Elvis—King of the Gros Ventre

Some of it’s magic—some of it’s tragic.

In the fall of 2010, this big bull moose I called “Elvis” established his dominance along the Gros Ventre in Grand Teton National Park.

For many years prior to Elvis’ “hostile takeover”, this bull I called “Gaston” had been the dominant bull in the area. On this particular morning, I found a group of familiar bulls and cows along the Gros Ventre—but something was different. Another big bull was going from cow to cow, yet Gaston was standing off to the side letting it all happen. At the time, I was confused by what I was witnessing. Eventually, Gaston stepped into the light and everything made sense. Half a dozen of the tines on Gaston’s antlers had been broken off and he had a large gash in his shoulder. The battle apparently happened overnight or earlier that morning, but unfortunately, I missed it. For the rest of the fall, Gaston backed away from Elvis if he approached.

Elvis in 2008: In years prior to the 2010 changing of the guard, I saw Elvis on quite a few other occasions. The bull on the right is no slouch, but this shot shows how much bigger and bulkier Elvis was even then. The other distinguishing features were his long, “all-business” tines.

Elvis at Water in 2010: With a rack like this, it was easy to identify Elvis from afar.

Many moose have antlers that sweep out from their skulls like this one. Elvis’ antlers reached almost straight up. Between the long, intimidating tines and the reach, Elvis presented himself as a formidable opponent. Compare the antlers of this large bull to Elvis below!

To the Victor: I took this image in the evening following the “changing of the guard”. I knew at the time that things would be different and I’d be taking more images of him going forward. Gaston hung around most of the fall, but wasn’t a factor in the rut.

While some people don’t like the idea of giving human names to wild animals (Anthropomorphism), I do it! It helps me keep track of them while out in the field and it definitely helps me find specific animals in my Lightroom catalog when I need them—as was the case for this post. Originally, I called him “Emporer”, but it just didn’t seem to fit. I was thinking about his regal crown like set of antlers. “King”…? No. But that led to “Elvis…(King of the Gros Ventre)”. I told a few other friends what I had been calling him and the name stuck. I am sure other people had a different name for him. Over time, we had fun with the name. “The Elvis show is at 9:00 am” or if he crossed the river, “Elvis has left the building”.

Most confrontations between two bulls require only a stare down. This little bull was more of an annoyance than a threat.

There was plenty of potential for good shots of this bull all the way back to 2008. Over the next five years, he got even bigger and more powerful.

Elvis in 2010: You can see the growth in his antlers over two years. It was time! Elvis enjoyed a couple of years as the top breeder along the Gros Ventre. He roamed around three miles of it regularly during the fall.

Elvis in Cottonwoods and Willows along the Gros Ventre River.

The Beginning of the End

October 13, 2011: In the fall of 2011, Elvis and a few other cows in the Gros Ventre contracted Pink eye (conjunctivitis). The link will take you to the Mayo Clinic. His right eye became extremely swollen and eventually closed up, with drips of puss streaking from the eye. At the time, I thought if could have been from a fighting injury, but other cows began to show similar symptoms. It was hard to watch as things seemed to get worse on a regular basis. I deleted almost all shots of Elvis if I could see his swollen eye, and then began to only photograph him on his good side. I feared the worst for him during the winter.

Clear Eyes 2012: A year later, Elvis appeared with clear eyes. I was relieved, along with other photographers familiar with the earlier infection.

In 2013, his eye turned milky white. I don’t know if he could see out it?

Elvis Eyes, Sept 18, 2013: Within a couple of weeks, his velvet had been stripped, but his right eye was sealed again.

Elvis Eyes Sept 18, 2013: Now, both eyes were infected, with fluids dripping from his left eye.

This is the last photo I took of Elvis at 7:30 am on September 22nd of 2013. A day later, Elvis was dead.

The necropsy was conducted in the afternoon on September 23rd. I heard a few reports of the death of a large bull, then managed to get a photo and some information from the WY Game and Fish. This is a post I made on Best of the Tetons Daily Update Page for October of 2012:

Oct4. News: Elvis has left the building: One of my favorite bull moose has died from an apparent fighting wound on the National Elk Refuge. This recent photo, supplied by Wyoming Game and Fish Wildlife Biologist, Doug Brimeyer, shows a Wyoming Game Warden, conducting a necropsy. Doug Brimeyer reports, “We did confirm that this moose had two large puncture wounds in the chest and abdomen that likely caused it to bleed internally. We skinned the animal and looked at the injuries. We ran a metal detector over the area and the injuries were consistent with trauma caused by blunt force and punctures from antlers.”

