In late fall, the light in Yellowstone National Park feels like a daylong golden hour. With the sun heading south for the winter, its daily arc lingers perpetually low in the sky keeping the light soft, the shadows long, and contrasts sharp. For photographers in Yellowstone, this time of year is a gift, and doubly so after the first snowstorms start to move through.

Joscelyn and I arrived the day after the season’s first snowfall-a light storm that brought sub-freezing temperatures and blanketed the landscape in 5 or 6 inches of powder. The wintry landscape, blanketed in light and shadow, contrasted with Mammoth’s otherworldly hot springs, their heated water meeting the frozen air in great clouds of steam, light, and shadow. Fire and ice.

Yellowstone National Park, in the northwest corner of Wyoming, was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. It was the first national park in the U.S. and, likely, the first such park in the world. It is known for its wildlife and geothermal features.  The Yellowstone Caldera comprises nearly all of the park’s 3,468 square miles and makes it the largest supervolcano on the North American continent. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly-intact ecosystem in the Earth's northern temperate zone. In 1978, Yellowstone was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

More later...