T.L. Mair Fine Art Photography

Evening at Indian Springs Clouds silently drift across the evening sky. The warm yellows of autumn reflect in the calm waters of Indian Springs near Jackson Wyoming. And a pair of Trumpeter Swans warm themselves in the fading light. Soon the sun will set on Autumn, the leaves will fall, the snows will come and winter will overtake this small pond clogging it with ice. More swans will come to visit and this pond will be alive will wildfowl. Ducks, Geese, and of course, the swans call this place home for the winter.      Indian Springs nestles at the base of Boyle's Hill and is part of the Wyoming Wetlands Society. The pond can be found just a few miles west of the Maverik Store on South Park Loop Rd at the south end of the City of Jackson Wyoming. If you find yourself in Jackson in the winter it is well worth the drive out to take a look.            The Wyoming Wetlands Society was set up to help improve the nesting opportunit...

A Cool Drink - Mandarin Drake You can smell the decaying leaves signaling the changing of the seasons. A lone Mandarin Drake duck sneaks from his hiding place in the thick timbers to take a drink of the cool waters that soon will be frozen over. He's still wearing his full breeding plumage of brown, buff, purple and green. With just the right amount of white to accent the striking colors. He stops and looks around, making sure there are no predators then takes a quick drink and disappears back into the wood-lot he calls home...at least for the summer. Mandarin Ducks are native to Asia, however, due to their beautiful colors, they have become popular throughout the world, where they adorn many ponds and waterways. This fine specimen was photographed at a secluded waterway in Utah. Mandarin Ducks are a close cousin to the American wood duck, sharing many of their habits including nesting in trees. During mating season they can be seen flashing their beautiful hoo...

Sunset Storm, Haystack Rock, Canon Beach, Oregon Coast I know it's been a few weeks since I posted, but sometimes life gets in the way and what should have been a couple of days turns into a couple of weeks, and before you know it you're lost. Such was the month of July, with a trip to Moab Utah, a trip to Oregon for a stay on the beach, and a family wedding, then home to a family reunion. Of course it rained, nothing new, it rains every time my wife and I take a trip to the coast, a few years ago we took a trip to Washington state, right in the middle of a long drought, yep it rained every day we were there, Your welcome Washington, not complaining, some of the best things I've seen and was able to photograph were because of rain storms. When we drove into Portland it was a nice sunny day, beautiful weather the entire drive from Utah, I was thinking what a great trip, there will be a few fluffy white clouds over the great Pacific ocean, the sun will set with...

Rushing Waters - Upper Provo River High up in the Uinta mountains of Utah there is a road called the "Mirror Lake Highway" this highway connects the mountain town of Kamas Utah to Evanston Wyoming by way of the Uinta mountains. The Mirror lake highway winds her way up through the Uinta mountains, passing many small lakes and streams, some you have to hike to like Fehr lake, and Washington lake, others like Butterfly lake, Lost lake, and Pass lake to name just a few can be seen and accessed right from the highway, and of course Mirror Lake which is where the highway gets her name, all beautiful. It is in these mountains that the famous Smith Morehouse trail begins, you can still walk, or ride horses along this trail, taking you to many other lakes, such as Duck lake, and Island lake. The Highway also follows the beginnings of the Provo river, up in these mountains the river is nothing more than a large stream, gaining water from other streams it becomes a rushin...

Clearing Storm Over Timpanogos High up in the Wasatch mountains of Utah, part of the Rocky Mountains there is a mountain that Lords over all the other mountains, and the valleys in the area, this mountains is Called Timpanogos, the legend of Timpanogos says that an Indian maiden named Ucanogos  went into the mountain to kill herself because she could not be with her young brave Timpanac, when she got there she could not do it, but word of her planned demise reached young Timpanac and he went looking for her, when he could not find her he leaped to his death, Ucanogos upon finding her love perished on the mountain jumped with him, and the mountain is named for the two of them, and when you look at the profile of the mountain you can see, after having it pointed out to you the image of a person laying dead.  In another version the names are Utahna, and Red Feather, the great God is Timpanogos, but the outcome is basically the same. Sounds a little Shakespeare...

