Wasatch Magazine
Through my time as a fine art student in photography, I was asked to join Wasatch Magazine in the summer of 2021. Initially, I was primarily a photographer, but by the end of my college career, I was writing feature stories to go with my photography. Writing in a magazine style is a passion of mine. I love telling stories, and being able to do so in the professional conversation voice that a magazine provides allows for so much freedom and creativity.
As a writer, you can engage and lead people on a journey in a way that other formats don’t allow. In my “National Park vs. National Forest” story, I wrote it as if I were taking readers along with me as I traveled through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and all of the surrounding national forest land. I try to start each story with a question and then take the reader along for the ride as I attempt to answer it.
Finding Wildlife in the Winter
My “Finding Utah Wildlife in the Winter” story showed that even in the cold winter, there can still be animals to find and pictures to be taken. In theory, the winter snow should push wildlife into lower elevations and be on the move more, trying to stay warm, thus making them easier to find. Unfortunately, that might be true, but many areas are snowed in, leaving limited access. Besides the lower elevation areas where snow does not close roads, there is only one place where wildlife is consistently present, and that’s around the ever-shrinking Great Salt Lake. Answering the question of how someone finding wildlife in the winter ended up being the story, I won best visual art for the year among all student media publications.
WESTERN UTAH: A Land of Nothingness Worth Exploring
Whenever I start writing a magazine story, I am always thinking about what questions I could ask that would lead to taking the reader on a journey. This story was no different. I have spent lots of time in Western Utah, which is undoubtedly remote and far from civilization, but there are still many reasons to go there, even if it is “A Land of Nothingness.”
From the herd of wild horses to that old-west vibe that is present, it’s a rather exciting area. I wanted to show that even if it looks like nothing is there on a map, it doesn’t mean that’s the reality. From ancient volcanos to the history of the Pony Express, there is a lot to find if you know where to look. The obvious attraction is the wild horses. Their scars from fighting and enduring the harsh desert-like climate are real. It’s not something that a person has a chance to see regularly.
National Park or National Forest? A Photo Debate
This story started with a question: could someone have an equally memorable time in a national forest as in one of the major national parks spread across the United States?
That question sparked a multiday journey that took me up the eastern side of Idaho through the Caribou-Targhee National Forest before reaching West Yellowstone. From there, a stop at a local Forest Service Office led me on a trail of nearby mountain goats. After that, I visited Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Each is unique in its beauty and known for its wildlife. Finally, the comparison led to the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
The experience taught me the value of asking hard questions, developing a plan to answer them, and executing it. This was a pivotal story in my development as a writer.
