Bluebird Skies

For my final image of this series, I specifically chose this one as I think it is my favorite. It starts with the grainy and fuzziness of the Instax camera. The image is not as clear, but I like that style. Next, the skiers going down the slopes help lead the viewer's eye to the background, where a slightly overexposed mountain lies. Unfortunately, with the Instax camera, I cannot control the shutter speed, aperture, or any of my typical settings. It makes the images different than what I would like, but again, sometimes the worse-looking image gives off a better message.

New Roads

Going back to the flight on my first day, where decreasing the drone's altitude was a struggle, I managed to take this image on my way down. I wanted to emulate one of the images I took last year in the mountains. To change it up this time, I found a spot where trees surrounded not one but two roads made from snow. What I found fascinating about these roads is that someone has to go out and remake them every time it snows. While I did not walk on this one, I did on a similar road. Let me warn you though make sure you walk in the middle of the path and not on the side unless you want to sink to your knees in snow.

Hues

After a fun day of skiing, I again went on another adventure. This time, dinner was a little later, which allowed me to explore later into the evening. Around 5:20, the sun set behind the mountains and started to change the colors of the sky. The unedited version of this image is not nearly as interesting as this one, but the filter trick again changes this image for the better. It adds the pink and blue-ish hues and darkens the whites on the mountains. 

 

Sundown

I continued experimenting with the Instax camera by taking a few landscape images. For this piece, I wanted to capture as much of the mountainside as I could, inspiring me to take a quadriptych (or a series of four images). Unfortunately, this website does not like pictures as wide as  I originally made this piece. I had to crop the image in half then position them as close together as possible. 

As for the Instax camera, it does not have a tripod mount, meaning each piece I take is handheld. I often take images handheld, but for something like this, where it would be helpful to move the camera a set amount, it was difficult to align and connect the images. It worked out, and I like having a little bit of overlap. 

Tetons

Countless times I had heard of the Teton Mountains, whether it was in Youtube videos or from pictures that I saw online somewhere. There is something different about these mountains from the Rockies. Maybe it is that they rise from almost flat prairie land or that this was a celebration trip for finishing my college applications, but something made these mountains special. Unfortunately, my extent of exploring the Tetons was limited by how far my legs could take me. In the future, I would love to go back and explore the surrounding area, including Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

 

Preparing

On our second day, I decided to continue adventuring by riding the aerial tram up to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, I might have chosen the absolute worst day to explore the summit. This image makes the weather seem calm, but I took it between gusts. The temperature was 16 degrees (I read that on the display they had), and I estimate that the winds were upwards of 50 miles per hour. My mask ended up freezing to itself, and at one point, I grabbed onto the snowcat in fear of being blown off the mountain. Even one Instax image froze and created this green pattern that ruined the image. All of this occurred over ten minutes, and the next thing I knew, I was taking another tram back down the mountain. 

Emotion

As my adventure continued, the clouds became more and more dramatic. I wanted to find a way that emphasized the clouds while showing my location. This is the original image (along with some edits), but I considered cropping out the houses on the bottom. I chose to keep them in to add another layer and show perspective, and I think they play well with the filter. Recently, I have been utilizing Adobe Lightroom's Presets, which allows me to select from already made filters. This specific filter turned the image black and white while adding a brownish tone. The filters simplify the editing process while creating a more fascinating image.