Elvis, an un-numbered bull, has been a fixture along the Gros Ventre river bottom for four or five years, or longer, and been a popular subject of many photographers and tourists at the pullouts. The big bull was often seen crossing the river and courting the cows of the Gros Ventre river bottom. While I know I will miss him, I will have a favorable lasting memory of him going down in a battle over a “hot” cow. Thanks to biologist Mark Gocke for helping me obtain this photo and permission to use it! Of course, thanks to Doug Brimeyer for supplying it.

Elvis: Late October 2010

Looking for a Silver Lining:

I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of this magnificent animal. It is difficult to look too long at the necropsy photo. Still, I saw Elvis breeding with numerous cows over his two or three year reign as the top bull. Undoubtedly, his genes are now being shared with the new crop of young moose in the area. It will take a few years to start seeing his distinctive rack showing up again. Less Eye Infections: During the same period, at least two other cows fell to the eye disease. One was seen circling blindly in the Gros Ventre River before being put down. During the 2014 fall season, I only saw one cow with the eye problems. That cow eventually damaged her leg in the GV campground after being chased through a campfire grate by a bull during the rut. Hopefully, the worst of that contagious disease if behind the moose of the Tetons. Despite the loss of one of the patriarchs, everything seemed back to normal this year. Washakie filled in, sharing space with Cody and Custer. Another big bull, Lewis strolled through after spending his summer along the Snake River at Moose Junction. There are links to additional pages for Washakie and Custer below. I feel so fortunate to able to witness this yearly pageant, even though I get more attached to them than I know I should!

Gaston: After comparing photos in my Lightroom catalog, I don’t think I ever saw Gaston again after the 2010 rut season, even though other bulls look similar to him. Hopefully, he just moved to a different part of the valley and is still passing along his genes to calves there.

Other Featured Moose:

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December 16, 2014March 16, 2024

“SHANE” — The Epic Western Movie Filmed in Jackson Hole

Good Against Evil — Shot with the Majestic Grand Teton Range as a Backdrop.

This movie was filmed in 1952 and released in 1953. That was a year before I was born. Now, 61 years later, here I am at the foot of the mountains used as the backdrop for the movie. Any kid growing up in the ’50s was immersed with TV Westerns like Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Tales of Wells Fargo, and the Lone Ranger (just to name a few). I’ve seen SHANE on TV countless times, purchased it on VHS, and again on DVD. This page is presented “through my eyes” as a 27 year JH resident—with the aid of some screen grabs from the movie and augmented with a few of my own photos. This page is also relies on the research of JH local, Walt Farmer who spent most of his adult life researching movies filmed here in “the Hole”. (See the comments about the screen grabs at the end of the page)

Get The Movie!

Shane at Wal-Mart | Shane at Amazon.com | Shane on NetFlix if you have an account: | Shane on eBay: | Jackson Hole Historical Society & Museum

Prices range from about $4 used to $6 new up to $15.

Watch the Trailer!

Shane at Amazon.com or Shane movie trailer on YouTube. (The version on Amazon is probably higher quality)

Get Walt Farmer’s Informative CD!

“Wyoming – A History of Film and Video in the 20th Century” CD by Walt Farmer. To be honest, the interface for this CD is terrible! You can get an idea by looking at the web page linked here. I paid around $40 for CD. BUT, the CD is absolutely loaded with information, and I think worth it! If you have trouble ordering the CD through the web site, contact the Jackson Hole Historical Society & Museum. Walt gave quite a bit of his collection of Shane memorabilia to the museum. Sadly, Walt passed away in January of 2014. If you are a western buff, movie buff, or just love Jackson Hole, the $40 cost might be well worth it. I will pull information from the CD for this page, but could never relay all of Walt’s research on this site.

The Movie Locations:

Intro & Homesteads

George Steven’s “Shane” (1953) with Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin, Brandon De Wilde, & Jack Palance

Teton Pass: This intro shot was taken at the top of Teton Pass. The current highway was still in the scene, though the shot lasted briefly as Shane rode into the JH valley. The Old Pass Road is still accessible and is used as a bike path and walking path today. I’m sure the road would be digitally removed if shot for a contemporary movie.

