The images in this series were made in three canyons in the White Cloud Mountains of central Idaho in 2008. About three years earlier, on a windy early September day, a man burning a cardboard box in a burn barrel watched helplessly as sparks escaped and ignited the dry brush at his feet. Over the next two weeks, 40,838 acres of forest burned in a wildfire that was ultimately extinguished by snowfall.

Guardians of Solitude is printed in a signed and numbered edition of 600 copies including a special collector’s edition of 175 with an original color print.

Laura McPhee was born in Manhattan and raised in central New Jersey. She obtained her BA from Princeton University and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Presently, she serves as a professor at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, residing in Brookline, MA. Her extraordinary artistry primarily focuses on vast landscapes and portraits of the individuals inhabiting them. Currently, Laura is engaged in capturing visual stories about time, both geological and human, in the desert west of the United States.