Tag Archives: winter

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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photography, random thought, travel

tELL(E)uride

well, it’s that time of year again; heading to telluride for my best friend’s birthday… no complaints here.

and this year, it gets even better.  i was able to share telluride with Elle for the first time!

wilson peak is beautiful, even socked in with snow.

the wine started flowing as the birthday celebrations kicked off…

we took the gondola from the mountain village back to town for some late night fun in telluride.

blurry telluride from high up on the mountain…

the next day i got to spend some quality time with one of my old friends, kona, a gorgeous chocolate lab.

it was a great time as always, and a refreshing quick trip up to the mountains for both Elle and me.  it feels like it’s been too long.  i’m really looking forward to the mountain trips planned for the summer and fall…

all images and content © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2011

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film, film making, music, photography, random thought, travel

up on a mountain

here’s a quick preview of a new film i’ve been working on called the mountain.  just like the other short films, it’s basically just moving versions of my landscape/ nature imagery, put to music…  i’m still very new to this.  i hope to grow and become more sophisticated in my attempts at filmmaking.  but if you like this kind of thing, please check out the film chronos.  it has provided great inspiration for me, and it is a fantastic example of how a film of this sort should look.

these particular clips were shot in telluride this past week.  however, the rest of the film is shot in locations all over the world.  locations include (or will include) big bend, wyoming, california, spain, lebanon, kenya, ethiopia, and hopefully many more.

i don’t plan to have the mountain finished anytime before the winter of 2010, but i’ll continue to release little previews like this one.  let me know what you think…

thanks so much for watching!

 

music:  “up on a mountain” by the welcome wagon

 

all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2009


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film, film making, photography, random thought, travel, writing

telluride

to me, experiencing winter in the mountains is like breathing for the first time.  though i don’t remember my first breath, per se, i can imagine how bittersweet it must have been.

last week, i had the privilege to travel back up to telluride, colorado, with a great friend.

more to come… but for now, enjoy the scenery!

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all images © andrew r. slaton | photographer 2009

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music, photography, random thought, writing

sister winter

i love winter. when i lived in wyoming, winter was considerably more “involved” than it is in texas. but the fact remains; winter is the season of death.  no matter where you live.

certainly i am no lover and harbinger of death. “slayer” is not carved into my arm.  but i am obsessed with what inevitably walks patiently beside death:  the opportunity for renewal.

where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.  ~  rumi

there was a time in my life when my heart froze over – it took so many years to thaw.  sufjan’s song sister winter reminds me of this time.  

it seems to be a beautiful and poignant letter of explanation to his friends.  he tells them that his heart has returned to sister winter, and is as cold as ice.  the weight of sadness is almost too much to bear.

he goes on to describe in filmic detail a failed relationship.  it cuts deep into the listener. 

but what i love most about sister winter is the end of the song. it builds and builds… and when all of this scar tissue and raw emotion culminate and burst forth, breaking free from the frost, sufjan belts out an intense, “and my… friends, i’ve… returned to wish you all the best…  and my… friends, i’ve… returned to wish you… a… happy Christmas!”  the ice melts, and love flows again.

it ends with bittersweet undertones.  sustained strings in unison fade.

may spring come!  but not before we have proper time to mourn our losses.

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