Entering the Valley: The old “switercheroo”! In the first scene, Shane is seen entering from the West, heading down the pass into the town of Wilson. In the next scene, he’s all the way over on the Gros Ventre road area, dropping into the valley from the Southeast. The pasture in the middle of the scene is the grassy field along the north side of the road to the Old Science School. Ditch Creek is running through the center of the frame.

Deer Watching Shane Approach: This is a screen grab of the movie trailer. You can see a white truck in the distance. For the shot in the actual movie, Shane rides up dead center over the antlers of the deer and then across. The truck was not in the movie.

Joey Starrett Running to the Cabin: This is a shot of little Joey running to get his father after seeing Shane riding up. This site is west of the Kelly Warm Springs and on the north side of the irrigation ditch exiting it. The Kelly Warm Springs appeared not long after the big land slide “up the Gros Ventre” in 1927. The valley residents called it the “Miracle Pool” as it allowed the farmers to irrigate the valley floor instead of relying on dry land farming techniques.

Shane Approaching: Off in the distance, you can see the scars of the Gros Ventre Slide which formed Slide Lake. Shane can be seen riding up.

Deer in Water: This shot shows more of the homestead. It was built for the movie, then torn down afterwards.

Mike’s Cloud Comments: You’re probably not supposed to be paying attention, but it is not uncommon in the movie to see clouds in one scene, then missing in another sequential scene.

Walt Farmer’s Comments: Walt wrote a section about the water and ditches. According to his research, some of the important filming took place during “haying” time, so the farmers turned off the irrigation gates. The film company opened them, flooded the scene, got their shots, and then had to stop when the farmers shut them off again.

Elevated Homestead Shot: The irrigation ditch coming out of the Kelly Warm Springs swings across the valley floor and up to Antelope Flats road. The residents had to build an innovative “water bridge” over Ditch Creek, some of which remains today. The old ditch was seen numerous times in the movie.

If you go to the Kelly Warm Springs now, you might notice there is much less water coming out of the springs than in 1952 and 1953. That is echoed in the historic old photos taken by Al Pounian in 1963 as seen on this page: The Moulton Barns: 1963-1965

Incoming Dead: After being gunned down by Wilson in town, Torey is being brought to the Starretts homestead draped over his horse. In the distance, you can see a few other buildings along Mormon Row with Blacktail Butte in the middle left. The dark trees in the middle of the scene are mostly gone now.

Early Roads Comments: Back “in the day”, there were dirt roads criss-crossing the entire valley. Over they years, the Park Service has closed many of them and allowed them to return back to sagebrush. Film crews would have had no problems getting to the movie locations, but you now would need to wade through mature fields of sagebrush and bitter brush. There are no existing roads to this site and almost no trails.

The Lewis Homestead: Seen briefly in the movie. Lewis and his family were feeling the pressure from Ryker and his gang and were ready to pull up stakes. This site is effectively inaccessible to the public. It is located on the National Elk Refuge which requires all visitors to stay ON THE ROADS. It was located along upper Flat Creek. Additionally, the area is behind a fenced off area along the creek. The old cabin was moved from the site to Snow King Resort and later (2004) to a home at the JH Historical Society site on Mercill in Jackson.

The Lewis Homestead as it looks today. There are four or five old buildings lined up behind the JH Historical Society research offices on Mercill Ave. I’ve driven by them hundreds of times and not paid much attention. I’d love to see them all get a great new location someday.

The Shane Cabin Plaque: The plaque is mounted to the front of the cabin. It indicates the cabin was built in 1951. I don’t know if it was built specifically for the movie. Neither the Historical Society or Walt Farmer mentions this issue. Needless to say, some people might be surprised to hear this is the Shane Cabin. (Click either of these two thumbnails to see the larger)

The Ernie Wright (Shane Cabin): In this shot, Ernie Wright is packing up his wagon to get out of the valley for good. Ryker’s boys are seen here stampeding a herd of cattle across his newly plowed fields. The fields are now covered with sagebrush. This cabin is only seen in the movie for a few minutes. Walt Farmer says the site was owned by Roy Chambers at the time.

