My name is Marty Hulsebos and I've been a passionate landscape photographer since the late 1980's.
On this photo trek, I had one goal: to photograph the Grand Tetons like they’d never been captured before. I wanted a shot that made people feel the wild spirit of the mountains and see them in a way that felt new. The task wasn’t easy; dense fog had rolled in, and it smothered the landscape, wrapping everything in a thick, damp blanket. Most people would have waited it out, maybe even given up, but I was determined to succeed no matter the odds.
I drove my truck for miles along the winding roads of Grand Teton National Park, scanning for any spot where I might catch a glimpse of the peaks. The air was filled with the fresh scent of pine and moist earth, almost thick enough to taste. It was still; the silence broken only by the occasional caw of a raven or the crunch of gravel under my tires. The coolness of the air bit at my face, crisp with a hint of that alpine chill.
But each time I thought I’d found a view, the fog pressed down, a relentless gray wall. It was everywhere, clinging to the trees, swallowing the valleys, and masking the mountains. Frustration gnawed at me, but I kept going, knowing that giving up now would be giving up on the vision I’d dreamed of capturing.
Then, as I rounded a curve by a large lake, something shifted. It hit me—I didn’t need to fight the fog. It wasn’t an obstacle; it was part of the scene, a character in this landscape. I pulled over, jumped out, and saw something I hadn’t expected. The mountains stood in shadowy blue beyond the lake, barely visible, as if they were just a dream of stone. The sun, hidden below the horizon, cast a warm glow across the sky, infusing the fog with soft pastel colors—peach, lavender, and pale gold. It was like a painting, delicate and fleeting.
With trembling hands, I set up my camera and framed the shot. The fog softened the Tetons, giving them a mysterious, almost otherworldly beauty. In that moment, I knew I’d captured them in a way that was uniquely mine, different from any photo I’d seen. It was as though the mountains were revealing a secret, just for me, in that gentle, hazy light.
As I pressed the shutter, I knew: this was the shot I’d been searching for.
