Who doesn\u2019t wonder about the story behind an amazing wildlife photograph?\u00a0<\/p>\n
How high did the photographer have to climb to find mountain goats? How many hours did he have to stay still to catch a photo of a mother badger emerging from her den? What exactly is a \u201cpika,\u201d anyway?<\/p>\n
Those questions were in the mind of Cody resident Julia Cook when she took on the task of creating a unique photo book featuring the creatures who inhabit Yellowstone National Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cook\u2019s degree in environmental science from the University of Wyoming, paired with her skills as a wildlife photographer, were in full play when she began work on the book that became \u201cWild Wonders: The Untamed and Enigmatic Animals that Inhabit Yellowstone National Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
The book, now in wide release across the U.S., is more than just a photo album.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWild Wonders\u201d takes the reader on a field trip diving into biology, ecology and the nature of Yellowstone.<\/p>\n
![\"Juli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Julia-Cook-Trevor-Cook-book-12.28.25.jpg\")
Juli Cook of Cody grew up in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park watching its famous wildlife. Now an emerging photographer, her debut book marries her breathtaking wildlife images and the stories behind the photos. Here brother Trevor Cook found the book on the shelves of a Barnes & Noble store in New York City. (Courtesy Julia Cook)Young Photographer<\/p>\n
For someone so young (Cook graduated from Cody High School in 2019), the variety of wildlife featured in the book, as well as the quality of the photos, would make one believe that this collection was a decade or more in the making.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Cook said her love affair with photography began just five years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t really start photography until 2020, when all my college classes went online,\u201d she said. \u201cI’ve always loved Yellowstone, and we’d always go to the park.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“And so while it’s free time, I guess I’ll go to Yellowstone a little more often than I’m used to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook said that she originally got a camera to simply document the wildlife she was encountering \u2014 and she got \u201chooked\u201d fast.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo then in the fall semester, and the rest of my time in college, I worked with my professors to get all online classes so I could stay in Cody and do school remotely, and go into Yellowstone almost every day,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Photography Meets Science<\/p>\n
Cook discovered that wildlife photography requires\u00a0infinitely more patience than the wildlife watching she did with her parents and brother.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was a kid, like, we’d sit and we’d watch a bear for a couple minutes and then leave,\u201d she said. \u201cBut with photography, you\u2019re sitting there and watching the animal over a couple hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook files wildlife photography into both the \u201cart\u201d and the \u201cscience\u201d folders.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve always been artistic and loved being creative, but I’ve also really loved science, too,\u201d she said. \u201cI always try to not let my presence affect the animals\u2019 behavior or movement or anything, and that comes from the science background of being able to identify animal behavior, things like tracking, and knowing body language.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When it came to writing the book, Cook said she felt it was important to include both the art and the science to bring her subjects to life.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo much of what conservation is, is people connecting with the photos and the wild animals,\u201d she said. \u201cSo each section starts with the scientific facts, the ecology, any threats to the species, and then after that, there’s a couple of photos for each species that tells my experience in the field behind that photo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook said her goal was to make the reader feel like they were there with her.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried to make the narrative stories feel like someone was just sitting with me, out in the field, watching the wildlife with me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
![\"Juli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Julia-Cook-Badgers-Julia-Cook-12.28.25.jpg\")
Juli Cook of Cody grew up in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park watching its famous wildlife. Now an emerging photographer, her debut book marries her breathtaking wildlife images and the stories behind the photos. (Courtesy Julia Cook)![\"Juli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Julia-Cook-Bison-calf-Julia-Cook-12.28.25.jpg\")
Juli Cook of Cody grew up in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park watching its famous wildlife. Now an emerging photographer, her debut book marries her breathtaking wildlife images and the stories behind the photos. (Courtesy Julia Cook)![\"Juli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Julia-Cook-Black-bear-cubs-Julia-Cook-12.28.25.jpg\")
Juli Cook of Cody grew up in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park watching its famous wildlife. Now an emerging photographer, her debut book marries her breathtaking wildlife images and the stories behind the photos. (Courtesy Julia Cook)![\"Juli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Julia-Cook-Fox-Julia-Cook-12.28.25.jpg\")
Juli Cook of Cody grew up in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park watching its famous wildlife. Now an emerging photographer, her debut book marries her breathtaking wildlife images and the stories behind the photos. (Courtesy Julia Cook)Arrow leftArrow rightSocial Media Inspired<\/p>\n
For anyone who might dismiss the impact of social media on a person\u2019s career, it was Cook\u2019s Instagram posts that inspired the book.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said publishing company The Quarto Group reached out to her because of the quality of her photographs on the social media platform.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was a scam email at first,\u201d said Cook, although some research quickly determined that the company was credible. \u201cThey had done a couple of illustrated books on national parks by artists, and they wanted to try something photography related.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the editors had been following Cook\u2019s Instagram account, which brought her to Quarto\u2019s attention.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey first just asked if I’d be interested in using any of my photos for a photo book,\u201d said Cook. \u201cAnd then they asked if I knew anyone that knew anything about the wildlife of Yellowstone that would maybe want to write it.\u201d<\/p>\n
