art, photography, random thought

ballin’ with birds of prey

i play basketball every day. i know, i know. hard to picture.

regardless… it happens. every day.

it can get pretty mundane i will admit. but today was vastly different.

i walked up to the court, head down. did my stretches. heard a loud screech.

one that i don’t usually hear in the middle of dallas.

i looked up, and this is what i saw. remarkable! a red-tailed hawk about 15 yards from me.

what a phenomenal bird. he allowed me to get within 10 feet of him too!

he caught a squirrel, so i think he was concerned with defending his meal.

but he sat there and watched me as i played basketball for a half an hour.

what an unusual treat today…

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2012

art, photography, travel

appalachia | a family reunion

my wife’s family has roots in the mountains of north carolina. deep roots.

on her mom’s side, many in the family still live on the land they settled in the 19th century.

it is near the little town of caney fork, on the creek of the same name.

and it’s beautiful by the way.

so here is an abridged chronicle of our time in appalachia, celebrating july 4th (a little early).

side note: i shot a ton of landscapes and nature photos as well, and will share those in the next post…

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2012

art, photography, travel

wyoming | summer in the parks

we ended our time at the goosewing and had a week or so to enjoy the scenery of wyoming.

i spend at least 3 or 4 weeks in wyoming every year, but i just never seem to tire of the land, people, and animals.

Elle’s never been to yellowstone, so we spent a few days up there, a few in the tetons, and then a few near pinedale, at soda lake and green river lakes.

it was too short, as always… but we had an appalachian adventure to get to. so we’ll have to spend extra time up there in september :)

art, photography, travel

ranch HAND | the goosewing ranch

we traveled back up to wyoming in june to service ranch HAND | photographic’s newest client, the Goosewing Ranch.

just minutes from jackson, wyoming, the Goosewing is a phenomenal guest ranch for the whole family. they offer phenomenal views, amazing wildlife, horseback riding, daily activities, and even the finer amenities like massages and fine wine. they have their own trout stocked pond, and the gros ventre river right in their front yard; a true angler’s paradise. they are also at the doorstep of grand teton and yellowstone national parks!

here are just a few of the images we captured for them this summer… and we can’t wait to go back in september to shoot their fall photos.