Tom Murphy Shares 50 Years of Yellowstone Magic—And His New Bison Stamp (Exclusive)
The legendary photographer opens up about climate change, wolves and his iconic stamp
Yellowstone National Park is one of the most picturesque places on the planet. Between the tall, green trees in the summer to the snowcapped hills in the winter, it makes total sense that over 4.8 million people visit it annually. Among those doing so? Tom Murphy, a photographer who has been profiling the park for 50 years. Woman’s World recently sat down with Murphy to discuss what he’s seen while visiting and discover what went into his new Yellowstone-inspired stamp. Read on for more.
Tom Murphy looks back at his time in Yellowstone
Established in 1872 as the world’s first national park,Yellowstone spans 2.2 million acres across Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. It has historical landmarks such as Old Faithful and the Grand Prismatic Spring along with a plethora of wildlife that you have to see to believe.
“It’s changed a lot in good ways and bad ways,” Murphy said of the park. “Ive seen the 1988 fires and the reintroduction of the wolf was also a huge change in 1995 and 1996. There’s a lot of interest in the wolves. Always will be. It’s one of the people’s favorite animals. And the last change I’m seeing, which is not good, is climate change. I’ve skied a lot in the back country of Yellowstone, including clear across the park, three times. And at this point in the year, I used to be able to count on a really good back country ski until about the first of April. Right now, though, there’s basically no snow and it’s 40 degrees, so that’s pretty worrisome.”
Even with all of that worry, Murphy still encourages people to visit the park, so long as they “take a week to do it.”
“It’s a big park. So my recommendation is, try to take at least a week and once you get there, go early in the morning, skip breakfast if you can, go find a hillside and just sit and watch,” he advises. “It’s a wild place. You get away from the road and you walk just 300 yards away from the road and get away from some of the noise of the cars. It’s a wonderful experience that you can’t get anywhere else.”
Tom Murphy opens up about his photography journey
Murphy has been photographing Yellowstone for 50 years and according to him, nothing will compare to getting a photograph of a bison.
“They’re the last remaining member of what they call pleistocene megafauna, which are large ice age animals that used to be around and now look at what’s left. They’re down to maybe 500,000 in the whole entire world. That’s one reason, because they’re survivors,” he explains. “I grew up on this ranch in western South Dakota and I dug up bison skulls, so I was always intrigued by what big herbivores used to live on our ranch before and Yellowstone has given me an opportunity to watch them a lot.”
Something he’s not watching? Taylor Sheridan’s hit show Yellowstone, which is set in the same area.
“I tried to watch a couple of episodes but it’s too violent for me,” Murphy explains. “I grew up on a cattle ranch. I know a lot more than I want to know about cows, and the shows are not particularly accurate on how you deal with cattle. There’s too much fighting and killing. It’s like people think that’s normal Montana or Yellowstone. That’s not normal.”
Tom Murphy discusses his new stamp
In May, two of Murphy’s bison photographs will be turned into a nationally distributed stamp. They were designed by Greg Breeding, who has served as the art director of postage stamp design since 2012.
“It’s surprising to me how much interest that stamp has generated in my friends as well as all over the country,” Murphy exclaims. “It’s being released in May, and I hope I last that long.”
Along with the stamp. Murphy is also releasing a book entitled Yellowstone Bison: The Return of the Last Wild Herd later this year.
“It’s going to be released on July 4, and it’ll be used as a catalog for a show at the Buffalo Bill Center in Cody, Wyoming,” Murphy said. “The museum there is phenomenal. They’re doing a two year show on bison, and they’re going to use the book as their catalog for their show.”
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