So Cook sent the publishers examples of her writing from her time at UW, and they offered her the opportunity to write the text of the book.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey pretty much gave me creative control over what direction to go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Selection Process<\/p>\n
Growing up in Cody, Cook said her inspiration for the layout of the book was the Draper Museum of Natural History at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been volunteering in their lab for about seven years, and one day walking through on my way to the lab, I got the idea to organize it by elevation, like the Draper,\u201d she said. \u201cThe book starts in the plains and moves up in elevation through the mountain meadows and forests before ending in the alpine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Because of the wealth of photographs Cook has collected in the last five years, she said it was difficult to narrow down the pictures that would make it into \u201cWild Wonders.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cElk are most photographed during the rut, and the bulls. And so I wanted to include a cow elk,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd for the different grizzly bears that I photographed, I wanted to show them across the seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although her focus was on the mammals of Yellowstone, there were some animals she wanted to include in the book that eluded her efforts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a joke with all my friends, but a pine marten is, like, my nemesis,\u201d said Cook. \u201cI can never get photos of a pine marten.\u201d<\/p>\n
So she said she included a section at the end of the book about the elusive animals of Yellowstone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe mountain lions and the things that were there, but I haven\u2019t photographed,\u201d said Cook. \u201cI saw wolverine a couple years ago, so I talked about it in that section, but I didn’t get any photos of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Cook, one of the joys of creating her book has been introducing others to the world she grew up in.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me growing up in Yellowstone, so many things are just \u2018normal,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then I’d send (the editors) photos and sample texts, and it was funny.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“They didn’t know what a pika was, and they were all like, \u2018This is the cutest animal ever.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Juli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Julia-Cook-Pika-Julia-Cook-12.28.25.jpg\")
Juli Cook of Cody grew up in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park watching its famous wildlife. Now an emerging photographer, her debut book marries her breathtaking wildlife images and the stories behind the photos. (Courtesy Julia Cook)![\"Juli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Julia-Cook-Sheep-Julia-Cook-12.28.25.jpg\")
Juli Cook of Cody grew up in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park watching its famous wildlife. Now an emerging photographer, her debut book marries her breathtaking wildlife images and the stories behind the photos. (Courtesy Julia Cook)![\"Juli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Julia-Cook-Grizzly-family-Julia-Cook-12.28.25.jpg\")
Juli Cook of Cody grew up in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park watching its famous wildlife. Now an emerging photographer, her debut book marries her breathtaking wildlife images and the stories behind the photos. (Courtesy Julia Cook)![\"Juli](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Julia-Cook-Goats-Julia-Cook-12.28.25.jpg\")
Juli Cook of Cody grew up in the shadow of Yellowstone National Park watching its famous wildlife. Now an emerging photographer, her debut book marries her breathtaking wildlife images and the stories behind the photos. (Courtesy Julia Cook)Arrow leftArrow rightOther Photography Adventures<\/p>\n
While \u201cWild Wonders\u201d is solely focused on the animals and ecosystem of Yellowstone, Cook\u2019s\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0accounts showcase the other wildlife she has photographed.<\/p>\n \u201cI just got back from a trip photographing polar bears up in Canada,\u201d she said. \u201cI booked with a company up in Churchill (Manitoba), and spent five full days up there photographing polar bears. It was so cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Additionally, Cook is hosting photography safaris and workshops in the Yellowstone region.<\/p>\n \u201cI have one in February up in Cooke City,\u201d she said. \u201cI’ve been working with the Skyline guest ranch up there, doing some guiding and workshops. And I have another one of those in June sometime.\u201d<\/p>\n Until then, Cook keeps her website and Instagram accounts updated with those stunning photographs.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a website where I sell prints, and I have calendars too, and I just like sharing my photos with other people,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nationwide Exposure<\/p>\n One of the thrills for Cook is knowing that her view of Yellowstone is being shared across the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her older brother, Trevor, is a dancer and choreographer in New York City (who also wrote the foreword for the book), and he discovered \u201cWild Wonders\u201d in a major bookstore in Manhattan.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was in a Barnes and Noble in Manhattan, and just happened to see it there,\u201d said Cook.<\/p>\n \u201cSo he sent me pictures of him holding it, and he had it open to the pages that he wrote.\u201d<\/p>\n The book can also be found on\u00a0Amazon<\/a>, as well as in stores or online at\u00a0Barnes and Noble<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cook said she knows it\u2019s in Cody\u2019s bookstore, Legends, but is unsure about the availability at other hometown stores.<\/p>\n \u201cThe publisher handled all the marketing stuff, which was really nice, because that’s something that I don’t really know much about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The important thing for Cook is sharing Yellowstone with those who have never been, or who don\u2019t get to be there as often as she does.<\/p>\n \u201cI just try to inspire people to care about wildlife and spend time outside,\u201d she said. \u201cReally, the value of seeing wildlife is just seeing it \u2014 you don’t have to get a photo for it to mean something.\u00a0<\/p>\n “There’s so many days that I go and I don’t even turn my camera on, but I still spend the day in Yellowstone. There’s worse ways to spend some time.\u201d<\/p>\n Wendy Corr can be reached at wendy@cowboystatedaily.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n