Labor Day skies

University of Wyoming lecturer and photographer Eric Krszjzaniek both shot and edited this photo of Labor Day skies over the Shirley Basin on a smartphone.

Krszjzaniek was cutting through the Shirley Basin on Monday as he made his way from Sheridan to his home in Laramie when he decided to park and take a walk to investigate some picturesque cloud formations, he said. He does not recall the exact spot, but says it was on a parcel of public land just off the highway.

“I parked and went through a gate and closed it behind me and walked maybe a mile toward the mountains through some of the washes,” in order to take the photograph of the sky on his Google Pixel phone, Krszjzaniek said.

Krszjzaniek’s Labor Day snap may appear a testament to the photographer’s axiom that “the best camera is the one that you have with you,” a quote attributed online to the photographer Chase Jarvis. But for Krszjzaniek, the smartphone wasn’t just the only camera he had on hand, but in fact is the only camera he currently uses. Though Krszjzaniek has used weightier gear in the past, the artful landscape photos and portraits of people, dogs and cats he posts to his Instagram account these days are all smartphone shots, he said.

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That includes a photograph Krszjzaniek took last year of men sitting at a bar in Laramie wearing tutus, in protest of insensitive comments by U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, who told students in Greybull that a man wearing a tutu in a bar “kind of asks for it” — “it” being the intolerance he may face. Krszjzaniek’s photo was shared by media both nationally and internationally.

For editing, like the changes in contrast, light and shadow he did to this week’s Shirley Basin photograph, Krszjzaniek uses a Google-developed app called Snapspeed.

Krszjzaniek completed a Ph.D. at UW in sustainable business practices and marketing this spring. He was recently hired as a lecturer for the University’s marketing department, he said.