Kurt Johnson
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Kurt has been involved in wildlife education and tour guiding for more than 15 years, including organizing and leading safaris in Kenya and Baja. He also teaches photography and leads astronomy programs. His recently published book, a Field Guide to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, is the most comprehensive identification and natural history guide ever written about these two famous parks. It represents Kurt's efforts to communicate the "big picture" of an ecosystem, rather than focusing only on the most charismatic megafauna.
As a wildlife biologist, animals are definitely a priority in Kurt's photography, but he is equally inspired by landscapes in the constant search for unique lighting on mountains and other epic vistas. While great wildlife portraits can arise from being close to subjects, Kurt is a bigger fan of “environmental” shots that depict the landscape surrounding the animal(s), which add to the power of the composition by capturing the holistic moment, with wildlife one part of the entire image. Another of Kurt's favorite styles is backlit images where an animal is perfectly silhouetted with the sun behind the subject. Kurt also does a lot of astrophotography of the night sky, including the Milky Way, northern lights and eclipses. When the moment is right, Kurt will use his mid-range lens to stitch landscape images together in Lightroom to make billboard-sized prints. Kurt also embraces the convenience of smartphone photography—and while these images may not end up in his portfolio, he enjoys helping travelers understand the full power of their devices to capture amazing imagery.
Kurt leads wildlife and photography safaris every week of the year, mostly in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, but also in many other places around the world. He tends to shoot with Canon and Nikon equally but is currently using a Nikon system. Kurt’s gear varies depending on where he is guiding, but he always has two camera bodies, one set-up for landscapes, and one set-up for wildlife. View Kurt's latest photography portfolio additions on Instagram at @wildthingsofwy.