Earlier this season, I was honored to have been included in the Jackson Hole Land Trust’s View 22 Project. In previous years, only a handful of local artists were selected to portray lands that the Land Trust has protected over the course of their existence. This year, however, they expanded it to 35 artists covering all different mediums. As one of the 35, I happily agreed.
The property I was assigned is a small piece of land located along the border of town along the Flat Creek corridor, between Snow King and Josie’s Ridge. As someone whose favorite places are away from civilization and light pollution, I began to have a little trouble finding the motivation to see what kind of photo I would ultimately capture. I was most thinking of trying to get a shot around sunrise and night, but this proved to be a little trickier than I initially anticipated. I never could find the right conditions at night because of frequent stormy weather, nor could I manage waking up early enough to get there for sunrise due to responsibilities I was managing into many nights. Days began to drift to weeks, until the deadline for getting in some info back to the Land Trust about the final image was rapidly approaching. The pressure began getting to me and I actually had to restrain myself from telling them that I wouldn’t be able to get an image done due to too busy of a schedule.
With the deadline for some info looming only a week away, I began to doubt if I would ever get a worthy shot of the property. Realizing I was just stressing myself out and putting too much pressure on something I do so naturally anywhere else, I finally released myself from all the doubt and pressure that had prevented me from doing anything at all. I decided not to stress myself out with it, but simply accepted that as a worst case scenario, I would just head up there at the last minute one night and get what I could.
The deadline for the info was now just a couple of days away when I found myself heading into town during a stormy day for other priorities. I happened to be parking nearby the property for something entirely unrelated, when I noticed a spectacular rainbow beginning to come out. I checked the time to see if I could spare a few minutes, and sure enough, there was a window of opportunity. I grabbed my camera and rain gear and ran up into the property and began photographing every angle I could, until I ultimately ended up with the image above. The rainbow started to fade nearly as soon as I got this shot, almost as if it were just waiting for me to take advantage of the opportunity. My camera gear was (relatively) soaked, but I was excited about the serendipity that had unfolded right in front of me. I couldn’t have planned it any better. All the elements I wanted were there with no sign of town. All I had to do all along was just relax.
Great capture, Mike. And, a great lesson.
Thank you, Stephen!