Greg Garrigues has been on a path, and his photography has followed. Greg grew up in a mid-sized town known for its transplanted resident Scottish naturalist, John Muir. For him this was a great starting point, where he made the good friends that he spends time in the mountains with. He later met the love of his life when he had to detour from one of Muir’s favorite spots, Yosemite, and ended up in Joshua Tree. All along this journey, he has been shooting pictures, and you can see his love for place, the people he is with, and the adventure in every photo. If Muir had been there, or it was a place Muir would have found if he could have walked farther, “I am sure I will want to go,” said Garrigues, and he is likely going to have his camera with him.    

“I am a total amateur and still trying to learn this craft,” says Garrigues. As a photographer, he started shooting in college when he took a black and white dark room course. “Don’t tell my kids’ because they will think I am old, but I loved shooting emulsion. It is not just light and composition, but it was also chemistry. I really enjoyed the process of planning the exposure before opening the shutter.”
After shooting a variety of cameras, his favorite rig became a lightweight Nikon D90 with a 24mm 2.8 lens. “It forces you to get close to your subject and brings so much detail into the frame with great depth of field.” Whether it is an SLR or more likely his digital point and shoot in hand, he never uses the telephoto as he still makes an effort to get into the image like it was a 24mm. He does however admit to now “pushing” the image around a little with Photoshop before he shares them. “I never change the content, but I fix my digital technical mistakes.”  



The content of Garrigues’ images are varied from close up studies, to big sweeping landscapes, or some fun interaction with surroundings. There is an occasional timer based action self-portrait, but says he will never call those “selfies.” His images almost always circle back to a Muir style adventure where his photos reflect fun and exploration.  

Garrigues loves to tell people that he is lucky because his advocation became his vocation – he currently works with some European brands and designs back-packing and bike-packing gear which have become a part of his adventure. His favorite Aunt gave him some advice that sent him in this direction and ultimately Bozeman. That advice was, “Do what you like to do long enough, and eventually someone will pay you for it.”  

He got some other great advice from one of his favorite Bozeman people, Mike Harrelson, which he also likes to frequently share and has become a part of his photography content. Garrigues says, “Mike told me, ‘Having kids doesn’t mean stop doing what you love, it’s one more reason to do what you love.’ Words to live by  -- get out and enjoy the world with your kiddos.”

Volunteerism is also part of where Garrigues puts his energy. He serves on the Board of Friends of Hyalite, the non-profit responsible for snow plowing Hyalite Canyon in the winter, the twice-yearly cleanups, and more. Garrigues also volunteers as a Boy Scout leader, where he works with some other great volunteers to keep Scouting relevant. For Greg volunteering is his opportunity to be an agent of change and raise youth that are good people so that they are connected to their community and the outdoors, and hopefully become stewards of amazing places like Hyalite.