On Thursday morning we held a studio session from 8:00 to noon. Then we headed to the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort for a ride up the new 32 million dollar tram. The tram takes you up over 4,000 vertical feet in 8 minutes to the top of Rendevous Mountain at close to 11,000 feet. This is the major ski resort in the area, and one of the best in the world. The air was thin and cool at the top, and there was lots of snow still around. We had fun throwing snowballs at John who was trying to take our group portrait. We spent almost 2 hours at the top just exploring the high alpine landscape and breathtaking 360 degree views. You can see seven different mountain ranges from the peak.

We were all very hungry after traipsing around for a few hours at 11,000 feet and headed to Nora's Fish Creek Inn in nearby Wilson, Wyoming for a group dinner. The tasty buffalo burgers were a popular choice.

In the evening, we had a visiting artist presentation by Jon Stuart, Director of the Photography Program at the Center for the Arts. Jon has a long history in the field, including being an assistant to Ansel Adams, and running his own camera store for over 10 years. He shared prints from a couple of different bodies of work and talked about his motivations as an artist. The students had lots of questions about technique and process, and it was nice to hear him say in the end that it wasn't the equipment, but the vision that makes a photographer successful.