Uncategorized
Gallery: Wildsmith Photography
Published
12 years agoon
By Emily Stifler Explorebigsky.com Managing Editor
Richard Smith grew up on a dairy farm in New York and left home when he was 18.
“The only thing I knew is that I didn’t want to milk cows anymore,” he said.
Richard landed at Rocky Mountain College in Billings and spent five years studying music. Since then he’s worked as a carpenter, a cabinetmaker, a timber framer, a folk singer and a naturalist.
The two men will be filming in Montana for several days as the first part of a PBS pilot series that Zebediah is producing.
The show, Journeyman, is an adventure documentary project that will follow modern pilgrims seeking “to live out the answer to a burning question,” according to its website.
This first one will follow Zebediah on a pack trip into the Montana backcountry, and then through Yellowstone, where Richard will guide the film crew.
“It’s about a renewal of his love for the West,” Richard said.
Zebediah’s work for the PBS show Travelscope has taken him around the world, from South Africa to Easter Island to the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast in British Columbia. He told the Weekly last summer that Montana is as close to a home base as he has.
“It’s one of the places I go back to find inspiration. When you go out in Montana to that true wilderness and can find peace of mind, the rushing world [fades] away. When I’m traveling I try to think back to those moments in those places where I’m centered.”
Richard said their art has grown together. “It’s almost like we’re one person a lot of times.”
__________
Words from Richard
My uncle found an ad in a magazine for a little college in Billings, Rocky Mountain College. It was July and they still had some openings. My ears perked up, my eyes opened, up. I said ‘wow, Montana. I always wanted to go out Wes
I spent close to five years [at Rocky], majored in music, but never graduated because I failed to meet all the required courses. I took a lot of things that sounded fun, and when the guidance people informed me I wasn’t going to get a degree I up and left. I was married with a little baby girl. We went up into the Beartooths, went to Yellowstone, to Jackson Hole. We spent a lot of time wandering around down there, and then we went back East to live for a few years, then on to Colorado, and finally ‘home’ to Montana. Like the man said, “I wasn’t born here but I got here as soon as I could”.
[My wife Barbara] graduated from Naropa University [in Colorado] and became a Buddhist. I haven’t taken my vows like she did, but if nothing else I’m probably [Buddhist, too]. Buddhism is not a religion. It’s just a way of living, thinking and seeing life. It’s more spirituality than religion. One could be a Christian or a Muslim or have any other religious belief and still be a Buddhist.What I’ve found is that it’s really important to take time out even daily to just sit, and meditate by a river or out in a meadow or high mountain. That’s where I get my balance. [We] need that because we’re now more than ever so inundated and bombarded with information than ever, all day, every day.
I have one photo of this bull elk, a 7-by-7 bull, during the rut in late September or early October. I’d been shooting him for several hours and actually got some images of him fighting with another huge bull. He was fully aware of me and was only about 150 feet away. I don’t know what changed, but he was suddenly fed up with me. It was almost like he said, ‘dude, you’ve been here long enough. You got enough shots. Go away.’ He charged me, and I picked up my tripod and my lens and I ran behind a tree. I have the shot right before he charged. He was facing me, his front paw is up off the ground, his head is back, his ears are back, his nostrils are flared.
If you stop, sit down and spend a couple of hours, you get to know a place. Sometimes I close my eyes and feel where the breeze is coming from. And there’s all kind of smells. If you dig around in the earth, there’s a musky smell.
In the fall there’s rotting leaves—you can lie down in them and cover yourself. In spring, the high mountain meadows are [full of] flowers. Winter brings cold crisp days of soft snow like eider down covering the landscape.
If you do that as a photographer, you experience your surroundings as a wild creature, it becomes part of who you are. You’re photographing from that place, as a participant not just a traveler wandering through. And people sense that when they look at a photo. Sometimes I don’t even photograph, I just take it home with me.
Photography is an outgrowth of the fact that I love to be out in nature—in the mountains, the meadows, out on the plains, and on farms and ranches where life is part of nature. I wanted to have some record of those experiences.
__________
See more images from Wildsmith Photography at:
Big Sky Farmers Market
Gallatin Valley Farmers Market
Art shows around the state: Visit wildsmithphotography.com to find out about upcoming shows and galleries.
Follow Zebediah Smith at journeymanadventures.com.
Megan Paulson is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Outlaw Partners.
You may like
Upcoming Events
july, 2024
Event Type :
All
All
Arts
Education
Music
Other
Sports
Event Details
CALL FOR ARTISTS: Paint anytime from June 1-28EXHIBITION & SALE: June 29 - July 31Calling all artists and nature enthusiasts! Get
more
Event Details
CALL FOR ARTISTS: Paint anytime from June 1-28
EXHIBITION & SALE: June 29 – July 31
Calling all artists and nature
enthusiasts! Get your paintbrushes ready for an unforgettable experience at
Paint Under the Big Sky, a thrilling plein air event set against the stunning
backdrop of Big Sky, MT, Chet Huntley’s “The Last Best Place”. Don’t
miss this chance to unleash your creativity and be part of a vibrant artistic community.
What is Paint Under the Big Sky? PUBS is a plein air event for all painters of any ability (over the age of 16). Sponsored by the Big Sky Artist’s Studio & Gallery and the Big Sky Artists Collective, a non-profit organization whose mission is to foster a strong community of artists in the Big Sky area, the paint-out hopes to introduce painters to our extraordinary landscape for an opportunity to create, meet and have fun. Plein air painters record our landscape for generations to come.
Artists are invited to travel to Big
Sky, MT to paint anytime between Jun 1 – 28, and participate in the exhibition
and sale of paintings from June 29 – July 31.
Come join us! We have a great
place to paint and are welcoming and fun!
Don’t miss out!
Time
June 1 (Saturday) 1:00 am - July 31 (Wednesday) 11:55 pm
Event Details
Embrace the freedom and serenity of movement in nature with our rejuvenating morning yoga class on the Mountain Lawn. Allow the fresh mountain air and gentle guided yoga practice
Event Details
Embrace the freedom and
serenity of movement in nature with our rejuvenating morning yoga class on the
Mountain Lawn. Allow the fresh mountain air and gentle guided yoga practice to
invigorate your day of adventure ahead. Complimentary. Weather
permitting.
Time
June 1 (Saturday) 7:00 am - August 31 (Saturday) 7:00 am
Location
Montage Big Sky
995 Settlement Trail
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by GAS for ride information.
Time
June 10 (Monday) 6:00 pm - August 19 (Monday) 6:00 pm
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by
Event Details
Bike Big Sky is a FREE community mountain biking group with BSCO and Gallatin Alpine Sports. Meet at posted locations at 6 p.m. Monday evenings. Visit BSCO.org or swing by GAS for ride information.
Time
June 17 (Monday) 6:00 pm - August 26 (Monday) 6:00 pm