Archived - Sunrise in Grand Teton National Park

Archived.

More like neglected. Not forgotten but definitely ignored.

My photos from last summer's trip to Grand Teton National Park have sat mostly unedited on my hard drive. When I first uploaded them, I wasn't satisfied. I was harsh, judgy- disappointed with the weather, the camera, the photographer. I was ugly.

I don't like the version of myself.

This week, I leaned into the why- why did these (pretty dang special) images of this magical location bring out my demons?

Because I was comparing MY images, MY UNIQUE experience, to the hundreds of thousands of images of this iconic mountain range. I was also comparing them to the images that someone would create with some insane A.I. sky and light.

Hmm. I took a big sip of wine, leaned back in my chair, and said to myself:

That's not the point.

The point wasn't to take photographs because no one else had. The point wasn't to take to take photographs that no artist had ever painted.

The point was to capture MY experience. MY moments. MY life that I'm living.

So here is the way the Grand looked during my trip last summer. Later that week, my husband would climb to the tippy top of the highest mountain. I'm pretty damn proud of both of us.