A Picture’s Worth… a Lifetime

It all started with a Nikon D70 with a 70x200 lens in a dusty branding pen in Bondurant, Wyoming. My husband and I had been invited to help our neighbors brand and vaccinate calves. In 2015 I decided to bring my camera along for the ride; I wanted to capture a part of ranching life that most people don’t often get to see, if ever. And, as it’s said, the rest is history. 

I grew up on my family’s dude ranch north of Jackson where I spent my summers riding my horse through the aspen groves, swimming in the Snake River, and picking huckleberries until my fingers were purple. Up until we bought our home in Bondurant in 2013, I knew very little about cattle ranching. But our small ranching community wasted no time pulling me in and, with open arms, welcomed us to the many seasons of this life. Springtime is alive with branding, turn outs, giving way to riding the range in the summer while doctoring yearlings. Our staggeringly short fall is the call to bring the cattle home off the range. It’s the bustle of haying season; a race to beat the frost, pack it up and ship it off for the winter. Oh winter, a world all its own, brings out teams of horses, etching dark lines through the pristine white snow as we battle to feed the wind-blown cattle. 

Cattle ranching is a way of life: one that is not for the faint of heart. To even begin to understand it, one must see it. That’s why I picked up my camera and let its lens bring it to life. Photography became my journey, my way of telling our stories and help to preserve our lifestyle that is often misunderstood, overlooked, underestimated and often remembered only in the movies. My goal is to tell the stories of the lives and legacies of these incredible cowboys and cowgirls that have allowed me to tag along over these many years, taking snapshots of these special moments in time and the storied lands under our feet.

Little did I know that dusty day in a Bondurant branding pen was only the beginning. My passion for preserving this western lifestyle has evolved my love for photography and now I’m booked out months in advance for senior graduation photos, family portraits, rodeo photography, 4H livestock photography and equine photos. Photography has become a huge part of who I am today – my story to tell. I can’t wait to start my next chapter in this beautiful photography career.

“Because when words fail, photographs don’t” 

-the painted cowgirl

The idea is not to live forever, but to create something that will.

-Andy Warhol