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Photographer Erika Larsen on Yellowstone

A onetime Fulbright fellow uses photography to connect people and the landscape.

5 min read
rancher Becky Weed
Leo Teton, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes
Left: Becky Weed and her husband raise sheep on chemically untreated pastures. Right: Leo Teton stands next to a pole ornamented with bison skulls for a purification ceremony.
Erika Larsen is one of six photographers who contributed to National Geographic magazine's special issue on Yellowstone. Learn about the other five at  natgeo.com/yellowstone. 

From the Sami herders in Scandinavia to Garrison Keillor in Minnesota, Erika Larsen’s photography projects often take her to places “where the landscape is extremely important to people.” Even so, the onetime Fulbright fellow says she was amazed by the hold that Yellowstone has on residents and visitors alike.

Larsen met Native American archaeologists who felt “tangible moments” of connection with ancestors from centuries ago. She met ranchers who were overcome with emotion when they spoke of passing on their land to future generations. She met travelers from all over the world making a once-in-a-lifetime journey.

Larsen also met park rangers who’d worked elsewhere before. Yellowstone was their last stop, they told her. “Why would you leave?”

wildlife biologist John Craighead
Tracking grizzly bears with radio collars in the 1950s and ’60s, John Craighead and his twin brother, Frank, discovered just how far bears roamed beyond the boundaries of Yellowstone and Grand Teton. The two championed the idea that the parks should be managed as part of a Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem— an idea that took decades to catch on. Now 99, Craighead spends a lot of time in a tepee outside his house in Missoula, Montana. Frank died in 2001.
rancher Bill Hoppe

Bill Hoppe’s Montana ranch overlooks the park.

a boy standing against a wall on his family's ranch

Max Hagenbarth, photographed on his family ranch

Yellowstone winterkeeper Steven Fuller sitting inside his home in the Canyon Valley

Steven Fuller has been the winterkeeper at Yellowstone for 40 years.

a local veterinarian in Livingston, Montana

Duane C. Colmey is a second-generation veterinarian in Livingston, Montana.

a woman setting up an elk feeder in Yellowstone

Rita Hoggan feeds elk in the Gros Ventre Wilderness area, Wyoming.

two ranchers standing at their ranch in the Centennial Valley

Brothers and ranchers Jim and Dave Hagenbarth are dedicated to finding new ways to keep agriculture sustainable.

two AmeriCorps volunteers sitting on a park table

John and Katie were instructors with the AmeriCorps program of Teton Science Schools.

tourists driving cross-country sitting on Yellowstone Lake

Tourists on a cross-country drive take a break at Yellowstone Lake.

a mother and her two children in Yellowstone

Hilary Zaranek Anderson, shown with her daughters, is a range rider in the Tom Miner Basin area and works on the Anderson Ranch. She is an advocate of having a human presence on the landscape for predator conflict management.

See more from Erika Larsen on her website.