James shares his experience working in the field with the RF200-800 Zoom Lens.

Elk May Safely Graze, Last Light. Yes, I know it is supposed to be 'Sheep.'


Signal Mountain at Sunrise, Why is There NEVER Anyone There at Sunrise??

In preparation for my climb up the Grand with my friend, John, I decided to fly out a few days early and do 'the usual set' with someone who had never been to the West before. Nothing turns the 'usual set' into something new more quickly than when you get to be there with someone who has never seen them before. Not only do you get to seem like you really know stuff.......but there is a reason why so many of us turn on our radios from the songs of our childhood and blast them on repeat. Those best of hits are best of hits for a reason. That is how I feel about going to the Tetons. It catapults me back in time to my photographic awakening. In 1996, I went out there with my dad and my mind was blown by the scale of everything. The sky was huge. The mountains were huge. The animals were huge. I was tiny and insignificant and my eyes and brain was a sponge. It can be anxiety producing when you realize you really are not that important. The world will continue to spin if you are on it or not.


Taggert Lake Waterfall


Oxbow Bend at Sunset, Love that Purple...so Passionate.

As we get older routine becomes the order of the day. That's life. We have livings to make and many of us have spouses and/or children and other things that just need to be cared for and are long term projects. You focus on the things you need to focus on in order to have stuff. I can see how it is so easy to take things for granted. Our relationships. Our jobs. Our health. Everything becomes a given and just something to be maintained. Sometimes the very things that give life meaning becomes chores to be cared for. Essentially you wind up living for something else besides yourself, and while many people are ultimately able to find that transformational it takes a lot of emotional growth to find liberation in the finalities and restrictions of our day to day lives. I can see how we give short shrift to the many significant parts of our lives.


Jenny Lake at Sunrise


Grand off the Highway

So you ask...why do we all willingly get ourselves into these situations? Why do we recreate the same types of relationships over and over? Why do we allow ourselves to get sucked into systems that determine for us how we are to live our lives? Sigmund Freud, the godfather of psychoanalytic thought posited the concept of something called the "Repetition Compulsion." He believed that people tend to engage in the same sorts of behaviors and relationships over and over in order to gain mastery of past traumas and to find a sense of comfort and predictability. The reason for this urge is something that we are not always aware of - it is instinctual. Now, let's be clear - my trips to the Tetons are not sparked in any negativity. They are joyous, not painful.


Grand off the Highway - Take II


The Absarokas??? Oxbow Bend, the Wrong Direction at Sunset.... Oh My!! This is what I am referring to a Double Sunset...Two Amazing Images, just opposite directions.

So if I am admitting up front that my thesis is flawed, why am I continuing to wax whimsically about the subject as to why I have liked to go to the same places to photograph?? That is fair — but hang in there with me. All of this is actually really pertinent and not just the ravings of a madman as to why I keep going back to see those mountains. While the idea of the Repetition Compulsion was built out of finding ways of resolving trauma, the concept still illuminates something very profound in this use case: repetition can feel comforting, grounding and even transformative. I want to be able to say I have mastered it photographically. I love the sense of predictability and knowing what lies around the corner. I really have been there and done that, and nothing brings that front and center more than when you go with someone who has never been before. Ooohh. Full circle! LOL. Maybe that’s why Freud’s idea of ‘repetition compulsion’ sticks in my mind — his belief that we return to patterns to make sense of them.


Mount Moran at Sunset - Double Sunset, People!!


Sheep Mountain, During the Storm

This article is about finding ways to keep old things new and exciting. When you have a relationship (either real or metaphorical) you need to find ways to continuously make it something you have not seen before, even if you have seen it every day since last Tuesday. That was the original point of the climb up Grand Teton from the very beginning. I want to keep my relationship with the Tetons fresh and exciting - I want to know it in a way that I never knew it. But let's be honest...there are lots of ways to do that. You don't need to climb the mountain in order to find new ways to appreciate it. Smaller activities can yield just as great results. You can keep these relationships new by doing simple things - like injecting small doses of variety during the trip. While we stayed in the confines of the park, we tried to expand our senses and savor the more physical experiences of being there. For example, John and I photographed Grand from the highway trying to capture it at peak like from a 'new' vantage point for us. We hiked the easy back country areas. Yes. We also hiked UP the Grand to the best of our ability and while that was awesome what was amazing was not really the climb. The thing that was amazing was learning to conquer fear and my own body's limitations. Maybe that’s the real point: we don’t repeat to stay stuck, we repeat to grow. Each return gives us a chance to master something new — a mountain, a photograph, or even just ourselves. That is why I keep returning to the places that matter. Sometimes for comfort. Sometimes to challenge ourselves. Always to find something I didn’t notice the first time...

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Please remember that the text and all images in this article are (c) 2025, James Morrissey. The images listed as (c) John Ungereanu were licensed to NWPphotoForum as part of this article.