art, photography, travel

wyoming | the many faces of the tetons

my working title for this post originally was “l’obsession des tetons”…

you know, referencing western wyoming’s french explorer roots.

then, thanks to google translate, i quickly realized it was essential that i think of new title.

needless to say, i don’t speak french.

so last year, i had a photographic obsession with squaretop in the wind river range. this fall, i can’t believe i’m saying this, but i didn’t even visit green river lakes (where squaretop lives).

yes, it’s sad. but i was just too busy. i had a two hunts to attend, a ranch to shoot, lots of hot wings to eat in jackson, many pints to consume at deadman’s bar in signal mountain lodge, etc. so since most of my (very important) activities were near teton park, I decided to spend some much needed quality time with the beloved teton mountain range.

enter my newest photographic obsession.

it started the day we finished at the goosewing ranch shoot.

we had a burger and beer at deadman’s bar, then sat on the edge of jackson lake to watch a phenomenal sunset over the tetons.

i then ventured out on the river road, looking for elk.  and the interesting photographic opportunities expanded.  in the next blog post, i’ll show more of the elk photographs.

the clouds and smoke provided most of the drama for me.  but it is the landscape itself that always draws me in and keeps me coming back for more.

come on… you knew i had to.

a portrait with my subject….

more bull elk in the shadow of the mountain.

where the antelope roam…

i hiked to emma matilda lake for the first time.

and then, of course, oxbow bend.  there is good reason that this is one of the most photographed places in the world.  especially in the fall.

that night the stars were out in full force.  i could see the milky way stretching high above the tetons.

i’ve been going to this part of wyoming at least annually since 2001, which i know in the bigger scheme of things is not a long time.

but for me, it’s over a third of my lifetime, spending some of my favorite moments up there.

and honestly, i can’t wait to find out what gorgeous mountains will capture my obsession next year.

God bless wyoming.

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2012

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art, photography, travel

the goosewing ranch | part 2

the beautiful goosewing ranch had us out again for a week in september, and it was fantastic.

with wildlife abounding and the trees aflame with fall colors, this time of year in the mountains is my absolute favorite.

below are just a few of the images we captured during our week at the ranch.

to see more, visit our ranch HAND website, and check out our trip to the goosewing this past june!

a huge thanks to the goosewing, all of the amazing staff, and the gorgeous guests (who were kind enough to be our models).

we are so blessed to have clients that we enjoy working with so much!

we are really looking forward to the Dude Rancher’s Association convention this January, and to meeting all the new ranches that we’ll partner with next year!

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer & ranch HAND | photographic 2012

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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.

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer & ranch HAND | photographic 2012

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art, photography, travel

wyoming | winter wanderland

our new business ranch HAND | photographic is taking off quickly.

what began as a love for wildlife, landscape, and outdoor lifestyle photography has turned into a full-scale service that caters to the high-end guest ranching community.

we’ve already been blessed to do work for the largest guest ranch in the U.S., Vermejo Park Ranch.

so this year, we joined the DRA (dude ranchers’ association) and decided to go to the convention in cody, wyoming to get to know some new folks.

well, we did…  we are so thankful to have made a few new clients, and a bunch of new friends!

our newest client, the Goosewing Ranch in jackson, wyoming is a phenomenal guest ranch.  they offer a true western experience from late spring through the gorgeous wyoming indian summer.  they also happen to be at the doorstep of grand teton national park and yellowstone!  not too bad!

we are incredibly excited to visit the Goosewing in june and september of this year!

now, back to our travels…

since we were already heading up to cody, we had to stop by pinedale to see our friends Mike and Ellen, and my favorite mountain town.

elle got to see and walk out on to a frozen fremont lake.

the cracking sounds of the ice create an intensely eerie feeling as you walk out onto the 12 mile long, half a mile wide, 600 foot deep lake (crazy, right?)!!

winter is probably my second favorite season, photographically at least.

elle had fun sledding.

then we made our way up to cody for the convention…

there is quite a bit to see just outside of cody.  it’s beautiful country.

after a few days at the convention, we had to make our way down to telluride, co to shoot a wedding.

but first… we decided to spend a few more days in grand teton national park and pinedale again…

elk crossing the barren, frozen elk winter refuge.

big horn sheep high atop the cliffs.

bison trudging through the snow in the park.

the wild beast known as elle… making some weird version of a snow angel?

we walked out onto a frozen jackson lake.

our time was short.  we needed to make our way to telluride.  so we headed down through flaming gorge in utah.

such fantastic landscapes all the way.  and the snow adds contrast and depth that i rarely get to see.

all in all, we put 4500 miles on my subaru on this trip, and very few of those miles were boring.

i’ll look forward to sharing some of the telluride photos next post!

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2012

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