Beneath Yellowstone’s thousands of square miles of mountains, pine forests, lakes, and rivers lies a vast volcanic system—one that has given rise to more than ten thousand thermal features across the park. The most striking of these is the Grand Prismatic Spring.

The word “prismatic” comes from the Greek stem prisma, meaning “separated or distributed as if by a prism.” The color separation in Grand Prismatic Spring results from a temperature gradient that gives life to different types of thermophiles. Orange, brown, and green microorganisms thrive in the cooler waters around the spring's outer edges, while the yellow and colorless species survive in higher temperatures. At nearly 200°F, the spring's center is too hot for most of these heat-lovers, leaving the clear water that reflects the vivid cobalt blue we see.

Photographing landscapes comes with its own challenges—but capturing images thousands of feet in the sky presents a few new ones.

There's no good way to prepare for leaning out of a helicopter at 120 miles per hour, shooting straight down as the wind blasts your arms backward. A fast shutter speed—typically an afterthought with landscapes—suddenly becomes paramount. At altitude, colder air and gloves restrict the second-nature handling of the camera.

When we reached Grand Prismatic, the pilot tilted the nimble R-44, angling us directly over the cauldron below. I knew I wanted to include people in the photograph—not just for scale, but to add a touch of realism to what otherwise feels like an abstract painting. From this height, they're mere specks, dwarfed by the canvas of heat and color.

I returned that afternoon with hundreds of photographs. Different angles, different details, different compositions, all revealing what the ground cannot.

This is the one that's lingered