Today we’d like to introduce you to Hunter Page.
Hi Hunter, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
From an early age I was always outside being active. When I reached middle school I was skateboarding all day, every day. At that time I acquired a nice video camera then that resulted in creating full-length videos of my friends and I doing our thing. After a handful of years, I made the transition to a DSLR to start photographing. I really enjoyed being able to instill a moment or a cascade of natural occurrences happening simultaneously into one single image.
Camping and backpacking have been one of my main passions since I was about 18 years old. Once I got my hands on quality camping gear I really started getting further and further out from civilization.
Soon enough I was spending a week out in the backcountry with just the necessities. When combining photographing and backpacking, everything just made sense. The connection between myself and the natural world emanated. Truly making images, not taking them. Creating those moments into images is something that will live on forever.
In 2017 my girlfriend and I moved into her Subaru to get away from the day-to-day grind of daily life and to travel through California and Oregon. Though it wasn’t long, that decision changed everything. This change opened our eyes to the seasonal lifestyle of guiding through the summers and working at ski resorts through the winters.
We ended up moving to Oregon, into a small, gutted tool shed while working on a little farm. Then to Southern Utah to lead Landscape Photography trips in and around Zion National Park. During those trips, I would instruct guests on composition, subject matter, light and more. After a year in southern Utah, we moved to beautiful Montana for a year and a half! I was guiding guests into the backcountry of Glacier National Park for 2-7 days of off-the-grid living. At the tail end of 2021, we moved to a small town in Southern Utah.
I made the choice to start my own Photography guiding company outside of Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. I am now leading daily photography trips in and around Capitol Reef. During each trip, we will dive into camera settings, subjects, light, composition, and more like a condensed workshop. When I am not leading photography trips, I am fishing locally, backpacking or camping around the area.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being able to create great images takes an endless amount of patience and time. You will not start out making great images, there are no shortcuts! ‘It takes years upon years to truly be able to create a time-worthy image’ – and that is something I continue to work on.
When guiding backpacking, it took a month and a half of “training” to have the know-how to create a great experience for others. To cook for others in the backcountry, to learn about the plants, geology, geography, flora and fauna. It was not easy to memorize all of this information.
Getting my photography guiding business started here in torrey has been a long and time-worthy journey with many obstacles. I have had to spend hundreds of hours on the computer, sitting at home to acquire the correct permits, insurances, to teach myself about SEO,
to create my website, etc. Not to mention the more fun part of it all which is scouting locations, which has been enjoyable but very time-worthy. I am not going to settle with “ok” locations. I will only guide you to areas I personally find time-worthy.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a full-time nature/landscape photographer. I have spent the better part of seven years honing in my skills while acquiring more knowledge through readings, teachings and spending time out photographing. I made the decision to become a great artist before attempting to photograph full-time. I did so in order to create my own style through time, to expand my creativity and visual expression. So to not jeopardize growing as a photographer and as an artist.
As well as taking the time to become a great artist, I also took the time to become a more rounded individual. By moving to new places, acquiring interesting jobs, encountering all types of people and to continue guiding trips through the years has helped shape me into the individual I am today.
Starting my photography guiding company “Capitol Reef Photography Tours” has been an amazing journey thus far.
Some information about these tours: These trips lean toward instructional photography sessions rather than “tours”. During each outing we will take a deep dive into composition, flow, subject matter, light and more. Each location is unquestionably beautiful and very photogenic.
I have been selling my photographs in the form of prints for years on end and throughout the U.S. This is a very enjoyable part of photography because the image finally comes to life, it is tangible!
There are no words to describe how I feel while out hiking or backpacking. I feel a deep love/passion for nature. I want it to thrive without humans destroying it for personal gain, or tagging locations on social media for personal gain. Nature not only deserves our respect but demands it. We would not be alive, at all, without nature and it cuts deep into my core when I see all of this injustice to our planet.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I have gotten lucky hundreds of times. Everywhere I tend to move has been off-the-charts amazing! In Montana, I lived in a small cabin with ski in ski out accessibility! For crazy cheap rent and for a year and a half! We would mountain bike straight out our door and ski out our door. I scored a backpacking guiding job when all the positions were filled.
I furnaced a whole house with my artwork just before moving out of state, which helped immensely in many ways.
When we moved to Torrey, we were greeted with open arms by like-minded locals. And they tend to help me in any way they can to build awareness of my company.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hunterpagephotography.com
- Instagram: @hunterpagephotography
- Email: hunterpagephoto@gmail.com
Image Credits
Hunter Page
