A few weekends back my wife and I did a short weekend trip to Glacier National Park in Montana to celebrate our 12 year anniversary. Despite it being really windy the whole weekend (35-45kph winds with gusts of 80kph) and not very warm (+13˚C as the high), it was still really nice to be there. With it being early in the season (the going to the sun road was still closed and being dug out) the park was rather empty. Where we were staying, in Saint Mary, we seemed to get off lucky with the rain as it was pouring pretty much everywhere else we went in the park.
With all that rain, wind and cloud came plenty of opportunities for some photography. The past two times we have been there, it was endless cloud free blue skies. Needless to say, I was happy.
There were a few locations that I have been to during prior visits that I would have liked to shoot again, but those areas were under construction and closed. In some ways that was good. It got us to explore other areas of the park that we haven't seen before, like the Two Medicine area. Some of you who know me personally would know I am quite fond of driving (I compete in a regional rally series with a rwd corolla, though that's currently on hold). I was not disappointed; the roads and the landscape that surrounded us were so beautiful.
Other highlights were a great sunset on the first night and sighting a mother grizzly with her three cubs. We ended up being close enough that it was not a good idea for me to get out of the car to grab my camera that was in the trunk. So instead of trying to capture the moment, I just enjoyed it. There was a time when I would have gotten frustrated or disappointed that I didn't get the shot. As I've grown in photography I've come to learn that sometimes it's okay to leave the camera in the bag and just listen, watch and experience. For me it's been a process of slowing down and being deliberate with what I shoot. Another way to look at it is comparing it to a relationship. It's sometimes just better to listen than it is to be the one always talking.
