Nostalgia is a funny thing. I shot this image in 2014...9 years ago. When I look at this photo, all I see is the light and composition and the memories of this place. But I promise you it was really cold and I was freezing my butt and fingers off. Yet I don't really remember that feeling when I look at this photo...and I want to be there again shooting. #Frozen #wilderness #LandscapePhotography #winter
I'm excited to share that I will be co-instructing a 3-day winter wildlife and landscape photo workshop in the Cody-Yellowstone area of Wyoming February 24th-28th, hosted by @codyyellowstone . My friend and co-instructor @scott_kranz and I just finished scouting this incredible area and were blown away by the wildlife and landscape photo opportunities. Situated just east of Yellowstone National Park, the area is a winter home for much of the wildlife in the park and endless landscape photo opportunities. In our scouting trip last week, we found moose, bald eagles, otters, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, and wild horses. We'll have a local photographer and wildlife guide working with us during the workshop to share her local expertise. The workshop is limited to eight participants with a handful of openings remaining. Follow the link in my bio for more info and to reserve a spot! #PhotographyWorkshop #PhotoLearning #wildlife #landscape #sonyalpha
It's very difficult to judge your own work, and I'm no exception. It's natural to be emotionally attached to our own work which makes it difficult to see objectively. Time helps provide some objectivity but that attachment never really goes away (nor should it). But these are my personal favorites from 2022. I'm not much for new years resolutions but this year, I am hoping to do more traveling and shooting. How about you? #sonyalpha #drobostorage #2022favorites #photography #pnwonderland
Merry Christmas! 🎄❄️ ** #Christmas #winter #Canada #sonyalpha #drobostorage #wilderness
A foggy winter sunrise in the Methow Valley in Washington state. The Methow is a special place to me personally. This is where my wife and I met and were married in the field where I took this photo (but in summertime!). Foggy mornings are not that uncommon but it's still hard to get up in the dark and head out to photograph in sub-freezinhg weather. But it's always worth the effort. #sonyalpha #drobostorage #MethowValley #methowconservancy
UPDATE: The response to our workshop has been amazing and it filled up quickly. If you are interested in future workshops with me and Scott, send me a message and I'll put you on my list to be notified of future workshops. * * I'm super excited to announce my Mt. Rainier Wildflowers and Wilderness Photography workshop for August, 2023 that I'll be co-instructing with the incredibly creative (and all around good person) @scott_kranz . Scott and I will be leading this unique four-day wildflowers and wilderness photography workshop with a small group limited to 8 participants. This workshop will be a combination of photography, learning and exploration of this incredible National Park. We expect the workshop to fill very quickly. For more details, click on the link in my profile or DM me directly, or got to https://www.stephenmatera.com/mt-rainier-workshop-2023. #PhotoWorkshop #PhotographyWorkshop #wildflowers #wilderness #drobostorage #sonyalpha #PhotographyWorkshop #MtRainierNationalPark #photolearning
I not sure I'm ready for it yet but winter is here in the Cascades! Looking at this does help get the stoke going though. #sonyalpha #drobostorage #pnwonderland #NorthCascades
Yellowstone in summer...so beautiful and like nowhere else in the world. And get up early or stay out late and you can avoid the crowds. #Yellowstone #NationalPark #goethermal #sonyalpha
On the spectrum of wildlife 'wildness', from backyard squirrel to arctic polar bear, red foxes probably land somewhere between overly aggressive trailhead chipmunk and skittish black tailed deer. But I find any kind of wildlife to be pretty fun to encounter (okay, I haven't really been excited about squirrels since I was five years old). I was lucky enough to have this beautiful guy hang around me for about an hour last week (yes he's a boy...he relieved himself in my presence so there's no doubt). He wasn't shy of having his picture taken and was as curious about me as I was of him. What are some of your favorite wildlife encounters? #wildlife #RedFox #sonyalpha #drobostorage
One of my favorites podcasts is the NY Times Ezra Klein Show. He can take a seemingly dry topic and making it incredibly interesting. A recent podcast really had me thinking about what motivates us to engage on social media. He interviews philosopher C. Thi Nguyen (see what I mean…you might not think an interview with a philosopher would be interesting but it is!). Nguyen explains how much of life is gamified…rewards for simple, repeated conscious or unconscious behaviors, and how social media uses gamification to keep us engaged. It’s too much to get into here, but that’s the general idea and worth a listen. *** I’ve always tried to keep my feed authentic and motivated by my desire to share something that I’m genuinely proud of or excited about. But in the back of my mind, I also wonder what’s my primary motivation for posting? I admit to checking how many likes I get on posts, and do enjoy getting feedback on my images. So it’s difficult to tease out one from the other and easy to get caught up in the game of social media rewards. *** What about from the perspective of viewing social media content? What’s your motivation? That’s gamified as well. You see an image, spend a few seconds looking at it, hit the like button, and keep scrolling. Why do you hit the like button? Do you engage on social media so you’ll get more engagement on your posts? I'd love to hear what your motivation is for engaging in social media and do you think it has a gamified reward system? *** For the image above, this is a popular spot in the Canadian Rockies. I was there during the day and there were hoards of people. It had cleared out entirely in the evening and I couldn't believe I had the place to myself, or so I thought. I was shooting as the light was getting better and better. Around the time I took this image, I heard a rustling noise in the shoulder high willows behind me, which gave me a jolt of adrenaline. I turned around to see a very healthy brown bear feeding in the willows only 30 feet away from me. Exciting and scary as that was, I was torn about moving because the light was so good! I moved away, and was able to watch the bear for half an hour in the fading twilight.
The Canadian Rockies have a well earned reputation for being crowded. And that's definitely true when you go to well-known locations. But there are tons of places you can go and find solitude. I had this spot to myself...two days in a row. It required a short hike and some routefinding off the normal trail, but it was mind blowing to be in this huge, glaciated basin all by myself, only 3/4 mile off the main trail. This spot isn't mentioned in a guidebook, nor did I see it on any social media posts. I found this place with just a little research on my own. And that made it all the more worthwhile when I got there. I highly encourage you to find some less explored places on the map (appropriate within your experience and training). It will be a much more rewarding experience when you get there. #sonyalpha #drobostorage #CanadianRockies #OhCanada