October Solitude
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Limited Edition 500 | Artist Proof 50
Item Number 3290
In total darkness, we arrive at the edge of the forest, pile on layers of warm clothes, put on our backpacks filled with camera gear, and sling the tripods over our shoulders. Our headlamps search the blackness for the game trail along the bank of the Snake River.
It is late October. For the past twenty years, I have spent more than a hundred mornings trying to make a special image of elk crossing the Snake River in front of Mt. Moran at sunrise. The elk are very wary at this time of year, as hunting season has begun in the surrounding National Forest and in Teton Park. The slightest noise or unusual movement will stampede them. My assistant and I make our way to the tall willows where we hide and wait for the light and hopefully elk.
At the break of dawn, fog rises from the river, a raven’s call and bugling elk break the silence. It’s the season of the rut, bulls challenging each other for the right to mate or to protect their harems. There are few sounds in the wild that move me like elk bugling on a crisp fall morning in the Rockies. Others include the haunting calls of loons on a northern lake, the chorus of wolves howling on a cold winter’s night and the ancient cries of whooping and sandhill cranes along the Platte River.
We watch upstream, several elk come to the river’s edge checking to see if it is safe to cross. Nervous, they leave. Something, maybe the scent of us, spook them. We don’t move or talk, ever vigilant to remain silent and unseen. As the first rays of sunrise kiss the top of Mt. Moran in the soft pinks of alpenglow, a lone bull ventures down the embankment to the shoreline, he pauses, looks around and slowly crosses, only the sound of his hooves interrupting the sound of the river.
The light, fog, Moran and the bend in the Snake make it all work—maybe tomorrow the entire herd will cross, but I’m very happy with the majestic bull. This is why I have come to the river on so many mornings.
It is late October. For the past twenty years, I have spent more than a hundred mornings trying to make a special image of elk crossing the Snake River in front of Mt. Moran at sunrise. The elk are very wary at this time of year, as hunting season has begun in the surrounding National Forest and in Teton Park. The slightest noise or unusual movement will stampede them. My assistant and I make our way to the tall willows where we hide and wait for the light and hopefully elk.
At the break of dawn, fog rises from the river, a raven’s call and bugling elk break the silence. It’s the season of the rut, bulls challenging each other for the right to mate or to protect their harems. There are few sounds in the wild that move me like elk bugling on a crisp fall morning in the Rockies. Others include the haunting calls of loons on a northern lake, the chorus of wolves howling on a cold winter’s night and the ancient cries of whooping and sandhill cranes along the Platte River.
We watch upstream, several elk come to the river’s edge checking to see if it is safe to cross. Nervous, they leave. Something, maybe the scent of us, spook them. We don’t move or talk, ever vigilant to remain silent and unseen. As the first rays of sunrise kiss the top of Mt. Moran in the soft pinks of alpenglow, a lone bull ventures down the embankment to the shoreline, he pauses, looks around and slowly crosses, only the sound of his hooves interrupting the sound of the river.
The light, fog, Moran and the bend in the Snake make it all work—maybe tomorrow the entire herd will cross, but I’m very happy with the majestic bull. This is why I have come to the river on so many mornings.
In 1974 when Mangelsen created his very first limited edition photograph, he made the decision to hold back his most cherished prints, numbered 1 through 20, so that one day as a career capstone they would be offered as part of a Legacy Reserve Collection.
Collectors now have the unique opportunity to own one of the twenty numbers from his personal artist reserve. These masterworks represent the “best of the best” of Mangelsen’s prestigious fine art photographs.
Read more about the Legacy Reserve Collection