Mike’s Comments: This cabin is often called the “Shane Cabin”. In fact, I created a post called The Shane Cabins: Authentic Homestead in Grand Teton National Park. In the post, I explained some of the issues leading to the confusion. Historically speaking, Luther Taylor homesteaded the area and built the cabin and outbuildings. Giving him all due respect, we should all be calling this the Taylor Cabin(s), similar to the Cunningham Cabin. The Park Service has never dignified the site with any sort of marker or plaque, so it is easy to see how later confusion can arise. I bumped into Roy Chambers one day at Smith’s grocery store and we had a nice, long conversation. He told me he was born in the small “Chambers Cabin Homestead” on Mormon Row. He is now over 90 years old and his mind is as sharp as a tack. Unlike the other structures in the show, this was a historic old site and was not torn down after the movie production. It is, however, in considerable disrepair compared to what it looked like above. That’s too bad! This site is accessible to the public all year long. The link above has a map to help you find it.

“The Creation of Grand Teton National Park—A thumbnail history of the park that was written in honor of the park’s fiftieth anniversary in 2000.” This page is from GTNP’s site explaining how and when the parts of the park were created. The last section, the part of the park east of the Snake River, was added in 1950, consisting largely of homesteads and farms as seen in the photo above.

The Town & Surrounding Sites

Rodeo and Races: This is a scene showing a horse race through town. An earlier shot had a bronc rider bouncing through town as Ryker and his bunch schemed on ways to run settlers from the valley.

Town: Town consisted of half a dozen wooden structures and a couple of tents. Grafton’s store and saloon were in the middle. These two riders were heading into town for supplies and drink. Only one rode off sitting on his saddle. The other one was draped over his saddle after Wilson sent a message to all homesteaders.

Cemetery Hill: This is a similar shot showing more of Cemetery Hill. “Three Tree Hill” can be seen along the left.

Mike’s Historical Notes: If you were standing on this hill and looking towards the mountains in the summer, you’d likely see a stream of campers, trucks and cars traveling across the landscape. It’d be a cinematic nightmare. But, it was not problem in 1952! The highway linking Moose Junction with Moran Junction was not built until 1957/1958. Travelers at the time had to drive along the base of the mountains on the Teton Park Road or on the dirt road running along the east side of the valley. Check out this earlier Feature Post: Early Roads in Grand Teton National Park:

Leaving Cemetery Hill: At the end of the funeral, smoke is seen coming from the Lewis Homestead. Ranchers promise to help rebuild if he stays, so they rush off to salvage as much as they can. Smoke is seen coming off an area just south of Three Tree Hill, indicating the cabin is not that far off. In fact, the Lewis site is quite a few miles south on the Refuge. The current Lost Creek Ranch is located at the base of the hill behind this little knoll. The town, Cemetery Hill, and Three Tree Hill are all located southwest of there. If you purchase Walt Farmer’s CD, he supplies maps and GPS coordinates for these locations, along with the Starrett Homestead.

Three Tree Hill: In quite a few scenes, riders pass by these three trees on their way to town. Shane passes by it in the night on his way to the big finale. Interestingly, the two cowboys in the shot above are the same two crossing in front of Cemetery Hill a couple of shots above. Sequentially, they’d have had to double back to cross through the trees on their way to town…but this is show business! Walt Farmer reports the three trees were planted on the edge of the hill for effect. I don’t believe they survived, and of course it has been over 60 years since filming.

Schwabacher Crossing: You almost have to recognize this iconic scene in GTNP! Shane crosses the stream, rides up the bank, then crosses again. Even when I saw this scene when I was younger, I wondered why they’d need to, or want to cross the stream twice? In 1952 or 1953, Schwabacher landing had a lot more current than the trickle we have now. According to Walt Farmer, all night scenes were filmed in daylight, then darkened in post production. Artistic license is again at play here.

Three Tree Hill at Night: Shane, in his gunfighter duds, heading into town to square off with Wilson.

Shane in Town: This scene shows Three Tree Hill in the distance, with Mt. Jackson along the far sky line. Well, I won’t give the ending away. Just watch the movie trailer!

Oh yes…in the last scene of the movie, we get to see Shane riding the other direction over Teton Pass!

The Greatest Story of the West Ever Filmed!

This quote comes off one of the many lobby cards and posters created for this film. If you’d like to see a LOT more of them, pick up Walt Farmer’s CD.

Legality of using Screen Grabs for a blog post?