The Face of Tatanka One of the most fascinating animals on the planet, to me at least is the American Bison, we commonly call this guy a Buffalo. The Lakota call him Tatanka, a name which means " The one who controls us " because the Native Americans relied on this huge beast for the lives, he gave them food, and clothing in the way of Bison blankets, and robes, so in a sense he controlled them. I just wanted to tell a couple of stories from encounters that I have had with these beautiful animals. On one occasion my family decided to take a motorcycle trip to Yellowstone, two of my sons and I would ride the bikes to Victor Idaho, the place we stayed during the trip, and my wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law would ride in our van then get on the bikes for the trip into the park, we were traveling north on the upper loop road, highway 89 when traffic stopped, in Yellowstone when traffic stops you know there is an animal near the road, maybe it would be a bear, c...

Twisted Cedar Arches National Park My son and I had planned a trip to Moab Utah, a place made up of slick rock, and a playground for ATV enthusiasts, but that's not why we were headed there, not this time. My son Paul had never been to that part of the country, not since he was old enough to remember, and he was anxious to see it, and I was excited to return and see it again. I left Midway Utah, headed for Provo to pick up my son on the way, when I got to Provo it was a blizzard, and foggy, not exactly what we wanted for traveling, but undaunted we drove on, as we ventured further south the snow began to lift giving way to rain, at one point on Utah 89 we seen a Brinks armored truck which had lost a rear axle, I bet that was n interesting ride, the guards where gone and I suspect so was the money, hope they took it and not someone else! When we arrived at Moab it was raining hard, and the sky was dark and bleak, I did not hold out much hope for good photographic weather...

Kiva Ruins - Cold Spring Cave A few years ago my son and I decided to take a trip to Arches national park, in south central Utah. We loaded up the Suburban and away we went in the middle of a late winter blizzard, as we moved south from Midway Utah towards Arches the snow slowly began to turn to rain, the sky was bleak, and gray, I wondered to myself what I was thinking to take a trip this time of year. Once we arrived at the motel in Moab and checked in we decided to take a ride up to the park, the heavy rain had created waterfalls from the hanging canyons, and plateaus of the slick rock, they were interesting but the light was flat, and dark, and just nothing for good photographs, so I  left the camera in the bag, and we just drove around, then decided to go back to the hotel. When morning came we woke to find freezing temps and snow, but the sun was shining and it was beautiful!! We packed up and headed back to Arches, the red rock in the white snow was ...

Little Deer Creek Autumn High up in the Wasatch mountains of Utah, near the Cascade Springs main parking lot you will find a dirt road that follows the Provo Deer Creek as she makes her way to the Provo river and on to Utah Lake. This beautiful little stream, home to wild brook trout, carries needed water from the beautiful Cascade Springs which is part of the National forest service, to the plants and wildlife that live here. Beautiful in every season of the year this area is particularly beautiful in the autumn, yellow, gold, red, and orange decorate the canyon, and the banks of the stream where beautiful dogwoods grow, turning red, and orange in the autumn. At certain times of the year you will find Moose, and deer watering and feeding along the stream, taking advantage of the lush plants that grow along the banks. The canyon walls are steep, and not a lot of sunlight makes its way to the canyon floor except at high noon, making this a cool pleasant place to ...

Into the Forest Horizontal - Redwood National Forest A couple of years ago we decided to make a real trip out to northern California. We booked a small home in Crescent City California through VRBO, if you’ve  never Herd of VRBO, Vacation Rentals By Owner, check them out, we have used them several Times, they are our go to when we travel, you get a home all to yourself, or your family, they  Come in large and small sizes so finding the perfect place is easy and if you shop you Can find a nice place with all the amenities for about the cost of a motel.  we booked a home about a block away from the beach, with a great view Of Battery Point Lighthouse from our kitchen window. Traveling from north central Utah to Northern California can be done in one shot If you’re intrepid, we are not that gung ho on driving so we stayed the first night in Reno NV. then got up early in the morning and headed out on “The loneliest Highway In America”  we...

First Snow Jackson from Teton Pass This year we took a trip to the Teton valley of Idaho hopping to catch the autumn colors in that part of the country, and Yellowstone National Park, the colors were in full swing, but as luck would have it the weather was dark, gray, and the skies were overcast, and it rained off and on, since the weather was bad and the clouds hung low over the mountains that surround the valley we decided to take a trip over the Teton pass, and into Jackson.  As we traveled up the pass through patches of fog, it had snowed through the night,  and there were a few places where the road was slick, traffic moved slowly up the winding road through the thick patches of fog and snow covered turns. As we neared the top the fog began to clear, and there was a little sun trying to break through the clouds that hung over the Teton mountains. As the sun pierced the clouds, and glided across the valley floor you could see the late autumn colors ...

