My name is Scott Wheeler and I have been a full time fine art photographer since 2000.  I was born and raised in Southwest Montana and always felt blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world.  I taught myself photography mostly by just doing it.  Of course I studied books and magazine articles written by people that I admired, but mostly, I just loved being out in the field trying to create an image that would have an emotional impact on the viewer. 

 

Over my 20 year career,  I have been invited to sell my photographs at many nationally ranked, juried, fine art festivals around the nation.  And I've had the honor of having my fine art photographs purchased by thousands of collectors all over the United States.

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Here is my story.

 

I began photography at age 12 when my dad gave me a Rolleicord medium format camera for my birthday.  I joined the  Junior High School photography club and learned to make black and white prints in the school darkroom.  And so began my fascination with photography.  I thought that there was a magic to seeing the image  slowly emerge on paper as it was submerged in the chemical bath in the darkroom.  At this phase I was pretty much of a shutterbug.

 

In high school, my love of music became my main creative outlet.  I joined a rock band, playing guitar and bass, but my main instrument was the saxophone.  In college I still had my rock band playing on weekends and I also played tenor sax in the Montana State University jazz band.  After college, I went on the road with different rock and blues bands.  The travel time on the road led me to rediscover my passion for photography.  I bought a 35mm camera so I could make photographs as I was traveling to gigs all over the western United States.

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After a few years on the road, I moved back to Montana.  This was perfect for my photography.  One of my bands was the house band at Big Mountain Ski Area in Whitefish.  With my  close proximity to Glacier National Park, I spent off days hiking and photographing there.  When the Whitefish gig ended, I moved to Bozeman and then Butte.  Southwest Montana has close proximity to Yellowstone and is the  home of many wonderful blue ribbon trout streams and scenic river valleys.  Of course I was still playing music, but I was becoming more serious about photography all the time.

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During this period, my photography improved by leaps and bounds.  I was mastering my craft.  I was learning to see more deeply.  I was learning to see subtle nuances in composition and form that have a massive impact on an image.  Also, I learned to notice subtle changes in the light that make a dramatic difference in a photograph's power.  I was always chasing the light for landscape photographs or patiently observing and understand animal behavior for my wildlife photographs.  It became my passion  to create great images that would create a strong positive emotion in the viewer. 

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By 1999 I felt that I had developed a very good portfolio of artful photographs.  I had some success getting my photographs published in magazines such as "Outside" and "Outdoor Photographer," and I was also selling my Fine Art Prints through some art galleries.  In fact, my art gallery sales were going very well.  So I decided to focus on fine art photography.

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In year 2000 I applied for and was accepted into many juried fine art festivals around the country.  So I was on the road again!  But this time, I was bringing my photography to the people.  Since then, I've had the good fortune of selling my art to thousands of collectors all over the United states and abroad.

 

Below is a partial list of fine art festivals where I've sold my photographs by jury invitation:

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Cherry Creek Art Festival

      Denver, CO

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Main Street Fort Worth Art Festival

      Fort Worth, TX

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Plaza Art Fair

      Kansas City, MO

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Kimball Art Festival

      Park City, UT

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Bellevue Art Museum Fair

      Bellevue, WA

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Art in the Pearl

      Portland, OR

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Utah Art Festival

      Salt Lake City, UT

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Art Fair Jackson Hole

      Jackson Hole, WY

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Sun Valley Art Festival

      Sun Valley, ID

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Scottsdale Art Festival

      Scottsdale, AZ

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Sausalito Art Festival

      Sausalito, CA

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La Quinta Art Festival

      Palm Springs, CA