Battle Born
Logan Pass has always been a battleground. Over thousands of years, glaciers have carved out some of the most magnificent mountain peaks in North America. With relentless winters that allow for only a small window for life, survival here is tough. And this year even more so—drought conditions, forest fires, a nearly non-existent water flow, even the flowers were, for the most part, long gone all due to the lack of snowfall this past winter. Even in such harsh conditions, life still perseveres. This evening, on our second trip up to Logan Pass, we were rewarded with interesting cloud cover mixed with a smokey haze from the fires—resulting in some interesting light. I’ve always wanted to capture Clements Mountain with it’s unique, castle-like appearance and this was my chance! My daunting search to find a foreground began… I finally came across this lonely patch of flowers that was somehow still in full bloom. My goal was to create depth in the scene by getting extremely close to the flowers, making them appear as large as possible. I positioned the angle of the camera to where the flowers would lead the eye up through the mid-ground to the mountain. So, with a few passers-by wondering what the hell I was doing with my face and camera buried in this cluster, I took a few series of shots of the foreground at 7 different focal points which I was able to blend in photoshop for sharpness throughout. The light was more intense at this point, allowing me to keep the shutter fast enough to freeze any flower movement. Then I waited a little longer for the right sky light to set in. The clouds made for some great patterns coming out from behind the mountain as the hazy glow intensified. The lens distortion at the top of the frame helped lengthen the mountain and cloud lines.

Cloaked

Fire Watch
Walking back from Hidden Lake in the dark, we were greeted with a huge full moon rising from behind the mountains. To the naked eye, you could see the faint smoke plume over St. Mary’s from the forest fires we had been dealing with all week. After setting up a couple quick test shots, I realized that a full 30-second exposure revealed this incredible red glow from fires illuminating the smoke. I set up to where I could use the nice moonlight reflections that accentuated the flowing stream as my foreground. The smokey haze created a warmer moonlight than usual. This is one, 30-second exposure that I was able to pull a ton of detail out of the darkness and another exposure for the moon detail and another star shot.

Hidden Lake
It was a long week out in Glacier National Park, dodging fires, escaping the smoke and hunting for clouds—tough even finding flowing water and flowers. With apparently just 15% of snowfall this past winter, drought conditions were in full effect—flowers were long gone for the most part and creek beds were nearly dry. This evening though, we were able to get out from most of the smokey haze and catch some nice, interesting light up at Logan Pass. This is Hidden Lake at the foot of Bearhat Mountain. The search for foreground life led me to this spot where I was able to get a slight sideview angle on the mountain and some greater depth out to the horizon. Blended around 6 shots to get sharpness throughout. With Going to the Sun road closed I was worried we weren’t going to be able to make it up here. Was incredible to finally see it—a photographer’s dream.

Winner: World Expeditions Photo Contest “I chose this as the overall winner because in my honest opinion it has all the visual impact a winning shot should possess. The composition is spot on with great fore- ground elements leading the viewers eyes into the scene. The low placement of the camera helps the viewers feel like he/she is on location. Both light and location are absolutely magical and shot at the perfect time of the day. Processing is also very well done. Bravo..well deserved First place.” – Patrick Di Fruscia
“This image just jumped off the screen and made me want to be standing in that very spot at the moment the photo was taken. There is a magic to this shot that inspires me to dream of places too beautiful for words. The editing is beautifully done and there was obvious thought put into the framing and camera placement. This photograph fit in perfectly with the title of the contest. I can’t think of any photographer that wouldn’t want to go on a world expedition to this stunning location. Congrats Ryan, I look forward to seeing what you can do with your new Fujifilm lens!” – Ken Kaminesky
Won Runner Up in Alluring Landscapes Photo Contest
Won Contest Finalist in Image of the Year Photo Contest by Snapfish

Forsaken
Driving north from Wyoming to Montana I had to stop at this vacant barn. I stuck around past sunset and I'm glad I did. The colors in this sunset were some of the most intense I've ever seen. more info