Bozeman-Based Photographer Hunts for the Shot

Kevin Noble’s fine art photography espouses a minimalist ethos, using a pared-back visual language to communicate the simple, wild beauty of Yellowstone as directly and simply as possible. | Photo: Kevin Noble

Kevin Noble shoots primarily in the winter, when temperatures routinely dip south of zero. “It’s a tough season in Yellowstone,” he says. “But I love it.” The bitter cold often means he has the park to himself, the only guest in the home of the bison and wolves.

Through that landscape, Noble hunts for the perfect composition, using the expanses of snow to offset the darker shades of his subject matter, whether it be an erupting geyser or an elk’s velvety antlers. With that wintery negative space, he captures black-and-white scenes of Yellowstone, portraying its majesty through a single focal point in each image.

Noble in his gallery space in Bozeman with“40 Below” taken using a wireless trigger from the safety of his vehicle. | Photo: Kevin Noble

Noble’s pursuit of minimalism extends to his output: “In the 75 days a year I spend in Yellowstone, I publish six to eight shots,” he says. “That’s my goal.” The rigorous selection process limits his body of work to the truly exceptional images, which he has printed in small runs of 10 and finishes with elegant handmade oak frames. He shows them in Medium Gallery and his own Studio Noble in Bozeman as well as his space in Big Sky.

Noble was not always Montana-based, but his relationship with Yellowstone dates back to childhood. Originally from Philadelphia, he and his five siblings would be loaded into a car each summer and driven by their parents to the national park. “Those adventures across the country are probably some of my earliest memories,” says Noble, and “some of my most fond.” A high school class sparked an interest in photography, but he pursued a more traditional career and did not embrace his artistic passion until later in life.

“Dressed In White” was taken when Noble had locked himself out of the driver’s side of his vehicle, so he couldn’t get back in without walking around. “It was safer to stay still. She just trotted by me maybe 6 feet away,” says Noble. “When you see a wolf that close it’s different. That was probably my most magical moment in the park.” | Photo: Kevin Noble

For years his time and energy were spent on a tech company he founded in 1994, managing data for law firms in the discovery stage when cases went to trial. “We started it in a 12-by-12-foot room with one copy machine,” he recalls. “Then 20 years later a big Fortune 100 company bought us out. We had a lot of breaks and were very lucky in the timing.” But when he might have been considering the next step in his career, a personal tragedy changed Noble’s world: his son passed away.

“It’s very difficult to talk about, but it is important to where I am and who I am,” he says. Rather than continue a traditional career, his search for meaning led him back to nature and photography.“I go into Yellowstone to find peace, frankly,” he says. “And to share that beauty with people; I think that’s important.” Noble’s journeys into Yellowstone are an effort to locate what truly matters, and his photography is an extension of that search.

“The Hunter & The Hunted” captures a wolf stalking a herd of bison through deep snow. Wolves are Yellowstone’s apex predators, but that doesn’t mean they have no threats: restrictions on hunting have recently been eased. | Photo: Kevin Noble

By seeking simplicity in his artwork, he distills each frame to its most essential elements, always foregrounding a single subject: the calm intelligence in a wolf ’s gaze, a bobcat adrift in the snow, a lone bison bearded in ice. Each scene conveys the essential peace of the Western wilderness. “There’s so much out there that doesn’t really matter,” says Noble. “I try to strip away the noise, both in my art and in my life.”

“Winter Wolf” was taken on a cold morning in Yellowstone, and is a perfect example of Noble’s minimalist aesthetic and refined eye for composition. | Photo: Kevin Noble

Noble’s “Diamonds are Forever” series uses crushed glass and diamond particles to reproduce the sparkle of “diamond dust,” a difficult-to-photograph phenomenon occurring when the temperature is so low that the water vapor in the air crystallizes. | Photo: Kevin Noble