[ARTIST STATEMENT] this highly stylized shot happened while returning from a 4000-mile motorcycle trip.  Most of the time during the trip the smoke from fires in the West reduced visibility to less than 1/4 mile (400m).  It was both hard on the lungs as well as hard to get a good shot.  On this particular day, we had ridden some 400. miles and were nearing the end of the journey for that day.  I have been to Snake River Overlook three times.  So I knew what it should look like when we got there.  Nope. 

When we arrived the smoke was so thick that the Tetons were barely visible behind a backlit haze of smoke.  Making exposure tricky.  Expose for the mountains and the foreground goes black.  Expose for the foreground and the mountains disappear.  I chose to go in between.  Knowing that I could use ADOBE Lightroom like I used to use both film developer and an enlarger.  Mask or burn the areas that I wanted to feature and have enough of a dynamic range of tones in the RAW file to manipulate. 

So, yes.  This shot is highly stylized, but it is exactly how I had it in my head before I clicked the shutter.  It just took a few more processes to get it that way this time.  Nature and light don't always agree with your creative expectations. :)