All the Light

One of Jackson’s busiest architectural photographers shares some of his favorite photos from the last decade.

// By maggie theodora 

// photography by aaron kraft

Aaron Kraft has been shooting homes in and around Jackson Hole for architects, interior designers, real estate agents, landscape architects, window manufacturers, builders, and property managers for more than 15 years. However, the first time a realtor asked him to photograph a listing, “it had never occurred to me that real estate was something that you photographed,” Kraft says.

Kraft spent much of his twenties traveling. Because he wanted to document his memories and experiences, he learned the basics of photography along the way. After landing back in his hometown of Jackson Hole, he turned his lens to the area’s wildlife and landscapes, with the occasional wedding and portrait session thrown in. When a real estate agent saw him with a camera, taking pictures at the Cutter Races one February, he asked Kraft if he photographed real estate listings. “I had a 16mm lens and no knowledge of how to photograph a building, but I knew that I couldn’t say no, so I started teaching myself,” he says. “I quickly realized architecture was much more interesting to me than shooting weddings or portraits. I could chase light and take my time, and create my own moods. It was something that I sort of fell into but something that I really
enjoy now.”

Ideally, a client will give Kraft several days to shoot a property. “I want to spend as much time in spaces as possible to observe how light affects the mood of that space throughout the day,” he says. “If I have a couple of days, I can make images of a space in different lights, and they will evoke different feelings.”

As Kraft has refined his art, he has had a firsthand view of the evolution of the valley’s architecture. “Every year, there are fewer and fewer homes I’m asked to shoot that are the purely Western style that Jackson Hole used to be known for,” he says. “Homes here now are being designed to bring in more light and to focus on more than the traditional view corridors. I appreciate this evolution because, for me, it is all about the light. When I’m shooting, I’m studying how light plays differently from one minute to the next. I find that with really good architecture and design, I don’t have to struggle to find the right angle; it is just apparent.”

When I took this photo, it was something that I had never attempted but had been on my mind for a while. It is a mix of astrophotography, which was what I was shooting when I first started photography, and architecture. It turned out to be one of my favorite images that I made last year. I made it for the real estate team listing the property. We’ve known each other for a long time, and they know I am up for trying different things. Mack Mendenhall, the agent, knew that he wanted to name the home Starfall and also knew that I’d be up for capturing star trails over the home on a clear, moonless evening. This is a much more composited image than I usually do, and making it look natural was a challenge. While my client was a real estate team, the home was designed by Tyler Wilson Architects and constructed by Teton Heritage Builders.

I really enjoy exploring architect Matt Bowers’s work. His designs are always a pleasure to shoot and are well thought out. This project was a remodel of a ranch-style home in South Park built in the 1970s. I think it may have been one of the first homes built in that area, and, like a lot of homes of that era, it was dark and felt closed off. Matt, who founded his own firm, MB Architects, in 2019 after years at CLB Architects, really opened it up and made it something special.

A little bit of an editorial feel is starting to come into architectural photography now. Clients aren’t asking for lifestyle shots, but they’re more interested in images that have a little bit of life in them. In this image, my German Shepherd, Savvi, was the perfect model. (Savvi is short for savage, which she isn’t at all.) My client for this shoot was HDLA (Hershberger Design Landscape Architects), and I just love the way they designed the landscape to work with the architecture built by Northview Building Group. The light that evening was awesome. It raked across the surfaces of the building, lighting up the grass, and was contrasted by the dark, moody skies.

One might think that taking interior and exterior shots is different, but, to me, both are about lighting and composition and how the two play together. To create this image, I spent a lot of time figuring out where the camera should be placed—both the correct spot and the correct height. I wanted to capture the space but also make sure that it had enough breathing room. I hope my intentionality shows up in the end result.

I feel like I’m getting repetitive, but it’s the light that again makes this image a favorite of mine. There are windows all over this room. I closed all of the available window coverings, flagged all other available light, and had light coming in through only one window—on the viewer’s left—to get a moody, directional feel. It was the interior designer—Valerie Peña, who is based in New York—who remodeled the space that hired me, and her design felt really dark and contrasty. I was trying to enhance that feeling by restricting the amount and direction of light.

This is a house in Newcastle, Wyoming, where I had never been before. It’s one of those Wyoming towns that you’d kind of bypass, but, if you do stop, you find cool, old homes and a grocery store and a bar where anyone will talk to you about your favorite Wyoming punk band (The Lillingtons from Newcastle) because they actually knew the guys. To get to this house, you drive up a dirt road for 30 minutes—passing through an Amish community and dodging flocks of wild turkeys. Arriving, you’re at the top of the Black Hills and in an austere landscape strewn with large boulders. The exterior shot is interesting for me because of the quality of light—it was dawn, there was wildfire smoke, and light filtered through the tall grasses. Where and how the house sits on the landscape was well thought out. Framing the image the way I did felt balanced to me.

The house is made of rammed earth, which isn’t immediately obvious from the outside—other than wondering how it blends in with the landscape so well—but the main wall in the dining room really showcases the material. Brandon Daigle of N38 Architecture was the architect, and Casper-based Alma Interiors did the interior design. JH