Location:
I am lucky to live in Jackson Hole, WY, one of the most scenic areas of the lower United States. I am only a few miles from Grand Teton National Park and roughly 100 miles from Old Faithful or Fishing Bridge in Yellowstone. Much of the rest of Teton County is protected by either a Wilderness Area, refuge, or National Forest. The wild mustangs take a little more effort, time, and gasoline. My two favorite wild horse areas are over 180 miles away—in opposite directions.

Background:
Actually, my degree was in Fine Arts in Painting from Central State University in Oklahoma (now called Central Oklahoma University). I've been taking photos since purchasing my first Minolta SRT 102 in college. The recent switch to digital equipment has stirred the interest in photography, made even easier and more exciting as a result of almost 30 years in graphic arts and signage background.

Equipment:
With few exceptions, the images on the current site were photographed with one of my two Nikon D300 camera bodies. Every photo was taken in a digital "raw" format, then converted to TIF or JPG in Photoshop. Almost every photo was taken while on a Gitzo 1348 carbon fiber tripod with an Arca Swiss B-1 ballhead. A Wimberly Sidekick was added to the set-up with the larger lenses. In 2009, I had over 120,000 actuations on my two D300 cameras.

With the exception of a Sigma 10-20mm super wide angle lens, the rest of the images were photographed using Nikon lenses . A 24-70mm lens was used on most of the scenics and landscapes. Many of the animal photos were taken with a 70-200 VR telephoto or a 200-400 VR telephoto. I seldom use a teleconverter.. Some images were lit with extra fill flash using an SB-800, some of which were taken with a flash extender.

Besides the basic equipment listed above, the camera bag is stuffed with all the normal gadgets, chargers, CF cards, and brackets—too numerous to list.

Image Editing:
While every attempt is made to “frame” my shots to remove unwanted distractions, it is impossible to do so on every shot taken in the wild. Many of these distractions are out of photographer’s control, such as neck collars, ear tags, trail markers, power lines and so forth. Faced with either trashing a wonderful shot or removing the distractions, I will choose the latter. In doing so, I usually add back in some fur, leaf, or tree from the same shot using photo editing tools. I DO NOT add back in a major element, such as a moose, elk, or eagle into a scene that did not have it originally. Besides the man made distracting elements, I will also occasionally remove an unwanted twig, leaf, or natural element if it appears to distract from the main scene. Again, most of the photos are of wild animals in wild settings and I cannot ask the moose to move up 6” to eliminate a piece of grass across his nose.

Most photos are shot is a raw format, so photos are edited to bring back in the tonal values, color hues and saturation I experienced at the time I took the photo. I’d prefer the viewer to think I am good photographer vs. someone good in Photoshop—but actually it takes some of both when using digital equipment. The amount I am willing to push or manipulate a photo varies from photo to photo, month to month, and year to year. In the end, I just want to deliver a moving image.

Mike R. Jackson: PO Box 7850, Jackson, WY 83002