Before making this post, I did a few web searches, questioning whether I could or should use screen grabs from the movie. As you can guess, I found all kinds of pages with comments like, “I do it all the time and I never got caught” to this one written by a law student specializing in intellectual rights. Ask the Law Geek: Is publishing screenshots Fair Use? Yes, I know, I’d be better off asking a lawyer with a degree, but this is the best I can do for now. IF anyone with rights to the movie asks me to remove the images, I will do so immediately. I am relying on this parameter found on his page: “The purpose and character of the use: Reproduction for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship or research is not copyright infringement. This probably covers most blogs and personal websites, but there are other factors to consider.”

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December 9, 2014

Teton County Fair 2014

You Might Want To Buckle Up for Some Lights, Action, Endless Fun, and a Few Unexpected Twists!

The Teton County Fair is held each year at the Teton County Fairgrounds. I look forward to the last part of June, knowing it will be in town. It’s a welcome break after being out taking wildlife and scenic photos all summer. And, it’s fun! Frazier Shows rolls in and sets up their brightly lit rides and attractions for the last five days of the fair. It’s a photographer’s paradise! Let’s see…it’s close to home. There’s no gate fee or admission to walk around the rides and attractions. They don’t have a problem with me toting around my camera, tripod and even a remote strobe. Colors are bright. Actions is constant. What’s not to like? Based on all the big smiles and constant laughter I see and hear, it appears kids and families are having fun, too.

To be honest, the hardest part of making this post for Best of the Tetons is trying to figure out which images to include and how many of them people might want to see! I “kept” over a thousand images from the three or four afternoons and nights of shooting. That’s a huge number for me, but there were so many unique and interesting captures. What the heck!…hard drive space is relatively cheap, and once deleted, they’re gone. I went through this year’s keepers in Lightroom and highlighted what felt like a “few” I might want to show here. After processing those, I ended up with a folder of around 80 of images. Now you might understand my dilemma! Here’s a quick cross section of the processed images:

Vertigo and Cliff Hanger: I captured a lot of similar images with simple motion blur while keeping the camera still on a tripod. I froze the action on others.

Zipper: Some images had dizzying action, along with a little of the area’s mountainous backdrop and summer skies.

Livestock Auction: Away from the lights and action of the midway, I found traditional activities like this 4H Livestock Auction.

Wacky Shack: On the midway, I photographed a lot of images of the crowds, lights, and attractions.

Salsa: People make the fair, so I stopped and captured some of them testing their luck and skills.

Salsa Rewards: Tight—then tighter!

Goldfish: There are lots of details! …Details of all flavors, colors and shapes. Toss a ping-pong ball in a cup and you can go home with one these little finned prizes!

Light Details: Did I mention there are a lot of chances to capture detail images?

Ferris Wheel: This is a Ferris Wheel? Really? Each night, I spent time doing experimental photography—way above and beyond the traditional motion blurs I did in previous years. A large chunk of the keepers were shots that would be impossible to recreate. They consisted of long exposures, unpredictable motion of the rides along with variations while twisting, moving, and zooming my various lenses during long exposures.

Ferris Wheel: This year, Frazier Shows replaced the old bulbs with a state of the art “LED Package”. They were proud of it. Lights changed colors and went through a long and varied set of patterns and colors. By the end of my shooting, I realized there is a fair people actually see, and a whole other fair only a photographer with a tripod can see.

Do you want more?

If you’ve seen enough, thanks for viewing! If you want more, the rest of the page will be filled with additional keepers and a little bit of explanation for each. I hope they will be worth your time!

Vertigo, Midway, and Ferris Wheel: The first night, I added a “star filter” to the front of my Nikon 24-70mm lens. I shot with a Nikon D800 body. All of the images on this page are single shots, processed in Lightroom and then exported as JPGs for the post. The star filter was rotated so the stars were at roughly an 45° angle.

Cliff Hanger and Vertigo: I shot a while with the star filter, but a little of it goes a long way.

Cliff Hanger: I found the Cliff Hanger to be the toughest ride to photograph. Why? Most of the rest of the rides have lights on the seats or capsules. After the sun goes down, the airplane shapes of this ride go black and get almost no light from an outside source. That ride needs to be captured just as the sun is going down as seen here. Of course, you can photograph it during the daylight hours, but it lacks the drama!