                                                    Split Mountain Sunset Recently we had to opportunity to visit the Uinta basin near Vernal Utah, I have been to Vernal several times in my life, but always to visit the dinosaur national monument, and never took the time to look around the area and those places are worth seeing at least once in your lifetime. On this visit though I was on a photographic mission, we had considered going to canyon lands in southern Utah, but upon finding that every other person had the same idea, we could not get a motel room, so my wife suggested Vernal, we hadn’t been there for quite a few years, don’t know what could have changed, it’s just dinosaur bones, and rocks, right? On our way out of Vernal the morning after we arrived I noticed a bunch of billboards that said things like “Split Mountain Motel” ...

. The Beauty of Nature Here is another example of a file that could have easily been deleted, we are just now getting to the end of autumn in my area, but this is not an image from a month ago, this image sat on my computer hard drive for 11 years, each time I looked at it I wondered what I was thinking, then decided that I must have been thinking something, but what? As we learn new techniques it opens up new possibilities, but new techniques is not enough, perhaps our vision changes, we see new possibilities for old subjects. I think this is one of those old subjects, we have not had a real vibrant autumn for a few years, some years when it is good the colors only last for a few days, maybe a couple of weeks, other times it lasts for a month or longer, and who knows why. Back when I did a ton of portraits autumn was always the hot time of year, everyone wanted their portraits done in the fall colors, I would spend hours scouting locations that would work for different sized...

Timp over Sandy Baker Pass It was cold when we left the house, even colder once we arrived at the parking lot high up in the Wasatch mountains of Utah. My sons and I had planned on doing a morning elk hunt,  we packed what we needed, and only what we needed, because of that I decided to leave my tripod at home, never a good idea, but one it seams that is always made when you know you’re going to be hiking where the air is thin, and the hills are steep. We made our way in the dark up and around  a short section of the Great western trail, suitable only for foot traffic, and mountain bikes, not even elk use the trail as it turns out. I will admit I had to stop several times along the hike to rest and catch my breath. Yes it’s steep, and I am not as young, or in shape as I used to be, oh the ravages of time, once near the top, and almost on what is known as “The Ant Knolls” we stopped to take a break, I guess the hike was wearing on all of us by that time. A...

The Old Bull\ A few years ago my son Jason, and I took a road trip to Yellowstone National Park, we loaded up my old 1974 Chevrolet Corvette, which as it turns out isn’t the most comfortable car to travel in. Our plan was to take a tent, and sleeping bags, and stay at KOA campgrounds as we went, after all we had done this in the past riding on motorcycles. The first night we stayed in Victor ID. We got there, found the campground, and set up our tent, went into town to find something to eat, and returned to the campground, expecting to get at least some what of a good nights rest. It was terrible! The only thing we could figure is you get beat up a lot more traveling in a 1974 corvette, with those hip hugging seats than you do riding on a motorcycle, we never slept well, and everything hurt. The next morning my son called his wife, and had her book a cabin at the next stop which was in Cody Wy. Our plan was to travel through Yellowstone from the south entrance, go out the...

Wall Street Subway Station Last year my son and I took a trip to New York , hoping to see the fall colors. We waited until the end of October since that is when we read the fall colors came on, turns out last year was a late year for fall colors, plus we got there right in the middle of a hurricane. We never had to stay indoors, but we got rained on every day, and the sun never shined, cloudy, and overcast when it wasn't raining. and the light was way to flat for good photography. We took the subway everywhere we went, then walked to the various locations we wanted to see. The subway system is very efficient in New York , almost as good as the system in Washington DC . The only complaint I had about the subway is in Queens , where we stayed someone had made the elevator to one of the stops their private restroom. Even though the weather was bad, the light was bad, and the elevator restroom experience was bad, I loved New York , it was a trip I wouldn't...

Calm Waters On the last day of our Washington trip, my wife and I stayed at a hotel in Seattle so we could be near the airport for our flight home, we decided to take a drive along the Alki  Avenue to Alki beach, the avenue, runs along the south side of Elliott bay, from this highway you can get a decent view of the Seattle skyline. Once we got to the beach, and found a place to park the car, we got out and started to walk, and check out the beach, and surrounding territory. It is a nice beach, with cement steps that lead to the bay, I would imagine so people can go wading, or perhaps swimming, there was neither of those things going on because it was a little cold, we had gotten to Washington in the middle of a drought, but with the exception of a couple of days it rained the entire week that we were there. The wind was blowing, and the water was a little choppy, I set up the camera, and waited for the light to start changing, as I was waiting a local came by and tal...