I am a landscape, nature and travel photographer who lives in the Salt Lake valley, in northern Utah.  I was born and mostly raised here, and although I have lived elsewhere - even abroad - I am happy to once again call this state home and raise my family in this amazing place.  I am an outdoorsman, hiker and an avid flyfisherman.  Utah is a unique state, and even though I've spent much of my life here, I am still constantly discovering new places that have the ability to blow me away with their beauty and majesty.

Why Landscapes?

I have quite a few friends and colleagues that are photographers, and many of them either make a living or supplement their income by shooting portraits, working weddings, or doing studio and commercial work.  Some of them ask me why I've chosen to focus on landscape photography. "After all," most of them remind me, "mountains and rivers don't pay to have their picture taken."

I can't really describe the feelings I get while standing in an isolated spot, watching as the light turns from purple to silver to gold as the sun rises, or watching the reverse of that at sunset, or feeling the rhythm of the surf as it rolls in, or of trying to trace the intertwining streams of water as they cascade over a waterfall.

Landscape photography is this strange mix of quiet contemplation and mad rushing.  I have spent countless mornings in silence, waiting for the first rays of the sun to break over the horizon, and I’ve sat in quiet wonder watching the last light ebb out of the sky as stars begin to appear in the twilight.  Conversely, I’ve found myself sprinting up a mountainside trying in vain to set up my gear and catch a sunrise or cursing my luck at hitting too many red lights, knowing I’m missing a stellar sunset out at the lake.  Landscape photography forces one to chase light, to capture it, and more often than not that chase ends up yielding little or nothing of much value.  So again, why landscape photography?  Simply put, experiencing the ever-changing beauty found in nature is what satisfies and cleanses my soul.

I hope that as you look through the images that I’ve been lucky enough to witness and capture, you will perhaps be stirred the same way that I was when I clicked the shutter button.

-Tom Jackson