Zipper: The zipper is a very dynamic ride. I rode it the first year we moved here in 1987. I was dizzy for a couple of days afterwards and haven’t been on it since. Kids have no problems. I liked this shot because it shows the ghostly capsules against the late evening light. The Zipper’s motion later in the night negates the problem of the unlit capsules.

Zipper: This ride is really a no-brainer! On a long exposure like this one, the ride does all the work! This one was shot at ISO 100, 5 seconds, and F/22 using a Nikon 14-24 wide angle lens. I was shooting almost straight up at 14mm.

Zipper Hub: This is the hub of one of the two big wheels. I like to look for broken patterns. In this case, the missing few lights and covers tell a bit of a story and make the shot interesting. Earlier, I mentioned being able to tote around a tripod. I carried my backpack with me most the time and interchanged the 70-200mm, 24-70mm and 14-24mm lenses.

Zero Gravity: This is an example of shooting with the longer lens from a distance. This was a 2.5 second exposure at F/22.

Freak Out: On one of the evenings, I went early. I had a cobalt blue sky that day. I was able to stop the action on these fast moving rides, but I wasn’t too excited about the shot. In Lightroom, I grabbed the blue slider in the HSL tab and dragged it around just for fun.

Freak Out: When looking back the other direction, I started seeing thin clouds in the late evening skies. Most of the ride than turned into a silhouette with only a few lights adding shape to it.

Freak Out: Later in the night, it was easy to get long streaking lights. This one was exposed for 1.6 seconds at F/18

Freak Out: I liked the way the kids were having to look straight up on this one. I captured it at 14mm on a 14-24 mm zoom lens. In an attempt to freeze the riders, I opened up to F/3.5 and had to go to ISO 2000 to get a 1/200th second exposure.

Freak Out: Fog came out of the seats at the beginning of each ride on Freak Out. I photographed it over and over trying to capture the essence of that moment. This one was captured at 1/20th second at F/3.5.

Freak Out: I can “spin” my camera when it is mounted onto a 70-200 mm lens by loosening the thumb screw knob on the collar. For this shot, I exposed for a split second to burn in the “Freak Out” lettering, then spun the camera close to 360° during the remainder of the 1 second exposure. It took a little practice.

Two Mikes: In one of the midway trailers, there was a big screen TV with a split/mirror effect. That’s two of me taking the self portraits.

Cotton Candy Factory: Just a simple shot of a vendor on the midway. After the first night of photography, I pitched the idea of a photo spread about Fair signage to SignCraft Magazine. They bought into the idea. The article is already on the streets with about 20 of my images from the fair.

Pizza by the Slice: I doubt this person knew I was taking her photo.

Richard Fletcher from Hampton, NH not only knew I was taking his photo, he put on his official jacket and struck his pose for me. I took this one with an off camera strobe.

Rubber Duckies 1: I shot this one with a wide open aperture, focusing on a ducky near the middle, allowing the ones in front and behind to go out of focus.

Rubber Duckies 2: I shot shot this one at F/22 and used an off camera flash.

Light Sabres: A photo of a pile of LED light sabres in a bucket along the midway.

The Line and the Light Sabre: The parents had to stand in line to ride the Ferris Wheel, but the kids were playing with their new light sabres.

Riders: I see this kind of shot in National Geographic fairly often. Something in the distance is in perfect focus, yet one or two people are severely out of focus in one of the corners. I had to time this one and it took several tries. The kids would zip by on some sort of small car.

Ferris Wheel: Lots going on here! The wheel itself is slightly in motion. Normally, you hold the camera still and twist the barrel of the zoom lens to actually zoom an image (see below). In this version, I held the barrel of the zoom lens still and twisted the camera. I clicked and held for a split second, then spun the camera in the collar of the tripod. That combination created a spiral effect during the zoomed exposure.

Sizzler: For this shot, I used the zoom feature on the barrel of the lens during the long exposure. I burned in the shot initially, zoomed, then stopped just before the shutter closed.

Still More?

There’s a lot on this page already! Instead of packing on too many more images in this post, I created a sister post The Abstract Fair from the 2014 Fair with all experimental abstract images.

The Abstract Fair

Not exactly your everyday images of the Teton County Fair!

