Q&A With Photographer Steve Mattheis

Local photographer Steve Mattheis’ amazing shot of a bull moose at Schwabacher Landing in Grand Teton National Park was chosen to grace the cover of Jackson Hole Traveler‘s 2024 annual print guide. Here we shed light on the why and how Steve turned from a business owner into a professional photographer in his hometown of Jackson Hole.

 

Q: What are your feelings about your bull moose photo gracing the cover of this year’s issue of Jackson Hole Traveler?

 

A: I get to see many amazing and wonderful things when I’m out in the field, and sharing some of those moments with people is quite rewarding. I’m psyched that I captured such a beautiful scene to share with everyone who will view Jackson Hole Traveler.

 

Q: What did you do before turning your attention to photography full-time?

 

A: I’m a mechanical engineer by education and worked as a professional engineer for over a decade before starting a couple of other businesses that I ran for another decade or so. Then in 2017, I decided to start doing photography full-time.

 

Q: What was the catalyst to start photographing your surroundings?

 

A: I’ve always carried a simple point-and-shoot camera since I was a kid, but I never really learned photography until my wife became pregnant with our first child. At that point, I decided to learn photography so I could take better photos of my kid(s). As I was learning, I really needed to practice a lot so I started looking for things to photograph. I started to “practice” photography on all of the wonderful things nature has to offer.

 

Q: What are your favorite animals to photograph? Favorite feathered thing(s)

 

A: My favorite thing to photograph is whatever is in my viewfinder at the moment! And great gray owls. Definitely, great gray owls.

Q: Your photos often offer a fun and artful perspective — in your own words: “images made with love and sprinkled with magic.” What’s your philosophy behind differentiating your photos from the average wildlife and landscape photographer?

 

A: Thank you, I take that question as a compliment because I really do enjoy making images that you describe as “fun and artful.” I want my personality to be evident in my photographs. I am not necessarily trying to make my images different—I am trying to make images that I really like. And since I’m a bit odd and goofy, my images often reflect that.

Q: Are you more partial to color photos or black and white?

 

A: I like whatever is most appropriate for each individual image.

 

Q: You offer private workshops. What types/locations of workshops are available?

 

A: I offer private photography workshops here in the Tetons, year-round. Because the workshops are private, we can concentrate on whatever each client wants to get out of the day. I also offer small group workshops in Yellowstone and in East Africa.

 

Q: When did you begin photographing wildlife in Africa and why? How many times have you traveled there and to which country?

 

A: My first trip to Kenya and Tanzania came serendipitously through a friend. It was unexpected and wonderful. Like so many others who have photographed in Africa, I fell in love with everything about it: the wildlife, the people, the landscape, the adventure, the abundance of photo ops. I look forward to going back the next year as soon as I return to Jackson from a trip.

Q: When did you publish the coffee table book “Phantom of the North” and what propelled you to create it?

 

A. I published “Phantom of the North,” in 2019. I collaborated with wildlife biologist Katherine Gura who wrote the text. We both love great grays and since I have one of the deepest photographic catalogs of great gray owl images and she is one of the foremost experts on their ecology, we decided to create this wonderful book together. It contains almost a decade’s worth of photography of the elusive great gray owl and summarizes Katherine’s decade of studying the species.

 

Q: And finally, how can people purchase your work? Are your photographs in any galleries in Jackson?

 

A: Prints are available through my website stevemattheis.com and a limited selection of prints are available at Artshop in Moose.

BIO

Jackson Hole native Steve Mattheis has lived in the valley for more than 40 years. A self-taught photographer, he specializes in capturing the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’s amazing diversity of wildlife and landscapes with an artful perspective. He was awarded the Grand Prize in the 2018 Audubon Photography Awards and won the Audubon 2017 Professional Division. His images have also appeared in the magazine pages of Wyoming Wildlife, Nature’s Best Photography and Delta Sky, among others. Steve says that he enjoys—now more than ever—“the magical place that is my home that I had taken for granted for so many years of my life.” Follow Steve on Instagram and Youtube.

Join Steve for a private photo workshop. For information, click here.