Jess McGlothlin Travels

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

West

Looking Back at Summer 2021 Fishing With Fulling Mill

By

Thanks to the crew at Fulling Mill for letting me pen a few words for their blog! In “Takeaways From the 2021 Summer Fishing Season,” I took a look back at the past summer’s angling, including overcrowding, proper fish management, and high water temperatures. Enjoyed writing this piece as a look back at 2021 — lessons learned and how we can prep and plan for a better 2022 season.

In true 2021 form, my fall shoot schedule is facing a volley of cancellations and rescheduling. Looking forward to hopefully hitting waters close to home with friends, getting a bit of hunting in, and just trying to make the most of it.

… Isn’t that the theme of the past few years? Just figure it out and make it work.

Outside Bozeman: The High Life

By

Outside Bozeman article and images by Jess McGlothlin about fly fishing the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness for Yellowstone cutthroat trout.Had a lot of fun delving through the image archives and old notebooks to write this short piece for Outside Bozeman‘s summer issue. Fly fishing the backcountry of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness a few summers ago, chasing Yellowstone cutthroat trout with Absaroka-Beartooth Outfitters, has been one of my favorite stateside fishing experiences. Combine days on horseback, a comfy backcountry camp in the perfect location, most excellent people, and stellar fishing for ambitious Yellowstone cutthroat trout, and you’ve got the recipe for something amazing.

Fresh Air

By

Drone photograph of two anglers and a dog fishing a clear river in Idaho.
Sometimes you need to step outside, get some fresh air, and remind yourself what’s really important.
Needless to say, Jake, Lynsey, and Marley the Trout Dog have their priorities straight. It was a treat to get together with old friends this weekend, cross a few mountain passes on dirt roads, sleep outside, cook meals over an open fire, and chase a plethora of westslope cutthroat trout with big foam bugs.
This summer dictates a mindset change—no big international shoots for a while—so I’m making the most of time spent at home in the West. Turns out, there are plenty of good stories tucked away off dirt roads.

Assignment: Salmon Select Sale for The Big Sky Journal

By

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.

Into the Old West for Sidetracked Magazine

By

Man on horseback herding cattle in the mountains of California.Last September, I had a chance to go back to my roots while on assignment with Visit California and the U.K.’s Sidetracked Magazine at the historic Hunewill Ranch in California. Sidetracked sent me out for several days in the saddle with the Hunewill clan, gathering up cattle from summer pasture high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, bringing them back down to the main ranch in preparation for the cattle drive to winter pastures in Nevada. Photographs of ranch life in California at the historic Hunewill Ranch, in Sidetracked Magazine.

It was truly one of my favorite assignments to date; while
juggling camera gear on the back of a horse in the midst of riding mountains and moving cattle is more challenging than many past assignments, it was incredibly rewarding and, quite simply, just nice to be back in the saddle again.

The story has just come to life in a campaign on the Sidetracked website—titled “Into the Old West.” Give it a read and let me know what you think!