This is a continuation of my series - The Story Behind the Images - the stories about my favorite photographs as I remember them. I hope you enjoy and please share.

After finishing graduate school, I started my career in environmental consulting.  One of the first projects I worked on was at a refinery in Mandan, North Dakota.  During an extended field event in 2001, I spent a weekend in Theodore Roosevelt National Park to photograph the badlands, prairies, and wild horses. The wild horses were very difficult to photograph and required much more of a telephoto than my 80-200mm.  On one occasion after approaching a little too close, a stallion made it clear he was not happy with me so I decided to return to photographing the landscape.  

On the second morning, I was on the trail before sunrise.  I found these blue bells and knew the sun was going to rise over the ridge in the distance, so I set up the camera and waited.   Most of landscape photography is waiting.  This sunrise definitely did not disappoint.  I would have like to have gotten a little more of the trail that almost extends off the left of the photograph, but was happy with the sun burst that points directly at the blue bells - got lucky on that one.  This photograph really shows off the beauty of Fuji Velvia with all the saturation of the sky and green prairie.  

Photo Details - Nikon N90s and a Nikon 24mm f2.8 lens on Fuji Velvia 50-35mm transparency film. It was scanned by West Coast Imaging using a Heidelberg Tango Drum Scanner. If you enjoyed this post please share and visit me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Flickr (links on the left). Thanks again. Jason C. Ruf

This is a continuation of my series - The Story Behind the Images - the stories about my favorite photographs as I remember them. I hope you enjoy and please share.  

My sister, brother and I started visiting Wyoming in the summer of 1990 two years after the Yellowstone fires.  At the time, I was 15 years old and had just finished a year long introductory photography class offered at our high school.  The vast landscape of Wyoming was quite a contrast to the suburban Philadelphia landscape that we called home.  During these annual trips, the Wind River Range quickly became a favorite spot.  In  the summer of 2000, my sister an I planned a three night trip into Titcomb Lakes that lie at the base of Fremont Peak, Wyoming’s third highest peak.  My brother an I had hiked to the top of Fremont a few years earlier and I had wanted to return to focus on photographing the lakes and peaks.    

The above picture was taken at a small pool located between the Upper and Lower Titcomb Lakes.  I had found this pool while scouting the area in the morning and returned at sunset to capture the alpine glow of Fremont in the still waters of the pool.  I really like the leading line of the grass that extends from the bottom left corner into the reflected peak as well as the contrast between the green alpine grass and white/gray rocks.  Titcomb lakes are spectacular glacial lakes that can take on many amazing colors from deep aqua to an almost emerald green color depending on the time of day and conditions.  

Photo Details - Nikon N90s and a Nikon 24mm f2.8 lens on Fuji Velvia 50 transparency film. It was scanned by West Coast Imaging using a Heidelberg Tango Drum Scanner. If you enjoyed this post please share and visit me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Flickr (links on the left). Thanks again. Jason C. Ruf

This is a continuation of my series - The Story Behind the Images - the stories about my favorite photographs as I remember them. I hope you enjoy and please share.

This is probably my most popular photograph and an image I can vividly remember taking.  While I was living in Fort Collins, I would wake up early to photograph sunrise in Rocky Mountain National Park.  This would typically require a ~4am wake up and then a very fast drive up Big Thompson Canyon so that I could hike and set up my camera before the sun would light up the peaks.  Many times I would be able to make a trip up the canyon, photograph and get back to Fort Collins before work.

On this trip, I was a little late in arriving to the park so I made my way up through the Fall River Entrance and decided to explore a stand of aspens near West Horseshoe Park.  The sun had already risen as I parked my truck and gathered my gear and snowshoes.  West Horseshoe Park is probably most visited in the fall during the elk rut and a large heard of elk was still occupying the meadows and trees as I made my way into the trees along the hillside.  The snow was rather deep in this area and I can remember post holing pretty good even with snowshoes on.  

This group of aspens and blue spruce were situated in a little bowl that allowed me to get a somewhat elevated position that helped in reducing the chaos of smaller trees that were on the ground surface.  The aspens were glowing in the morning light which was even more pronounced with the contrast of the snow covered blue spruce in the background.  The combination of the light, aspens, snow and spruce created a scene that was perfect for Fuji Velvia film.  I can only imagine what this shot would look like if it were shot on large format. 

Photo Details - Nikon N90s and a Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 lens on Fuji Velvia 50 transparency film. It was scanned by West Coast Imaging using a Heidelberg Tango Drum Scanner. If you enjoyed this post please share and visit me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Flickr (links on the left). Thanks again. Jason C. Ruf