it is always fun working with my friend, bonnie achariyakosol. she is the amazing designer behind br interior designs.
she created this room for a teenage girl that wanted a more grown up look, but still with fun accents and colors. perfectly done!
Tag Archives: andrew r. slaton
wyoming | last look at soda
as always, it was very hard for me to leave wyoming.
so i took a short tour of soda lake before starting my long drive home.
i was met by what felt like some old friends.
soda lake is usually the first and last place i visit when i’m in pinedale… i guess you could say a home away from home.
to sear an image like the one above in my brain before i leave is somehow therapeutic. looking at these photographs now, months later, makes me long to be back in the mountains.
but it also compels me to explore new landscapes… foreign territories. unfamiliar terrain.
and then i’m reminded that i’ll have that opportunity soon….
south sudan | seed effect
i shot this image a few years ago in beirut, lebanon.
it is a simple a detail of a wall, but for me it says a whole lot more.
the middle east is full of faceless, nameless people. the forgotten.
but it’s not just this part of the world that the forgotten call home…
which brings me to my point; Elle and i have been invited by Seed Effect to use our photography to help give faces and names to the forgotten in South Sudan, Africa.
The Seed Effect from Seed Effect on Vimeo.
we are giving our time and talents to Seed Effect because we believe in what they are doing, and we want to keep as much money in the hands of the Sudanese people as possible.
because of this, Elle and i are raising support to help pay for our travel expenses.
if you appreciate what Seed Effect does, and what we will be doing for them, please consider supporting our efforts with a tax deductible donation.
we also are holding a pre-sale for the Africa prints we’ll produce after the trip to benefit Seed Effect.
the proceeds from the print pre-sale will help with our out of pocket expenses, and will also go towards Seed Effect’s general fund.
visit the link below for more information.
please consider helping Seed Effect bring us along in january to give greater exposure to their cause through photography.
and please check back regularly throughout the weeks and months to come to follow along with us on our journey!
wyoming | elk hunt
i was incredibly excited to be invited on Mike and Ellen’s elk hunt at the end of my trip to wyoming in september.
at that point, Elle had to head home, so i spent the last 10 days mostly by myself in the wild. and of the last 3, my friends were kind enough to host me at hunting camp.
Jim also showed up. he and Mike go way back. and actually, he and i do too… randomly enough.
when i lived in pinedale in 2005, i tried my hand a few other jobs after quitting my job at the newspaper.
in this part of wyoming, everyone knows that able bodied folks can make a VERY good living roughnecking in the oil fields. even i was tempted by the high pay they were offering.
one problem though…. no experience. in steps Jim.
he runs a water well rig, which is very similar to the oil rigs out in the fields. and Jim was looking for a bit of help.
long story short, i apprenticed with Jim for one day. quickly realized i’m not the roughnecking type :)
but Jim was incredibly nice to this city slicker, and i will forever be grateful. he’s a good man.
buster found a good spot for a midday nap.
only the essentials… whiskey, guns….. and a broom?
unfortunately, there was still a fire ban… so we had to use camping ingenuity… thanks to Ellen, we were all warm.
when you’re at camp with Mike and Ellen, you’re not going to go hungry, that’s for sure. breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we ate like kings.
we woke up very early on opening day to get the horses ready…
it was a beautiful morning. but opening day is a tough day to spot animals… lots of other folks out looking for them too…
no luck. we searched all morning only to find that we may want to look for a new spot.
so we decided to take an evening drive down from our camp to scout a new location…
along the way, Jim spotted a few grouse…. mmm. dinner.
tastes like chicken. especially when smothered in bbq sauce…
we found a great spot. but we would need to return the next morning before dawn.
and on the way back… more grouse.
so we went back to our spot early the next morning, before sunrise. it was the day i would have to leave wyoming.
it turned out to be a great location… we saw several good bulls. but one thing that i learned about hunting is that you don’t always get to shoot, even when you see what you’re looking for.
we never got the right looks, or they were never close enough. the last thing a hunter wants is to wound an animal right before nightfall, or spoil the meat with a bad shot.
so we explored a bit… and found a moose family. a cow, calf, and bull popped out of the willows and we had a chance to see them on the move together. a real treat.
seeing the moose family was a nice way to wrap up the morning… but the sun was climbing higher, temperature rising. not a great time for hunting.
so i decided to say my goodbyes and get on the road.
i had a really long drive back. but my route took me back through pinedale, and for one last stop at soda lake.
wyoming | the bounty of autumn
it’s been said before that fall in the mountains is a magical time.
the leaves are changing, the temperature drops, and the animals are energized with hormones for mating season.
moose populations in wyoming are declining because of the growing wolf numbers, and i’ve been seeing less and less of them every year. so i was really excited to see a huge bull with two cows at our campground one morning when we woke up. the state has recently opened a limited hunting season for wolves. there are at least two lawsuits in the courts currently, brought on by environmentalist groups to challenge the state’s new policy.
because of the close proximity of fires, the sunrises were often very hazy but quite colorful.
i spent many days out on the river road looking for bugling bull elk. and i found plenty.
the bears were apparently out in full force. fall is the time when grizzlies and back bear are fattening up for the long winter ahead.
and grizzlies, in particular, are emboldened by the fact that hunters are out in full force and leaving their kills’ guts in the field. it can be a dangerous time.
but i didn’t even see one bear the entire month i was there… just lots of signs…
mornings on the river road were marked by bugling elk. they lead their harems up from the snake river to the high plains to strut at the foot of the tetons.
the evenings brought about the reverse. the bulls, some with new females won from rivals, made their way back to the safety of the tall grass, trees, and water along the snake.
bugling is one of my favorite sounds in the natural world. and spending the quiet times of my mornings and evenings listening to the haunting tune of elk replenished my soul.
autumn is a time of beginning and end. the leaves fall from their branches, but not before they take on colors rarely seen so bright in nature.
bitter cold wind blows in from the north. but not without it’s gifts. the cold air brings with it the desperately needed moisture to alleviate the wildfires with the first snowfall.
i long for this time of year. i already miss it. and i’m already planning for next year…
andrew slaton | blog 