Jess McGlothlin Travels

Updates on travels, adventures and news from Jess McGlothlin Media.

Jess McGlothlin

Story for Chi Wulff: An Odd Anniversary

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Girl riding white horse through a field in Montana at the Event at Rebecca Farm.

Sometimes we go back to the beginning.

And sometimes anniversaries sneak up on us. This July marked my tenth year as a working photographer, and I had to go back to where it all started. (Ironically, it wasn’t very far away.)

You can read the full story on Chi Wulff, but here’s an excerpt:

They say a lot changes in a decade. I guess they’re right.

This past weekend I passed a funny rite of passage: ten years behind the camera. A decade ago, my dad (Mark, here on Chi Wulff) and I drove from our respective lodgings in Bozeman to Missoula, months of hard-earned cash tucked carefully in my pocket, to buy my first DSLR camera. The target was a Canon 5D Mark II; one that now, ten years later, still travels with me on large shoots as a back-up camera. At that point in time, my grocery budget was a generous $50 / month; the rest of my funds going into a camera fund.

Rather ironically, I now live in Missoula, finding myself back in Montana after living around the U.S. and abroad. Life’s funny that way.

Fortunately, my grocery budget is somewhat increased.

In July of 2009, after parting ways with what seemed at the time an unspeakable amount of money, we piled back in the truck and headed to my childhood home, Montana’s Flathead Valley, to photograph the prestigious equestrian show The Event at Rebecca Farm. (The return made even more ironic that I rode in the event nine years prior.) I hiked across…

Read the full story on Chi Wulff.

Montana Wall Tent Turkey Camp for onX Hunt

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Man walking with a turkey while hunting in the mountains of Montana.

After a long Montana winter—February 2019 was one of the coldest in the Big Sky State’s history—the onX tribe has been feeling the spring itch. We’re ready to get outside, log some miles in a non-snowy environment and just generally enjoy being out without the seemingly-mandatory five layers of winter clothing. Spring is finally here, but the season took its time arriving.

A couple days spent in turkey camp, shooting images and writing a piece for onX Hunt, was the prefect reminder that at the end of the day, it’s the little things in life that matter the most. Laugher around the campfire with friends, logging miles in big, open country and crisp early mornings waking up outside.

Explore the full photo essay on onX’s website here.

Man looking at onX Hunt map on phone while in truck.

Assignment: Salmon Select Sale for The Big Sky Journal

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Close photograph of a horse's eye in a rodeo arena.

I had the chance to spend this past weekend down in Salmon, Idaho, photographing the Salmon Select Horse and Mule Sale for one of my favorite Western publications, The Big Sky Journal. 

Assignments like this one are my favorite—my two careers merge into one, which makes for a good day at work. After growing up on an equine boarding and training in northwest Montana, it’s always a strange homecoming to return to the horse world, even just for a few days.

Cowgirl on a horse at a rodeo arena during an event in Idaho.Get a little mud on the boots, dust on the lens and horse scent on the jacket and all is good with the world.

Just like this California ranch assignment last fall for the UK’s Sidetracked Magazine, it’s easy to fall back into old habits, and I’m still convinced down-home cowboys and cowgirls are some of the best people on the planet. Think I made more random new friends in one day at the sale than I have in ten months here in Missoula.

The images will be appearing in a later 2019 issue of The Big Sky Journal, so stay tuned. Thanks again to everyone who didn’t mind the “girl with the camera” running around; to all the lovely folks who made small talk and to the BSJ team for the assignment!

Here’s a tip: want to boost your photography skills? Look for the details. Wait for the right moment, then capture an image with tight framing, focused on the minute little bits of the scene. Tell a story with those details. I think you’ll find the challenge well worth the trouble.

Roping horse portrait in an Idaho rodeo arena with cowboy.

