The Big Moose

THE BIG MOOSE
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA – 2024

The grandeur of the Tetons has been celebrated by artists for 150 years. It was an integral part of Thomas Moran’s life and, of course, the mountain range played a material role in the photographic journey of Ansel Adams. His legacy still holds a tight grip on a Jackson Hole community hosting hundreds of capable photographers every week.

As an artist, it is a place in which to enjoy the visual overload rather than attempt to break new ground; that would be a fine trick. I have long been an admirer of the photographer Tommy Mangelsen whose body of work is a love letter to this pocket of America. For many years we have shared the same New York Publisher - Rizzoli - and he sets a high bar with his body of authentic images in the Tetons and beyond.

I have a good friend in Jackson, who, for many years, has made a living by ploughing snow on private roads in the winter months. It is his business to know every road in the community and in the days before my arrival he scouted the land either side of these single-track roads for big bull moose. They are not that hard to find in the area near Kelly - especially in late November and December - but I needed to be in situ very early in the day.

It was never going to be easy to get a Cigar Shot as there needs to be a sense of place in any picture taken here. Not to include the Tetons in the frame would be akin to filming in Zermatt and not including the Matterhorn. They are on a par as backdrops.

To have the Tetons as a canvas requires a high cloud or no cloud and I have always tended to prefer flat light rather than shooting with a harsh sun behind me. But there is a small window after sunrise when the sun finally hits the flats, but not in a garish way. I guess there is about 15 minutes of softness when the camera has every opportunity to capture textural detail and employ meaningful depth of field.


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