You might recognize this image as the Vertigo ride. It is simply a long exposure using a mid-range telephoto lens mounted on a sturdy tripod. The Fair shots for me has been a “journey”. The first year, shot mostly traditional images, many of which were frozen and some with motion blur. Then I started zooming in or out to create a faux “hyperspace” look. Last Christmas, I started experimenting with twisting or spinning the camera. That requires a lens with a collar like my 70-200mm—something I couldn’t do with my regular 24-70 mm lens. Later in the year, I tried the spins on fireworks at the New Year’s Eve torch light parade at Snow King. By the time the fair rolled around this year, I was beginning to combine spins, zooms and various jiggling techniques. The county fair is great because, unlike fireworks displays, I get “do overs”. Each night, I could review my latest captures and start thinking about other possibilities for the next night. The shots below are not in any particular order, but possibly you can see how shots built on other shots. By the end, I was beginning to anticipate results, even if I could NEVER repeat them exactly.

Vertigo: For this shot, I zoomed in tight on Vertigo and exposed it for much longer. The top image was exposed for 1/5th second and the one above was exposed for 1.6 seconds.

Sizzler: This images is created by zooming either in or out during a long exposure. Total exposure: 1 second.

Sizzler (?): When I press the shutter “while” spinning the camera, everything is blurred. Total exposure: 2 seconds.

Sizzler: For this exposure, I pressed the shutter button, paused for a split second to let the bulbs and lettering “burn in” before spinning. That gives me trails behind the bulbs. Total exposure: .8 second.

Sizzler?: For this shot, I “jiggled” the camera while spinning it. Total exposure: .5 second.

Freak Out: The Freak Out ride is crazy enough, but for this image, I swirled the camera during the long exposure. Total exposure: 1.3 second.

Unknown Ride: This one is similar to the technique above. I swirled the camera around during a long exposure, multiplied by the movement of the ride. Total exposure: .5 second.

Sizzler: These lights were intentionally set to be Out of Focus. It was just an experiment. Possibilities? Hmmmm. Yes, I can visualize a few right now! Total exposure: 1/60th second.

Ferris Wheel: I used a star filter the first night. There were some interesting effects, but I got tired of it quickly. Total exposure: 1/10th second.

Ferris Wheel: I had to go back and look at images captured just before and just after this shot to know which ride it was. I just swirled the camera towards the colorful lights. Total exposure: .8 second.

Freak Out: I was using a Wimberly Sidekick mounted to my tripod. I locked the pan lever down, but left the up and down knob loose. For this shot, I clicked then raised the lens upward over the period of the exposure. This opens the door for locking the up and down and panning side to side. Next year… Total exposure: 1 second.

Vertigo: This is a six second exposure of a fast spinning ride. Total exposure: 6 seconds.

Ferris Wheel: For this image, I zoomed into an area of the hub of the wheel. I clicked the shutter and held still for the first part of the exposure, then zoomed out, stopping again to get the two sets of circles with connecting lines. Total exposure: .8 second.

Ferris Wheel: This shot has both a zoom and a spin. Total exposure: .6 second.

Ferris Wheel: Zoom, twist, and move! The new LED light package ran through a series of patterns and color changes. All I had to do was learn the sequence, then wait for my favorite colors to come around again. Total exposure: .8 second.

Zipper: I jiggled the camera as the hub of the ride spun. 1 second

Zipper: Similar to some of the other shots, I just spun the camera during the exposure. Effects are somewhat controllable by experimenting with the speed of the spin and duration of the exposure. Total exposure: 1/5th second.

Sizzler: More spinning. Total exposure: .8 second.

Vertigo: Back to where I started. I angled the vertical post and exposed for a long exposure to let the chairs streak across the image. Total exposure: .8 second.

If you already read the sister post to this one, you’d know I kept over a thousand images from three or four nights of shooting at the fair this year. I deleted quite a few of them on the first pass, but I had trouble wanting to delete the rest. I can’t possibly show them all here, but you should get a good idea of what I was going for this year. The fair ended following the last Figure 8 event on a Sunday night. In most years, the crews broke the rides down and were driving out of town at day break. This year, they had a few extra days to get to their next fair so they took their time. I went to the fairgrounds to take a few photos of the rides, some of which were fully packed and some somewhere in the process. An official looking guy came out when he saw me taking photos. Turns out he was the manager of Frazier Shows. Next year, he said I could ride the Ferris Wheel and they’d stop it with me at the top to allow me to take photos from up there shooting down. I can hardly wait!

Author: Mike Jackson