A drive through the Wind River Canyon is arguably the most beautiful ride through a canyon in Wyoming, or anywhere for that matter.  I live here, and have driven the Wind River Canyon countless thousands of times, in everything from a motorcycle to a rear engine sports car at crazy speeds late at night, yet I always see something new that amazes me; something wonderful. 

     When I was a teenager, long ago now, I knew an old woman that was wise and true.  She told us stories about life in Wyoming during the early 20th century, and the stories seemed a long way off from what I knew Wyoming, Wind River Canyon, Chimney RockChimney Rock in beautiful Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. growing up in the burbs of Cleveland.  She remembered coming through the Wind River Canyon in a wagon when she was a child.  The story she told us, seemed to me, to be from an old western movie; it took several days to navigate the treacherously narrow "goat path" in those days.  In fact, a family that resided in the Wind River Canyon raised goats!  But then, as now, Chimney Rock was the mid-point in the ride through the Canyon.  

     I received a new extraordinary lens this week, and have been testing it out around the Canyon.  I'd always wanted to photograph Chimney Rock in black and white; something outrageous.  This picture was shot in a RAW file in color first, and worked on in Canon Digital Photo Professional.  I gave the colors a little extra boost, and pushed the sharpness farther than I would for wildlife.  Then off it went to another software, Lightroom 5 by Adobe, where I worked it in my favorite high contrast black and white.  In a 16-bit file I have 65,000 shades of grey to work with, how many are in this photo of Chimney Rock is your guess.  All I know is that the light was right early Thursday morning, and the lens is perfect.