In Utah's Outdoors, one teacher discovered a passion behind the camera lens

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Andy Coleman, a teacher from Sandy, discovered a passion for wildlife photography.
• He captures wildlife like bison and moose, sharing his work on Instagram.
• Coleman values real emotional impact in photos, balancing his hobby with teaching.

SANDY — For many, a scenic trip to explore Utah's outdoors can be a therapeutic experience.

For Andy Coleman, being one with nature has not only been therapeutic, it has resulted in a hobby of capturing wildlife in their habitat.

From the bison roaming the tall grass at Antelope Island, the Onaki horses in Utah's western desert, or a moose grazing in the sun in the cottonwood canyons — a scroll of Coleman's Instagram feed gives a glimpse into what a close encounter with the state's most captivating creatures feels like.

Coleman has been a teacher for the past 25 years. While he has always loved animals and taking photos, it wasn't until about six years ago that he truly began harnessing the hobby.

"I thought it was going to be landscape (photos) only, you know, just going to cool places. But man, the wildlife just catches you," he said. "And so then very quickly I bought a longer lens, so I could capture the wildlife I was seeing."

Coleman has also always enjoyed the outdoors. While he and his wife were attending Utah State University, they often recreated in Logan Canyon.

"Every time we weren't in school or the weather was great, we headed up to the canyon to go hike or to mountain bike or whatnot. So I've always loved being outside," he said.

He had a brief interest in professional photography in junior high school, and throughout his life has often "dipped his toe" in the art during major family events, like the birth of his son.

"But it never really stuck, until you know, that summer of COVID, and then it just kind of became a passion, where it just ignited something," he described. "And so now, every chance I get, I'm going somewhere to hike and see what's out there."

Coleman and his family reside in Sandy, and many of the uniquely beautiful locations he travels to take photographs are within about a 90-minute drive of his home.

One of his favorite photo spots is Antelope Island in Davis County.

"All the wildlife there — you can mountain bike, you can hike all winter long. So, you know, most weekends I go once, maybe twice just to hike and to photograph. The mule deer are easier to spot in the wintertime," he said.

Coleman said he has some family and health restrictions when it comes to traveling, but there's a couple of areas he hopes to check off the bucket list soon — like capturing mountain goats on Mount Timpanogos and the scenic Mirror Lake Highway in the Uinta Mountains

In most cases, Coleman has somewhat of an idea of what photos he'd like to capture when he's out in wild open spaces.

"I'm always looking for a moose," he said. "But I'm not going to find one, you know, maybe like a quarter of the time that I go."

That's why he believes it's also good to keep an open mind for unexpected encounters.

"You don't want to come away empty-handed, so you have to be open," he said. "But I mean, in my heart, right, it's like, oh, what if a mountain lion crossed right here? Imagining these situations would be so cool if they actually happened."

Though, potential unexpected encounters also signal a need for safety and to respect wildlife and their space.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources urges photographers to maintain a strict safe distance while capturing animals. Roughly 100 yards or more for bears, and at least 30 yards for other big game animals. The department also asks photographers to avoid sharing specific location details when posting images online.

For Coleman, the opportunity to explore places near his home is part of his appreciation for the outdoors, and for having grown up in a time when video games and technology were less popular among young children.

He's also grateful that the hobby provides balance between his teaching career and other passions, without the stress of trying to monetize it.

"Even though I have other passions; I played hockey for a long time, and you know now with photography, I think that if you try to turn every passion into a business, you lose what is good about it," he said.

Coleman believes great photography tells a visual story and breeds some form of emotional impact. Although he recognizes that with the blooming emergence of artificial intelligence, in some instances, a person may question how real an image is.

"I want people to have some sort of emotional reaction — (that) doesn't always work, but you know, AI can create any picture you want, so like if you're not capturing an experience, then who would know, right?," he said.

However, Coleman believes in the value of real emotional impact from real photos – for a look at his real wildlife photos, check out @figuring.out.photography on Instagram.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

Related topics

OutdoorsUtah travel and tourismFeaturesUtahSalt Lake CountyNorthern Utah
Curtis Booker

• 

Curtis Booker is a reporter for KSL.