Interview: Photographer and Author Tom Murphy Brings the Soul of Yellowstone to a New U.S. Postage Stamp

Legendary photographer, filmmaker and author Tom Murphy Brings has spent over 45 years documenting Yellowstone, often trekking deep into the backcountry during winter to capture the lives of creatures like bison and wolves in extreme conditions to bring the raw beauty and survival stories of the natural world—particularly Yellowstone National Park—to audiences through his iconic imagery, wildlife documentaries, books and wilderness expeditions through his company, Wilderness Photography Expeditions.

His award-winning documentary "Murphy’s Yellowstone" provides an intimate profile of his dedication to protecting wild spaces. Murphy continues to share his work through high-profile media like PBS Nature's Christmas in Yellowstone.

He has published 10 books, including the Seasons of Yellowstone series and the award-winning Silence and Solitude: Yellowstone’s Winter Wilderness. His next major book, Yellowstone Bison: The Return of the Last Wild Herd, is scheduled for release in May 2026, ahead of World Environment Day, celebrated globally on June 5th, 2026, with a theme emphasizing rethinking economic systems, fostering resilience, and repairing the human relationship with nature.

On the 250th Anniversary of our nation, Murphy is being honored with a U.S. postage stamp — a rare, national tribute to a career that spans five decades of wilderness, conservation, serving on various boards, such as the Yellowstone Forever advisory council, and charitable giving of his photography to environmental organizations to support land and wildlife preservation.

1. Tell us what led you to your illustrious career as a photographer, filmmaker, and author

Well, I didn't have a choice growing up on a cattle ranch. That's where I ended up. I was basically my dad's hired man. I learned how to fix tractors and pickups, fix fences, build fences, take care of cattle - in all kinds of weather - and I learned a lot. I didn't realize how much I'd learned till I left there.

One of the things that I really liked about growing up on a Cattle Ranch was the opportunity to be outside, in all kinds of weather, whether I wanted to be or not at the time feeding cattle at 40 below zero  - it is a pretty miserable job. But, wondering, I realized I could not only survive in those kinds of conditions, but also work in them. When I graduated high school, I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I went to college, initially to be a chemist, and after two years, I realized I didn't want to live in the chemistry lab. I wanted to be outside. So I worked other jobs, drove a truck, finished concrete, all kinds of random jobs. I started to backpack, initially in the Black Hills in South Dakota, and I really enjoyed sleeping in the dirt.

I went downtown one day and bought a camera. I figured, well, I can't draw, and I didn't think I could write, so I thought I’d try photography and just kind of had a runway. I started making photographs for myself, other people liked them, and 41 years ago, I started teaching photography in Yellowstone Park.

I went back to college in Bozeman, Montana, and got a bachelor's degree in anthropology. I was just interested in the topic of people’s behavior; I never intended to be an anthropologist. I went down to Yellowstone Park to talk to the concessions office about a business potential. You'd have to have a permit to do commercial businesses inside parks, and so I told the lady there what I had in mind. She said, "Can you come back in a couple of weeks? Because I have to write some regulations." So I had the very first permit to teach photography in Yellowstone. There's about 150 of them there now.

For a while, I did weddings and portraits. My tour business gave me a lot of opportunities to travel around other places. I’ve been to Antarctica 10 times, Africa half a dozen times, Alaska, New Zealand, and other places. If I'd have been a truck driver, I wouldn't have done that. 

My goal is to tell stories about what I've seen. I really didn't know what I was going to end up with when I started, but it's, again, a search for natural beauty.

2. Did you have any role models?

My role models are people that want to make the world a better place. I have the most respect for people who have broader goals than just making a living. There's one photographer that comes to mind right away -- his name is W. Eugene Smith. He was a photo journalist, one of the first ones, and he wanted his photographs to improve the world. I really respect Ansel Adams. With his work, he wanted environmental conservation. So I respect that part of his career as well.

3.  On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law as the world's first national park. Tell us about your fascination with this park and its historic significance during our nation's 250th anniversary.

There’s a lot of historic significance to it because it's the first attempt in the world to conserve and preserve wild land for its own sake. It wasn't a game reserve. It wasn't for rich people. It was for everybody. It has become a model. Virtually every country in the world now has national parks. Historically, it's really, really important. I respect that a lot.

