Page 47 of Capture the Moment

Frankie wandered along the creek bank, stopping now and then to bend down. He straightened up and turned around. “Found it!” He came back to where Coop stood and held out his open palm. In it was a shell.

“Nice work,” Coop said, growing more impressed with the kid. He pulled out his cell phone and tried to call Tim Rivers. “Dead zone. I should’ve brought the radio.” He took pictures of the scene and checked coordinates on his phone. “I think Tim said he was going to be at Mormon Row today. We’ll head over there and let him know what we found.” So much for his peaceful day off.

Frankie frowned, confusion written all over his face. “What is Mormon Row? Because I’m not going to any church service.”

“Follow me and I’ll educate you.” Coop gestured for Frankie to follow as he headed back toward the narrow path that led down the hillside. Frankie trailed behind.

Once the terrain leveled so they could walk side by side on the trail, Coop launched into his impromptu history lesson. “Alright, Frankie, let me tell you about Mormon Row. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a bunch of Mormon settlers came here looking to start a new life. They built these sturdy log cabins and barns and set up farms, thinking they could make it big in the Wild West. But boy, were they in for a surprise.”

Frankie nodded, seeming intrigued. “What happened to ’em?”

“The winters here are brutal,” Coop said, glancing at Frankie to gauge his interest. “Snow piled up like you wouldn’t believe. Probably a lot like this winter had been.” He gestured to snow under a tree. “It was tough for those folks to survive, let alone thrive. Some of them gave up and headed for greener pastures, but others stuck it out. They figured out ways to tough it out,growing crops, raising cattle, and making do with what they had. Nowadays, you can still see some of those old cabins standing tall, like the Moulton Barn.”

“What’s the Moulton Barn?”

This kid surprised Coop with his wilderness knowledge, but he still had a lot to learn about the park’s history with people. “The Moulton Barn is probably one of the most photographed sites in the entire Grand Teton National Park.”

“A barn?” He scoffed. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. It’s kind of ... poetic, I guess. It reminds me of the grit and determination those settlers had.” Coop finished his impromptu history lesson, feeling pleased with himself. He picked up his pace, eager to get to his truck. Frankie kept up, not saying anything, and Coop assumed he’d probably grown bored.

But as they reached the truck and climbed in, Coop noticed Frankie didn’t automatically reach for his earbuds to listen to music. Instead, he said, “I could’ve survived back then.”

Coop couldn’t help but grin. “Think so?”

“Know so,” Frankie said with a scoff.

Yep, Coop had definitely hooked him. Finding a way to engage Frankie wasn’t all that different from teaching in the classroom. He just needed to find the right angle.

Kate sat at the desk in her room at Jackson Lake Lodge, carefully examining each photograph she’d taken this morning after downloading her camera’s memory card onto her computer. In one photograph, a white egret took flight off the still-as-glass Snake River. Kate frowned. It was a slightly fuzzy white egret. That moment could not have been more perfect. Her skills as a wildlife photography were so ... imperfect.

Scrolling through, she felt her frustration grow. Amateurs wouldn’t even notice the flaws, but she was painfully awareof how these pictures revealed her inexperience with wildlife photography. One glaring error was misjudging the lighting conditions, resulting in overexposed shots that washed out the vibrant colors of the birds she’d been so excited to capture. Another mistake was not adjusting her camera settings quickly enough when the birds took flight, leading to images that lacked the sharpness she had envisioned, like the egret.

To make matters worse, Kate realized she had chosen the wrong lens for some of the shots, resulting in a lack of magnification and detail in her subjects. As she clicked through the photos, each one highlighting a different mistake, she felt a sickening disappointment settle in her chest. She’d put so much pressure on herself this week to capture stunning images, like those she’d seen from the seasoned professionals at the park with whom she rubbed elbows each day. Now, faced with her own serious shortcomings, with an impending time limitation from theNational Geographiceditor, she couldn’t help but question her abilities.

Should she even be here? Maybe the zoowaswhere she belonged.

With a sigh, Kate closed her eyes and leaned back, taking a moment to collect her thoughts. She reminded herself that mistakes were a natural part of the learning process. “Each one has a lesson to teach,” she said to herself. She gave her head a shake. It was time for a change. She took a pad of paper and pen from the desk drawer to make notes on each picture, to identify the mistakes she’d made. Later today, she’d try out different settings on her camera and practice with different lenses.

Reinvigorated, she scrolled back to the first picture of the day, to the egret. She was focusing so intently that she jumped when her phone buzzed. Oliver’s name flashed at the top of the screen. She hesitated for a moment before answering, bracing herself for the conversation she knew was coming.

“Hey, Oliver,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady.

“Kate! I’ve been trying to reach you.” His tone was tinged with relief. “What’s going on? Why haven’t you returned my calls?”

She felt a pang of guilt at his words, knowing that she’d been avoiding his calls and messages for the last day or so. “I’m sorry, Oliver. I’ve been out in the field nonstop.” True.

“Out in the field?” Oliver repeated, as if she had used a foreign phrase.

“Well, that’s where the wildlife is.”

“I don’t understand why it’s taking so long to get your picture. Hasn’t that bear showed up yet?”

“No, she hasn’t.” There was an unmistakable tinge of annoyance in her voice.

“And no one else has spotted it? No rangers? None of the other photographers? You’re absolutely sure?”

“Of course I’m sure.”

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