Best Of 2022

I’ve compiled a collection of my favorite images captured in 2022, along with the stories behind them. I hope that you will enjoy them and do let me know what you think in the comments!

“The Lion King” | Purchase Print

In 2022, I continued to expand my DSLR camera trapping efforts in Montana. Specifically, I wanted to capture a collection of images of wildlife within the larger landscape. I wanted to show where these animals live. I spent a lot of time studying maps, searching for locations that coincided with what I had in mind. Once I located these areas on a map, it was time to lace up my boots and go explore these areas on foot. I’ve always believed that there is no substitute for actual time spent in the field. It is a time-consuming process, but one that is absolutely necessary if you want to achieve results. This image comes from one of my most productive locations from the summer. Within just a week of setting up this camera, I captured all three of Montana’s cat species, including this beautiful cougar.

“Frosty” | Purchase Print

A very frosty Bison on a very cold morning in Yellowstone National Park. These magnificent giants are adapted to survive even the harshest of conditions. I absolutely love photographing these giants. They are indeed true symbols of the American West.

“Symbol of the Wilderness” | Purchase Print

In the high mountains of Montana lives a creature with a formidable reputation. A vicious beast rumored to be capable of driving grizzly bears off of carcasses. Gulo gulo, the wolverine, is without a doubt one of Montana's rarest carnivores. A true symbol of the wilderness.

In early spring, I hiked up in the mountains to check on one of my camera traps that was set for mountain lions. A fresh layer of snow had fallen overnight, but by the time I reached my camera it had already melted from the warm afternoon sun. Beneath the tree was a fresh cougar scrape. The odds that one had passed my camera were good. I opened the case and started reviewing the images on the camera's LCD screen. Skunks, a cougar, and then, wait, what?!? A wolverine! I had indeed captured one of Montana's rarest animals on camera, and the conditions could not have been better. Fresh snow, mountains rising above the fog, and early morning sunlight. It was a dream come true for me. It is because of images like this that I continue to spend countless hours in the wild setting up remote camera traps.

“Uprising” | Purchase Print

During an autumn visit to Colorado, my wife and our two pups embarked on a backpacking trip into the San Juan Mountains about midway through our trip. We arrived at our destination in the early afternoon. As it neared sunset, a storm on the horizon threatened us with rain, but fortunately we were treated to this spectacular sunset instead! The light that evening seemed to go on forever. It was one of those rare moments of being in the right place, at just the right time. We were fortunate to have this incredible view all to ourselves that evening.

The mountains that you see here are the Grenadiers, a subrange of the San Juans, and are situated within the Weminuche Wilderness. In the early 1860s prospectors found deposits of gold and silver along the river here, carving its way through the gorge, and large-scale mining operations began in the 1870s.

“Autumn Dreams” | Purchase Print

Wet, dreary mornings make for some incredible conditions for photography, especially during autumn. The rain really makes the colors pop! After coming across this spot while walking through a Colorado forest, I spent over an hour getting soaked to the bone making images like the one that you see here. The fog drifted in and out, it was like a scene from a fairytale.

“Ambush” | Purchase Print

Remote camera trapping has been a passion of mine for a very long time. I made my very first "camera trap" images all the way back in 2001, using a very crude trail camera that I built from scratch. The crude setup used a 35mm film camera and a sensor from a set of motion-activated lights. Fast forward to today and technology has come such a long, long ways. These days I employ sophisticated DSLR cameras and state of the art triggering systems to capture truly unique images of elusive wildlife in their natural habitats.

This ridgeline proved to be one of my most productive locations of 2022. This family group of four lions triggered the set on a summer night. The exposure I previously had dialed in was enough to pick up some stars in the night sky, which was what I had envisioned. The fact that I was able to get two of the four cats in one frame was a miracle. Perhaps what I enjoyed most about this image was not only the pose of the cat on the left, as if poised to pounce on its sibling, but also the playful look in the eyes of the youngster on the right.

“Magic Of Fall” | Purchase Print

While wandering around an aspen grove in Colorado, I came across this beautiful arrangement of trees and autumn color. Forest scenes are often “busy”, making them surprisingly difficult to photograph. I enjoy the challenge and eventually I was able to compose an image that I felt did the forest the justice it deserved. When I look at this photograph, I can almost smell the autumn leaves. How about you?

“Wilderness Nights” | Purchase Print

After one of the most unbelievable encounters of my life with a wild wolverine at a backcountry campsite in the Sawtooth Mountains, I ventured out into the dark of night to a nearby lake to photograph the Milky Way Galaxy. With a little advanced planning, I was able to capture the galaxy in all of its glory, complemented beautifully by the jagged peaks of the Sawtooth Wilderness. A perfect ending to a perfect day in the mountains.

“Song Of Autumn” | Purchase Print

There's nothing quite like enjoying a beautiful Rocky Mountain sunrise, while listening to elk bugle in the distance. While everyone else was clamoring around the larger bull and his harem just up the way, I hung back, not wanting to be part of the crowd. Instead, I focused on this bull that was lying down in the middle of this large meadow. Just as the sun rose, bathing the mountains in a brilliant red glow, the bull rose and began making his way across the meadow. The landscape was really enticing here, so rather than using a telephoto lens, I switched to a wide-angle lens so that I could capture this environmental portrait.