I've visited a lot of other parks, and I continue to come back to Yellowstone because the vast majority of it is still wilderness, even though there's 5 million people driving the roads. It's still a pretty wild place. That's why I find it still really important because our ancestors survived in the wild country, and I'm still intrigued by what wild country looks like. 

4. Yellowstone National Park is primarily located in Wyoming, with roughly 3% of the park residing in Montana, which is home to three of the park's five entrances and serves as a major hub for wildlife viewing and geothermal exploration. Which season is best to see wildlife in this park, and which entrance would you recommend people choose to enter it?

I think the south entrance and the north entrance are the best. To find wildlife, it depends on the season to a certain extent. You can't drive in on the south entrance in the wintertime -- it's closed to automobiles. But the north entrance is open year-round. It's a matter of how much time you have.

Summers are the most popular season, obviously, and it's probably the worst season to see wildlife -- partly because they have a tendency to move to higher elevations, away from the roads, so they're not quite as visible. If you come in the summertime, the best way to see wildlife is to get up at five o'clock in the morning and be out there at sunrise, and then you're going to see more wildlife.

My personal favorite season is autumn because of the weather, and all wildlife is in really, really good condition. Winter is my favorite season for photography for both wildlife, as well as landscape. There's not nearly as much wildlife then, because they have three choices: they can migrate out, which a lot of the birds do, they can go to sleep—hibernation—which some of them do, bears and a lot of rodents, or they can stay and and survive and endure, and I find those the most intriguing, the ones that can survive in that cold air. That's one of my main attractions for the winter photography: it's more elemental.

5. You have extensively photographed the American bison, which is the official national mammal of the United States, a title it received on May 9, 2016, when President Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act into law. It is the first designated national mammal, acting as a symbol of American strength and resilience alongside the bald eagle. Tell us about your fascination with the Bison.

I find bison really beautiful - odd, with this giant hump and this huge head. They look like they're gonna tip over on their noses. They're just odd looking. But at the same time, their ancestors evolved in Asia and Europe about a quarter of a million years ago. They came across the Berian Land Bridge and occupied this continent, and they have survived. They’re the only Pleistocene megafauna, a large ice age animal, that’s still here. 

There were mammoths and Macodons and short faced bears, which were huge, dire wolves, which were huge, and they all went extinct. Bison almost went extinct, but the reason the wild bison didn't disappear is because of Yellowstone Park, the only place in the world that's continuously had a population of wild bison.

They have incredible endurance and resilience in the cold. They can outrun most horses. A friend of mine watched one jump over a car one time, so they’re fast and agile. 

6. On the 250th Anniversary of our nation, you are being honored with a U.S. postage stamp. Tell us about what this means to you?

I'm surprised. I got a random email out of the blue looking for bison photographs, and then they chose one of mine. I've been thinking about it a lot, and again, I'm surprised how many people are really enthusiastic and excited about a postage stamp. I collected stamps a little bit when I was a kid, and I collected them because there were these little works of art. It's pretty cool that now there's going to be somewhere around 15 million little works of art with one of my bison photographs on it. It's kind of cool that my little bison will be flying all over the world. 

7. Are you taking part in any art exhibitions with the theme of USA250 this year?

Besides the postage stamp, there's a really good Western Art Museum in Cody, Wyoming, called the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. They're doing a two year show on Bison that's going to open in late August of this year. They’re using a lot of my photographs in that, and this bison book is going to be their catalogue for the show. Then in January of 2027, they're going to give me a one year show at their main gallery there in Cody on my photographs for the seasons of Yellowstone. I’m looking forward to that show.

The Smithsonian is going to give a presentation on the Bison book with Chris Geremia. We don’t have an exact date yet, but it will be after the stamp releases in May. 

8. How will you celebrate World Environment Day on June 5th, 2026, with a theme emphasizing rethinking economic systems, fostering resilience, and repairing the human relationship with nature this year?

It's probably going to be like any day I have, and that is going to be a responsible citizen of the Earth, like minimizing my amount of wasteful consumption. My mom, who will be 100 years old in a couple of months, raised me with this idea to not waste anything. That's kind of the core of being a good citizen of the Earth here, is don't waste things. So I walk a lot. Months will go by for me without driving a vehicle. Basically, I will just continue what I'm doing, being a good, honorable citizen of the earth.

9. How can people reach you?

You can email me at tom@tmurphywild.com. My website is tmurphywild.com. My Facebook is Tom Murphy Photography.