Plein air painted August 22, 2026....I wanted to figure out where Ansel Adams took his famous 1942 photo. It looked like lower than the road overlook so I drove down to the Snake River on Deadman's Bar Road and hiked in below the overlook at river level on the service road. It was too low and I was worried about bears (had my spray with me) so I went back up to the overlook and decided that the level was mostly correct - it was the tree growth that threw me off. While I was painting others there noticed a large bear browsing on the far riverside just opposite where I had just hiked.

I was happy with the painting in the field but it was a bright sunny morning and I had a lot of reflected light coming back at me when I was painting. When I looked at in the shade the values were off so I decided to do more work in several studio sessions. 

The Tetons are a fantastic place - can't wait to get back!