First, Light

At one point in our conversation, David C. Schultz said, "I just got back from 1200 miles of driving, and all I got out of it was a couple of shots of my dog."

Though Koda (no, not for Kodachrome; it's the Dakota Sioux word for friend) is certainly photogenic, she was not the subject David had in mind when he set out on the trip. But what he said reveals the key to his photography: the persistent pursuit of the right light.

David exhibits and sells his limited edition fine art photography in his Park City, Utah, gallery, West Light Images. He also offers local workshops and often serves as photographer in residence on expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica. "I always emphasize to workshop people, and people who come in the gallery, how long it may take me to get a single shot," he says. He points out that one particular photo took four years of visits to the same spot to capture just the right light. "It's not just jump out of the car and there's the pretty mountain. One year I spent five or six days and got only miserable weather."

With ten national parks within a six-hour drive of his home, David has no shortage of opportunities, but the truth is that even in the Grand Tetons, the light can be boring... or, simply, just too harsh.

"All too often I see beginners going out photographing wildflowers or fall colors and they're shooting on bright, sunny days, and details are getting washed out. I tell them, go out after it's rained, or on an overcast day, or in the early morning. It's a question of finding the right light for whatever you want to do, and for every picture, there is the right light." David says that it took him a while to get the message. "When I came out to Utah, I'd go to these beautiful places, come back and look at the pictures and think, well, okay, nice documentation of a pretty place. The pictures came up considerably short of what I was shooting for. I'd think, why do the photographs in magazines and books look so good? And then finally it clicked: you've got to wait for Mother Nature to do her thing."

Visit David's gallery of images at www.westlight.net.