Livingston photographers capture rare images

By MICHAEL BECKER Chronicle Staff Writer

LIVINGSTON -- MacNeil Lyons and Luke Rice take photographs of things few people will ever see, glimpses of life far off the beaten path.

For the past several years, both have traveled the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park and other wilderness areas, capturing sights like panoramic sunsets from atop snowy mountains or the horizon reflected in the eye of a park buffalo.

Even though Lyons and Rice don't know each other personally, the two share similar ideas about the power of nature photography to affect how people think about wild lands and open spaces.

Through the end of this month, samples of their work are on display at Crazy Mountain Digital Photography in Livingston.

Both Lyons and Rice have carried on long love affairs with the outdoors and with photography.

Rice, 28, grew up north of Livingston, where as a boy he pedaled his bike up country roads, carrying an old camera his mother gave him.

“I kind of look at this part of Montana as a giant piece of artwork that you can go and play on,” Rice said.

Rice captures landscape images while skiing in the backcountry. He said his goal is to turn the places he visits into art that others can appreciate.

“My main goal is to capture the artwork as created by natural landscapes, more so than just creating photographs,” he said.

And if that means tweaking the color or contrast of the photos to enhance the image, Rice said, he is all for it.

“By affecting the photograph, you can create an image that is more reflective of the experience,” he said.

Lyons, 34, spent part of his youth in Colorado and started taking photos in high school. He kept with the hobby as a way to document his time spent working at various National Park Service sites around the country.

“These places people go for vacations, I got a chance to live there,” he said.

Lyons, who captures images mostly of wildlife and plants, doesn't think of his photographs as art, per se. He said the images are his way of showing to others the unique beauty of the land and its animals.

“I try to instill in people an idea of why this place is so unique but also to let them step back and think about it,” said Lyons, who also works as an instructor at the Yellowstone Association Institute.

“I try not to get pigeonholed as a ‘Yellowstone photographer,' ” he said. “There are a lot of people out there who do it a lot better and have a lot nicer gear. I just love what I do and I'm fortunate enough to live in a place where I can do it.”

And while he doesn't necessarily want his work to be a catalyst for conservation initiatives or even motivation for people to go into the backcountry, Lyons said it wouldn't hurt if people became more aware of the natural world that exists in their back yards.

Rice agreed, stressing the importance of making people remember that natural spectacles still exist.

“For me, these wild landscapes are valuable to my life and to a lot of other people out there,” he said. “That's a big part of my photography, to show people these beautiful things we're surrounded by and how vital they are to our existence.”

The photo exhibit will be on display at Crazy Mountain Digital Photography until the end of January, said gallery owner Ronald Wallace. In March, the nature photographs will be replaced by the Vietnam War photography of Livingston’s Warren Maibe.

Michael Becker can be reached at mbecker@dailychronicle.com

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