Jackson photographer Savannah Rose already has a portfolio filled with once-in-a-lifetime shots of Wyoming’s wildlife, but an image she captured this week has already drawn the admiration and envy of wildlife photographers worldwide.
While traversing Grand Teton National Park, Rose captured an incredible image of a “royal” bull elk, standing at the crest of a hill, with the Grand Teton in the background framed by its antlers.
“It was actually a really tense moment,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “I was trying to make sure that I could get everything exactly how I wanted it in the few seconds he was up there.”
The image, “no AI or Photoshop composite,” is as picturesque as one could want from an elk in Grand Teton National Park, and another career highlight for Rose.
“I wasn't expecting to get anything so iconic,” she said. “I do think that it's going to be a classic in my portfolio.”
Worth The Wait
Rose has worked as a professional wildlife photographer since moving to Jackson ten years ago. She’s made the most of her time there, capturing images of mountain lions, otters, grizzlies, and other animals in their most intimate moments of their lives in the wild.
That said, Rose doesn’t rely on luck. She’s completely dedicated to doing whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, making her own luck that translates to incredible images.
“The longest I’ve spent in a single sitting is 14 hours,” she said. “The longest I’ve spent perfecting a single photo is three years.”
Rose’s accolades include being selected as a 2024 Wildlife Photographer of the Year at the Natural History Museum in London. Her photo of a beaver slapping its tail on the water, “Slap Shot,” was nominated for a People’s Choice Award that same year.
During the peak seasons, Rose is outside every day following the trails of her elusive subjects, whether it’s sitting near a river to catch the famous moose Hoback acting up following the trail of a mountain lion.
A magician doesn’t reveal their secrets, and Rose has her own tricks of the trade on how to get capture the best moments. Nevertheless, persistence and patience matter more than anything.
“I think a lot of people believe all wildlife photographer is right place, right time,” she said. “That is a huge factor, but it really comes down to how to react to those situations when they arise.”
Dumbstruck
Elk weren’t on Rose’s radar until she decided to focus her full attention on them this fall. She ventured into Grand Teton National Park on Tuesday morning hoping to catch some elk acting up.
“I was going for some behavior and portraits,” she said. “I haven't spent much time with elk in the past, so I decided to target elk specifically this season, and make a real effort at spending every day with them.”
The bull elk in Rose’s image was already active when she first spotted him. She positioned herself at the foot of a hill, with the Grand Teton towering in the distance, hoping the bull would make his way to the top.
Rose knew what she wanted but wasn’t completely prepared for the moment it manifested. When the bull elk crested the hill, it sent her into a tizzy of excitement and mild panic – and straight to the ground to get the shot.
“When it happens, you can get a little overstimulated mentally,” she said. “You get shaky. You get dumb. You get too excited. That’s when you have to focus on exactly what you want.”
Knowing she only had moments to get what she wanted, Rose immediately adjusted the settings on her camera to ensure everything was picture perfect.
“I knew what I needed to do,” she said. “I needed to move lower and frame the Grand Teton between his antlers. I'd been shooting at a low shutter speed, so I had to completely change all my settings to make sure I could get enough light and everything how I wanted it in the few seconds I had.”
Once the elk crested the hill, it glanced down at Rose, glanced into the distance, and continued its way to chase its harem of cows nearby. The moment lasted a few seconds, but Rose pulled it off in a handful of incredible photos.
Ironically, the practiced patience Rose has cultivated over her career wasn’t as important in this instance. The moment manifested and vanished almost immediately.
“I didn't have to be super patient, unless you can count patience in terms of just being out there every single day,” she said. “It was an incredibly tense couple of seconds, and I'm glad I was able to pull it off and didn’t squander the incredible opportunity.”
Excellence Is A Habit
The response to Rose’s elk photo has been rapturous. Many people, including fellow wildlife photographers, are praising it as everything from “iconic” to “one-in-a-billion.”
“It's really exciting and almost overwhelming in some ways,” she said. “I'm kind of a shy person, but it's very gratifying to hear such lovely things from so many people.”
Rose anticipates that many people will cry foul when they see her photo, claiming it’s been heavily edited or even AI-generated. For her, those claims show a lack of understanding of what it means to be a wildlife photographer.
“The point I want to drive home is what people don’t see when they see a wildlife image,” she said. “You see the makings of a composition, but you don’t see what needs to be done to pull off the shot.”
A picture might be worth a thousand words, but that still isn’t enough to convey the craft behind the capture. Rose’s philosophy on wildlife photography echoes the famous words of Aristotle: “We are what we repeatedly do, therefore, excellence is not an act, but a habit.”
“There was certainly a ton of luck involved, but I had to hit the ground and quickly react to get that shot,” she said. “Right place and right time are huge factors, but (wildlife photography) is a mental exercise of focus and not letting excitement cloud your judgment.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
