When Tyler Shaum set out photographing Glacier National Park, he was hoping to find some of the magic he had heard about from so many others.

Although he had visited the park once before, it had been during the drizzly, cloudy stretch of spring before Glacier’s Going-to-the-Sun Road had opened for the summer months. This time around, Tyler was greeted by Montana’s changing leaves, clear skies, and landscapes begging to be explored.

His favorite moment came during his last night in Glacier. He drove out to the edge of Lake McDonald on the western side of the park and sat along the shoreline for hours until, finally, the faint streaks of the Northern Lights appeared on the horizon. Tyler grabbed his camera, set it on a 15-second timer, and watched, amazed by the phenomena he had been chasing for the past few years.

“To say that I did a happy dance on the beach right then and there would be an understatement,” he admitted.

For Tyler, photographing the great outdoors and its wildlife is incredibly difficult, but rewarding because of the uncertainty that comes with it: you never know what you are going to run into. One day you might see a herd of mountain goats, the next a grizzly bear, and other days you may not find anything but silence.

Every day is different.

Which is exactly why Tyler can’t wait to visit the park again next year.

Tyler Shaum is a photographer based in Spokane, WA. He picked up photography as a hobby in 2013 and has loved it ever since. Tyler’s main body of work is travel and landscape photography, including projects with nonprofits in Greece and Uganda, but he also works as a wedding photographer in his spare time. To see more of his work, visit his website or Instagram.