7 Tips for Taking Great Landscape Photographs in Wind River Country

November 13, 2016

By Casey Adams
Riverton photographer Timothy Rockhold discovered his love of photography while traveling, and he continues to feed that fire photographing Wyoming’s Wind River Country/Fremont County.

“It has some pretty unique features. From the highest peak, Gannett Peak, to the lowest point at Wind River Canyon, there is a lot of diversity,” Rockhold said.

Will you reinvigorate your photographic eye while here? Rockhold shared a few tips for capturing the best images possible while you travel through Wind River Country:

• People like to photograph other people, and it helps to have a beautiful background. These are my favorite places to photograph: Boysen Reservoir (see above), Brooks Lake, Red Canyon, South Pass City, Castle Gardens, and Wind River Canyon (see below).

• Take advantage of side light (morning and evening light) in these places. You’re almost always assured of getting good lighting. I use The Photographer’s Ephemeris to plan. It has a really great map and gives the location of sunrise, sunset, moonrise, and moonset. [Photographer’s Ephemeris is a great tool for visitors! It is a map-centric sun and moon calculator for any location on Earth, available online and as an Android or iPhone app.]

• It is imperative to have something of interest in every part of the photo. I like to compose landscape photos with water in the foreground, a beautiful sky in the background, and a subject in the middle. Thunderclouds, a sheep wagon, an animal, or an old building all add to a photograph.

  

• Draw inspiration from the work of others [like the Wind River Country Instagram account!]. But don’t take the photo everyone else is taking. For example, Red Canyon is pretty popular on Facebook. People tend to photograph it from above, but the rock formations lower on the canyon are tremendous.

• Have a goal in mind to get out with your camera, but don’t close your mind to something else you might see. Half the time your goal won’t go as planned, but it’s something to get you started, then keep your eyes open for opportunities.

• Don’t take bad pictures. Put thought into your pictures—exposure, focus, composition all can be corrected with a little bit of thought. It’s more fun, more interesting when you try to get good photos.

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  Start researching locations for the Wind River Eclipse [Aug. 21, 2017]! Get familiar with Photographers Ephemeris and the path of the eclipse. August is going to be a good time because I think the sky’s going to be absolutely clear. To make a good photo you need something else like a rock formation, tree, or person. I think Castle Gardens would be one of the best places for people to go, with the rock formations [and petroglyphs!] and room for an awful lot of people.

See Rockhold’s work at Le Complements in Riverton, the restaurant at the Little Wind River Casino in Ethete and Wind River Gallery in Riverton.