Telling the Story: Gear Junkie Nod

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It was quite a pleasant surprise to glance through the web on Friday and find this extremely kind feature from Gear Junkie. Extremely flattered to be featured in this round-up of women in the sporting world, and especially for the kind words that closed the section:

“Gender be damned, because McGlothlin isn’t simply one of the best female photographers in the outdoor industry — she’s one of the best overall.”

While I try to fly under the radar as much as possible on the personal press side—I’d rather tell the stories of other people, not my own—It was such a nice surprise. Thanks once more to everyone who supports this work… here’s to more adventures coming up!

Project Upland Magazine: Generations of Sage

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Montana man with sage grouse, historic photo. Sometimes in life, we’re lucky enough to randomly meet people who restore our faith in all things good. Brandon Moss is one of these people. When I headed to northeastern Montana to photograph a sage grouse hunt for onX Hunt last September, I didn’t know much about the Billings, Montana, hunter the team would be meeting in the small agricultural town of Malta. Over the next few days, I logged miles moving through the sage-covered hills, talking with Brandon about his family’s history in Montana, his Brittany spaniels and his goal to raise his three young girls in the great open spaces of the West.

Text in an article about hunting Montana sage grouse.I left the shoot feeling hopeful, fulfilled and excited for the future of Montana outdoorsmen and women. (And also with my first sharptail in the cooler ready to be breasted out and served for dinner.)

Brandon Moss, Montana sage grouse hunter, in Project Upland Magazine.Thanks to Brandon for letting me tag along, and to the guys behind Project Upland Magazine for including this feature in their premiere issue. Brandon’s family images brought the entire feature home.

Read “Generations of Sage” in Project Upland Volume 1, Issue 1.

Weekend Vibes

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Black labrador dog curled up next to Patagonia dry bag backpack in a boat while fly fishing in Alaska at Bristol Bay Lodge.

It’s another cold, sub-zero day here in Montana Yesterday, I laid all my fly boxes out on the floor and began the ritual spring sorting of flies. It didn’t help matters—it’s still too cold to fish here locally—but at least I could close my eyes and pretend I was somewhere tropical, eyes scanning turquoise waters for the tell-tale shadow of a fish.

And then I’d look out the window.

Anyway…

Hope everyone is enjoying a relaxed weekend (or charging hard off on some adventure). This image, made during a shoot with Alaska’s Bristol Bay Lodge, will somehow always embody “weekend vibes” for me. Sage, one of the best boat dogs I’ve had the pleasure to spend time with, would raise her head now and then to check on us anglers, sniff for bears and then plop her head back down on my Patagonia dry bag. Keeping the cameras safe, as it were. She was the definition of work hard, play hard, and it was lovely.

Fully Unplugged: Swedish Lapland for the U.K.’s Fieldsports Magazine

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Jess McGlothlin Media for Fieldsports Magazine "Fully Unplugged" article and images about fly fishing for grayling and pike in Swedish Lapland.Last summer I was lucky enough to go spend some time running around Swedish Lapland with a few newfound friends. While the team from Swedish Lapland Tourism was making a short film about my photography and writing work, I was running around with cameras and an underwater housing, trying to capture the incredible light, rivers, fish and people of far northern Sweden. Whenever you are above the Arctic Circle, magic tends to happen, and this was no exception.

Underwater image on man fly fishing with grayling caught in net in Swedish Lapland.

I really enjoyed penning a feature for the U.K.’s Fieldsports Magazine about the trip, especially mine time off the grid at Geunja and Tjuonajokk, now two my favorite “reset and remember what’s important” locations. Thanks to the Swedish Lapland team, the awesome crew at Fish Your Dream and the various editors around the world who have supported this project. It’s rare on international shoots that everything goes smoothly and is even kind of relaxed, but this shoot was one of them (despite the lack of sleep—why rest when the midnight sun is the best light for making images?). And, somehow, despite the lack of sleep I’ve rarely felt better.

Must be something in the water.

Grayling fish in golden sunlight being held in the water in Swedish Lapland.

Swedish Lapland: Woman fly fishing under Arctic midnight sun with a fish on the line on river.