The Moulton Barn

I couldn't visit one more time the Grand Teton area without stopping to take a shot at one of the most photographed landmarks in the USA. It's been photographed thousands of times and pics of this barn are published in books, calendars, postcards and appear multiple times on the web. It is said to be the most photographed barn in America and has become a symbol for the nearby town.

The Moulton barn is not very far from Jackson, Wyoming, driving towards Grand Teton National Park and taking a right on Antelope Flats Road, until you cross Mormon Row. Everything started when Thomas Alma Moulton settled in that area in 1912 to work the land, and soon family members joined and a small complex of buildings where built around Mormon Row.

There isn't only one Moulton barn, and actually the one I photographed is not the most famous of the two, but I only made it shooting this... a good excuse to go back for the other one!

I drove there with Denise in the middle of the day, to see where the place was and we took a few shots, but of course the time and light were not the best ones. So I decided to go back at dawn for a more classical scenario. 

I left the lodge early, when it was still pretty dark, but I noticed the Tetons were covered by low clouds... "Not good" I thought, "the background will not be ideal", but then I thought clouds were good to make the photo more interesting and I hoped they would rise at least a little by the time the sun arrived.

I got to Mormon Row more or less 15 minutes before dawn, when ten/fifteen photographers were already setting up their tripods, studying the best composition while waiting for the sun to rise over the horizon. The Tetons were visible through the clouds, so the situation was not too bad. I wasn't thinking of finding the definite shot, something different from all the others... first of all because the barn had been photographed so many times that that was almost impossible and secondly because I kind of preferred the classic composition that's chosen most of the times. But interestingly enough, while waiting for the sun, I thought of taking a shot opposite to everybody else and I photographed the barn against the rising sun. We can discuss about it being a good choice or not and if that is a good photo of the barn, rather than just a dawn shot, but I like what came out, and it is certainly different from the majority of the shots out there.

               24mm f/20 1/60sec ISO 100

After walking back to the "proper"spot – not to miss the golden moment and not to make all the other photographers mad because I would have been in their pictures ruining the shot – I took different pics until the sun was lighting the whole area.

               28mm f7.1 1/500sec ISO 100 +0.33

               32mm f7.1 1/125sec ISO 100 +0.33

               24mm f7.1 1/200sec ISO 100 +1

               Panorama shot done with Photomerge in Photoshop CC 2015, stitching 6 pics

               35mm f7.1 1/200sec ISO 100 +0.33


It's been a great experience and a lot of fun. Can't wait to get back!

Bull Elk in Grand Teton

It was our last day in Grand Teton National Park and we decided to take it easy and drive around the area, instead of going up all the way to Yellowstone. 

For the whole trip we hadn't seen large mammals that often: just a deer, a couple of encounters with elk, and bison... yeah... bison are indeed large and actually I saw quite a good number all together, but when I saw them it was a very bad photographic situation, in back light, almost at noon, one of the worst possible conditions... Sometimes I don't realize I grade everything from a photo opportunity point of view... sorry. I actually was happy to see them, but it wasn't in the beautiful Hayden valley in Yellowstone, it was in another, less attractive, location, not far from the road in a plain area – and Denise was not with me (I had got up before dawn to go and photograph the beavers... but that is another story). Anyway, back to the point, up to that moment we hadn't been able to take good pictures of large mammals. OK, I said it.

But while driving along one of the main roads, we saw one large animal resting in the shade of some trees. At first we thought of a moose, but getting closer we saw it was a large male elk.

              381mm f/6.3 1/500sec ISO 1250 +0.33

                            200mm f/6.3 1/500sec ISO 1000 +0.33

At least 6 years old, as we could see from the big antlers. The animal had recently stripped the velvet off them and a few signs could still be seen on the antlers surface. The rut time was close and the male were getting ready "to perform".

After staying some time in the shade, the animal decided to stand up and move so I followed slowly – actually I was walking backwards as he was walking towards me – always maintaining a distance larger than what recommended by the park rules, not only to be safe, but not to bother the animal, that in fact was peacefully eating grass and plants in the sagebrush prairie. The telephoto helped getting close ups without disturbing him.

              225mm f/5.0 1/1000sec ISO 125

              88mm f/6.3 1/1600sec ISO 125

              400mm f/7.1 1/1000sec ISO 200

It was indeed a beautiful bull, with great antlers. It's incredible to think that they shed every year and then grow back larger and larger every time. Basically, they are too heavy to be carried around the whole time so after the mating rituals, the antlers are abandoned until they are needed again.