A little over a month ago, my wife, dog, and I went on a backpacking trip into Titcomb Basin, located in Wyoming’s Wind River range. Last year we had all visited Cirque of the Towers in the Winds, and this year we wanted to try something different. It is a 32 mile, round trip, high elevation trek into some of the most beautiful country I have even been. The way in was divided up into 2 days. On the second day, we reached the beginning of the basin and camped at a beautiful little tarn. I woke up early and shot the below image about a mile or so into Titcomb Basin from our campsite.
The third day, we hiked deep into the basin and camped at the base of Upper Titcomb Lake.
From here, I was able to hike back to the previous area, or hike up to the base of the peaks seen off in the distance. For the next few evenings I tried my luck at some decent light up there, and was finally rewarded on my last night with the image seen at the beginning of this post. We had a great time exploring the area, and as it is with most places like this, I can’t wait to go back some day and do some more.
While our trip was a happy one, we’ll always remember it for something very sad that happened there. We were told before heading up that a search for a missing hiker was under way. Each day we watched the helicopters search high into the craggy mountains surrounding us, until, on the fifth day, the helicopters stopped. We were hoping that this meant they had found the hiker alive, but we learned later that unfortunately he had passed away. James “Randy” Udall was a lifelong outdoorsman and a passionate environmentalist. By all accounts he was a really great guy. You can read more about him and his life of working for environmental causes here.
While I was out photographing on the sixth day, I discovered a cross made out of rocks in a remote area. Later we found out that that was right around where his body was found. I’m not sure if this was related in any way, but I thought it was beautiful and moving.
More of my work can be viewed here.
Many techniques used on these images are demonstrated in my image editing videos available here.
Location: Spokane, Washington
Website: www.chipphillipsphotography.com
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Chip Phillips began his relationship with photography in 2006 when his father gave him his old Pentax Spotmatic film SLR camera. Chip was immediately hooked and soon made the transition to digital. Given his lifelong love of the outdoors, he naturally made the progression to focusing on landscape photography. A professionally trained classical musician, Chip also performs as Principal Clarinet with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, and is Adjunct Professor of Clarinet at Gonzaga University. Chip resides in Spokane Washington with his wife and son.
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