Welcome back to the 2nd edition of 'Off The Trail!'
In this series, we feature the hobbies, professions, and causes that Trail Butter Pros dedicate time to pursuing. These passions fall outside TB Pros' competitive goals and aspirations, stoking a different fire, whether professional or otherwise, providing balance & fulfillment beyond their roles as high-performing athletes & adventurers.
Here we welcome Joe Grant to share his black and white photography often captured within a short distance from his front door in Colorado, with accompanying prose from Joe himself. Enjoy!
The southern heart of the Weminuche wilderness is a day’s walk from home. I left at dawn on the eve of the Strawberry moon to spend a few nights under the stars and welcome the onset of summer. The monsoonal flow seemed to come early this season, saturating the earth with an illusion of abundance. I found a dry nook to bed down beneath a ponderosa.
I woke to more rain, damp feathers and wool, and the sound of Needle creek pumping at high flow down valley. The path to Mt. Eolus blurred in fog and graupel. Only as I gained the apex of the ridge did the god of the winds unveil.
I reached for my rangefinder aligning the scene into focus. Cloud and stone met at the center. Time paused for a split second as the shutter clicked.
Photography is the art of anticipating a moment worth remembering. It’s an act of presence, of instant and deferred gratification. It’s a gift that keeps on giving, an immersive experience, a sharpening of the senses, an attunement to light and subject. Photography is an act of imagination, of feeling the mood and character of a place, and waiting patiently for a memory to form.
Enjoy more of Joe's work here.