For art photographer Michael Paul, it started as a love affair with American history, specifically the American West. That love soon evolved into capturing and retelling its story through the eye of the camera lens. To him, photography was the ideal art form that harnessed both his creative energy and his affinity for non-fiction, documentary-style storytelling.

And over the past decade, Michael has been committed to deep-diving into the American West to intimately understand its story––its history, diverse terrain, fascinating inhabitants and dynamic weather systems. Every year, he travels nearly 30,000 miles into every nook of the West imaginable to experience and capture the unfolding of this story––its pure beauty and raw truth.

The images he captured have coalesced in a collection appropriately titled “Romance of the American West”. As Michael tells it, some of these images were captured through the sheer serendipity of some fortuitous moments, others took months of tracking specific animals, learning their habits and patterns. Nevertheless, whether caught in months or minutes, the collection provides a timeless window to the West in all of its rugged, untamed, resilient, magnificent glory.

“The American West is such an important area of the world,” Michael said. “The story that unfolded is really remarkable. The ‘Romance of the American West’ is really my effort to depict this incredible stage where all this unfolded in its most idyllic way.”

In this interview, Michael shares how he created this ambitious body of work and why it’s so important.

Q&A with Michael:

What drew you to photography?

I tend to be fascinated with reality. Even my reading is generally nonfiction. And of all the artistic forms, I felt like it [photography] was maybe the only one that I could think of that was categorized more purely as a nonfiction format of capturing, in this case, the American West.

I’m also really interested in the history of photography, so combining the interest of the West with that evolving art form seemed to be a natural landing spot for my artistic energies.

I’m also a third-generation person afflicted with an interest in American history––both my grandfathers and my dad. So, it set deep roots in me.

How do you describe your style of photography?

Like anything you’re fond of, you try to convey it in its most pleasing form. And to me, having traveled to a lot of places of the West, I suffer from maybe my own romantic imaginations. But I try to frame it up in a way that, in the photographs, it appears as beautiful and impacting as it does to my own eyes. I try to convey that part of the spirit of the West through the frames of the photos.

I think the more you can learn about it, the more that comes through in whatever it is you’re producing. As it relates to animals, you understand their habits, whether it’s the time of day of their activity, their patterns of eating and sleeping or interactions with each other, not just day to day, but also through the seasons. These things definitely factor in. You can’t just completely rely on luck when you go out there. It’s also dual faceted because you’re also trying to be safe and learning about them keeps you as safe as much as it does improve the quality of your product.

Just like a person, if you’re going to do a portrait of a person or write a biography on somebody, you want to spend a lot of time getting to know all their intricate nuances that make what you have to offer about them more meaningful. It’s the same thing, whether it’s a location, a mountain, a river, or an animal. If you’re really dedicated to them, I think it’s just natural to show a side of them that might not be obvious.

How did the ‘Romance of the American West’ come to be?

The American West is such an important area of the world––it being a frontier of opportunity for people, clashing with cultures that were already here. The story that unfolded is really remarkable. For thousands of years, people were more or less limited in their opportunities. And this is the place where all that could be changed.

The land itself happens to be beautiful and the story, at times, is beautiful and also tragic. But all that interest, the offering of the lessons of that history, I find incredibly gripping. It compiles almost every emotion a human can experience from high to low, and there’s a lot to be learned from that. But initially, it drew my fascination before I put a camera in my hand. It just so happened that a lot of those places are beautiful and they’re certainly being developed a lot. So, the “Romance of the American West” is really my effort to depict this incredible stage where all this unfolded in its most idyllic way.

When you think of the West, you think of mountains and rivers and sky-piercing peaks, and these things have natural wonder. They always have. And certainly some of the wildlife, the buffalo, which are iconic and were incredibly important to humans and the ecosystem before we even got here. As the interior has become more developed, these things become a little bit more scarce. I think the people there, once you kind of get over the novelty of the scenery, you almost don’t see it anymore. “Romance of the American West” is hopefully bringing attention back to its untarnished form that drew people here and helped form their stories.

How do you capture photographs with such rich story?

In photography, patience is one of those ingredients that sometimes you need a lot of, and other times you can completely disregard. One example is, I was driving down the road and an amazing storm was coming over the mountains. Little holes in the clouds were shooting these rays of light across the mountains. It struck me. So I pulled over, took a picture, and from the right, there was a small flock of Canadian geese coming in and it just so happened they lined up exactly at the right time. I had that shot in five minutes and I could never have planned it.

You compare that to this photograph of a herd of elk that I was really fortunate to come in contact with this past summer. Through their routine habits each day, I was able to track them. I followed them for about a month and a half through some really beautiful country going down to the river through cottonwoods and open fields. After I understood the pattern of their movements, I was able to position myself and get a photograph that took a month and a half to plan. It’s interesting that two pieces that would seem to be equivalents took two very different approaches to get.

One of the things that really strikes me and makes such an impact is that I’m seeing this in 2026 or 2020, whenever I took the photograph, but they always seem to be scenes that could have happened 500 years ago. There’s no suggestion of time within them. Throughout the series, there are very few images that I include manmade elements in, partially for that reason. Hopefully, that’s part of the intrigue of the images. You may be able to tell where they were taken, the time of year or the temperature, but it would be very hard to place the time. I think that’s part of the balance of reveal and mystery in each of them.

What do you love most about the creative process?

To create is everything. It’s almost to be alive. If you’re in a position to be creative, that is also to assume that you’re able to––you have the opportunity, you’re healthy enough, you have the time, you have the energy, you have the resources. That already is a very privileged position to be in, but then to actually have a vision, employ skill, refine skill, and go through the process of not just creating, but learning as you go. The sense of getting better, the sense of satisfaction when your creation is done––it’s absolutely everything and it’s certainly a better alternative, maybe, than burying those creative energies with nowhere to go with them. So, it’s a privilege and it’s everything to be able to pursue those creative energies.

What brought you to the Celebration of Fine Art?

I’d been an attendee here for a number of years before I decided to apply. It’s a really unique concept. I traveled the West a lot and I attend a lot of Western art shows and art galleries and it was just a really unique forum to not just view art, a wide range of art, but also talk with artists. As a creative person, you get to jaw with your fellow creative junkies. People are enthusiastic. It has always seemed like a happy environment. Having seen a lot of other Western art come through here, I thought it would be a good fit to try to showcase and get some visibility on my series, especially now that it’s finally published after 10 years.