“Moonlit Prowl” | Purchase Print

A personal project for me last winter was to document (with remote camera traps) how mountain lions navigate natural features found on the landscape in order to successfully stalk and ambush their prey. This project required a ton of field time, both for scouting, as well as for setting and maintaining multiple camera traps and numerous trail cameras.

Over the course of the winter, I learned so much more about these elusive big cats and even tracked down several kill sites, scrape areas, latrines, daybeds, among other things. One day, while I was checking on cameras, I even witnessed (for the second time in my life) a lion ambushing a deer in the wild. This all happened less than 70 yards away from where I was standing!

This image depicts a male mountain lion returning to feed on the remains of a deer cached under the snow on a winter night in Montana. There were multiple trails leading to the cache, so I picked the one I thought the cat would most likely use and it turned out that I was correct. The cat returned later than evening and proceeded to travel directly down the trail that led past my camera.

“Autumn Impressions” | Purchase Print

While photographing on a bluebird morning in Colorado, I noticed a small puddle of rainwater filled with some decaying autumn aspen leaves. Taking a closer look at the arrangement of leaves, glistening with raindrops, I realized that it was just too good to pass up. The early morning sunlight that was streaming through the forest enhanced the subtle textures of the leaves.

“Cougar Country” | Purchase Print

A mountain lion pauses beneath an old Douglas fir in the mountains of Montana, at sunrise. I captured this image using a sophisticated DSLR camera trap system. This tree serves as a territorial marker for the cats. The dominant tom, pictured here, returns often to leave his scent. This not only warns other toms that they are trespassing, but it's also a way for the male to communicate with females whose territories may overlap.

“Hidden Gem” | Purchase Print

For my birthday in August, my wife and our huskies embarked on an adventurous backpacking trip into the Sawtooth Wilderness. Our destination was an alpine lake situated high in a remote cirque, surrounded by towering peaks. The rugged nature of this wilderness makes it one of my favorite places for backpacking. Perhaps the best part about this trip was the insane wolverine encounter we had the evening before I captured this image.

After hiking for a few hours, we finally made it to the lake. After setting up camp, I set off to hike up to the upper lake to check it out. While searching for compositions for sunset, I discovered this small waterfall just as the clouds began to glow. I really enjoyed how the warm light on the mountains contrasted so nicely with the cooler tones of the water. I found this entire area to be very promising for landscape photography, so when I arrived back at camp that night, I talked my wife into packing up the next morning and trekking to the lake above. I woke the next morning, a year older. Bluebird skies greeted me as I crawled out of the tent to photograph the sun rise. After breakfast, we packed up our campsite, loaded our heavy packs, and began climbing steeply up to the next lake. We set up camp yet again, beneath massive, craggy peaks and went for a swim in the icy waters. We spent a relaxing evening just enjoying the views from our campsite. That's when it happened.

I was knelt down taking pictures of our pups with my camera phone, when I heard my wife yell out, “Wolverine!” Shock immediately set in! A wolverine was in fact loping right through our camp, less than 15 feet from us!! Our pups were even closer than I was and when they saw it, they began chasing after it. They nearly snatched the animal by the tail before reaching the end of their leads, narrowly escaping what would have likely been a disastrous confrontation for us all! As for me, I was too busy picking my jaw up off the ground to do anything but gawk at this magnificent creature. Once I was able to compose myself, I ran over to the edge of the cliff it ran down to see if I could see it again. I was able to get one more glimpse before it disappeared into a small stand of trees, never to be seen again.

In all of my time spent in the mountains, I've never spotted a wolverine in the wild, until now. I could not have asked for a better birthday gift and although I wasn’t able to capture a photograph, it is a moment that will forever live in my memory. It is these wild experiences in life that are by far the most rewarding. And honestly, how many people can say that their fur kids spotted one of the rarest critters on the planet!

“Great Gray Catbird” | Purchase Print

On a winter day in Montana, while snowshoeing through a forest in search of Canada lynx, I heard what sounded like a cat crying out. I decided to follow the sound to see where it might lead me. As I got closer, the sound became louder and louder, but at the same time, it was difficult to pinpoint. I moved slowly and carefully, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever was making the noises. The forest was dense, and I could not see farther than a few feet in front of me at times. Eventually the noises led me to a small clearing in the forest. When I looked up, I saw this young lynx perched at the top of a very tall tree with a broken top. The sound I was hearing was a female lynx calling out to her kitten. I'm not sure how this lynx ended up in the tree, but fresh coyote tracks in the area could have been the reason. It was interesting to observe this behavior in the wild. Eventually the lynx descended down the tree, reuniting with its mom and the two of them moved off deeper into the forest.

“Mountain Spirit” | Purchase Print

This was the very last image captured by one of my cameras in 2022. It was taken on December 29th. I actually came across this fantastic location back in 2021, while I was scouting for mountain lion sign. I finally decided to set a camera here and I’m certainly glad I did! This large tom appeared to be on the hunt on this particular evening, scanning for deer from the rocky outcropping. It’s hard to put into words what it feels like to find an image like this on the memory card. I look forward to capturing more images like this one in 2023.