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Tom Murphy
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Tom Murphy was raised on a 7,500-acre cattle ranch in western South Dakota. This experience taught him more than he wanted to know about cattle and convinced him that he didn’t want to chase cows for the rest of his life. But it also taught him invaluable lessons in animal behavior and instilled his deep love for clean, wide-open land.
A graduate of Montana State University, Tom conducted archeological fieldwork on prehistoric sites on the northwest plains before establishing a professional career in photography in 1978 when he moved to Livingston, Montana. His photographic passion and specialty is Yellowstone National Park. Since 1975 he has traveled extensively within its 3,400 square miles, hiking thousands of miles and skiing on hundreds of extended overnight trips in the backcountry.
Tom was the first person licensed to lead photography tours in Yellowstone Park. Through Wilderness Photography Expeditions, Tom and his wife built an internationally respected photography seminar series teaching natural-history photography. His wife Bonnie took care of the logistics and, most importantly of all, cooked outstanding meals during their 20 years of Yellowstone workshops.
One of the reasons he started his business was to give something back to wildlife and wild lands and to encourage and aid in their preservation. He donates the use of his photography to environmental groups and lends his backcountry skills to the Park County Search and Rescue team, which he helped to organize in 1982.
His photographs have been used, both editorially and commercially, in numerous regional, national, and international publications. Clients include: Life, Architectural Digest, National Geographic, Audubon and Time. Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, and Esquire.
His first book, Silence and Solitude, Yellowstone’s Winter Wilderness, won a 2002 Montana Book Award. Tom’s video, “Silence and Solitude”, produced by Montana PBS, earned an Emmy nomination for his photography and videography. His second book, The Light of Spring, The Seasons of Yellowstone, and his third book The Comfort of Autumn are three of a set of four books illustrating the seasons of Yellowstone. The Spirit of Winter is scheduled for release on July 1, 2010.
