Inspiration

What inspires me? I've been asking myself that a lot lately. Because I've been so tired of the gray skies, wind, and winter in general, I've been trying to view the world as though I'm looking through the viewfinder of my camera. It helps make even the most gray days somewhat inspiring! It's as though the landscape becomes a black and white photo from several vantages.
The same tree, mountain, building or bridge changes immensely based on the weather or lighting of the day. Which makes me think of one of my favorite all time shots. I've posted it before, the barn on Mormon Row Road in Grand Teton. It's one of the most photographed barns in the US. I took this photo in June of 2008, I was one of several photographers that arrived at sunrise and it couldn't have been a more beautiful day. I often go back here in my mind and wish I'd stayed there the entire day.

I was back at Teton this past June (2010) and it was a nasty weather day. I golfed at Jackson Hole and after the third thunderstorm came through, my team finally decided to call it a day. Watching the clouds and weather over the mountains all day had my curiosity up as to what may favorite barn looked like. So at about 8PM I took the company car down an extremely muddy road that I'm lucky I didn't get stuck in. The result is an intense contrast which I love!

So I'm not sure I've answered the original question and start to this blog; what inspires me? But thinking about that lately, I've been revisiting a lot of photo collections that I have from my various travels. And looking through those I'm finding gems that I didn't know I had or had forgotten about. Since I haven't kept my blog updated, what I'm going to do is to post those gems I've found and tell you about them and what inspired me to take them. I'm sure that going through these will inspire me to look at this crazy long winter through the viewfinder of my camera more often!